Experts Say Pandemic Is Driving “Digital Upskilling” in Workers

The manufacturing industry is typically mired in discussions that center on the development of critical skills, but it seems this topic is having a moment in nearly every vocation.

According to Reuters, the pandemic has caused the global workforce to ramp up their digital skill sets, whether they like it or not.

The concept is called “digital upskilling” and it’s not exactly a new one. What has changed is that the work-from-home phenomenon that came along with the COVID crisis has many workers enhancing digital skills in a hurry due to necessity.

The use of mobile devices and cloud applications, as well as new forms of communications like video, for example, are the most visible. But Reuters points to data from LinkedIn that says the most in-demand skills this summer included more comprehensive knowledge sets like those in data science, data storage, tech support and digital literacy.

In fact, the head of innovation design at MIT’s Collective Intelligence Design Lab Gianni Giacomelli told Reuters that the pandemic means companies are “fast-tracking their embrace of digital technologies” and the report adds that 86 percent of top-performing companies say digital training programs are boosting employee performance.

Joe Atkinson, PwC’s chief products and technology officer also added that, previously, there were “tech jobs and non-tech jobs. Now there are just ‘jobs’, and everyone needs to have comfort with technology.”