As market demands can unexpectedly shift due to the changing of skills required by the labor market, up-skilling and training are often neglected, especially for those workers that provide essential services to the public, i.e. frontline workers. This might happen due to the perceived complexity of delivering necessary technology to these individuals and employers belief that obtaining it is too difficult and costly.
However, ignoring the skills gap of frontline workers leaves them vulnerable to the rapid changes in today’s fast-paced job market. This could significantly damage and negatively impact individual jobseekers, workers, industries, and entire economies, considering that frontline workers represent 80% of the global workforce.
Emphasizing the role of technology
A recent report, “Technology Can Help Unlock a New Future for Frontline Workers” emphasizes how frontline workers played a crucial role during the pandemic, from distributing goods, and operating power grids, to maintaining essential healthcare services. Unlike other professionals, those frontline workers did not have the option to work remotely. Despite their critical role, many essential workers lack access to digital tools that could help them close the skills gaps that affecting their day-to-day work and hinder growth, both from an individual perspective and a business perspective.
As these frontline workers are facing an inflection point, a nurturing environment is vital. According to the survey, frontline workers are enthusiastic about the opportunities that technology could create, as a reported 63% of them express excitement towards potential future job opportunities. However, the most crucial part for employer is to offer the bridge to the skills gap with training and support the transition for these frontline workers.
The up-skilling opportunity
Employers need to perceive training and up-skilling of frontline workers not as hurdles but as opportunities to invest in people development. It is concerning that 41% of frontline workers in non-management roles believe they lack the necessary technological skills to perform their roles effectively. This concern is widespread among different age groups with 40% of younger employees (40 years old and under) feeling frustrated by insufficient resources and skill tools. Thus, it is necessary to provide them with the right tools and foster a sense of empowerment which leads to the development of the frontline workforce and could create a significant potential benefit for the businesses.
Maximizing this opportunity hinges on smart investments – not just in technology, but also in empowering the frontline workforce with the necessary digital skills. By prioritizing and continuously offering up-to-date training programs, it can provide a large-scale learning environment inside or outside the business. As training fundamentally supports frontline workers as it aids personal growth, up-skilling and/or re-skilling purposes, it can also benefit the businesses by creating a sustainable workforce development.
How WCC’s Employment Platform support career development?
WCC believes that empowering the labor market is not only providing the job-matching capabilities to match jobseeker with sustainable job opportunities, but also, it is fundamentally important to match jobseekers with the right skills that can sustain them to grow in their roles. By providing them with the right platform for developing necessary skills for up-skilling and/or re-skilling purposes, businesses can benefit from creating sustainable workforce development, and workers can grow within their roles and their work environment.
WCC’s Employment Solutions offers Employment Platform Portals to assist Public Employment Services (PES) and staffing agencies in fostering an inclusive labor market for jobseekers. Through our integrated workforce development platform, jobseekers are seamlessly connected with training opportunities tailored to their needs. By analyzing the skills listed in training descriptions within the Training Provider portal, our system generates personalized recommendations for essential skills training, upskilling, and reskilling programs. These recommendations empower jobseekers to advance their careers and bridge any skills gaps they may have. Additionally, caseworkers have the capability to review and recommend suitable training options directly within the portal, streamlining the process and providing targeted support to assigned job seekers. This integrated approach ensures that individuals receive tailored training solutions that address their specific skill requirements, fostering their professional growth and enhancing their employability.
The robust matching capability behind the platforms relies on the modules within the WCC’s Employment Platform (skills) gap analysis module and referral module. While the gap analysis module allows jobseeker to view skills gaps in their profile when compared with a desired occupation (i.e. job role), the referral module suggests training programs that help jobseekers fill gaps in their experience through the skills-matching within our skills taxonomy.
The European Year of Skills – a call to action
As the 2023 European Year of Skills is coming to an end, WCC has been at the forefront of supporting National and Regional Public Employment Services (PESs) and other staffing agencies with our innovative Employment Solutions. With a proven record of best practices for over 25 years, WCC has emerged as the top provider of job-matching platforms for PESs, boasting an extensive network with more than 20 PES partnerships globally.
Together with our PES partners, WCC strives to provide easy and equal access to employment opportunities for all, regardless of any barriers and ensure every job seeker with their personalized job matching. With our profiling capabilities, WCC enables PES partners with better segmentation and targeting of diverse jobseeker profiles and aligns with PES’s Active Labor Market Policies (ALMPs) within our platform and each portal. Together we aim to promote and facilitate workforce development to structure formal employment and support jobseekers’ transition to higher-level jobs and future-proof roles.
Ready to take the next step?
Explore our Employment Platform and Portals here. Reach out for more information, schedule a demo, or discuss potential collaborations with our expert team below. We’re here to empower your journey towards enhanced employment solutions.
