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Upskilling and Reskilling: The New Budgetary and Strategic Priority for Talent Departments
Upskilling and reskilling have become central to both the budgetary and strategic focus of companies’ talent management departments.
Employee training is now the top priority for talent management among Peruvian companies.
Until the COVID-19 pandemic, the priority of talent management was typically the provision of benefits and compensation. But now, the need to accelerate transformation processes and incorporate new technologies into the business has forced companies to prioritize the training of their talent. “They are more focused on training and development. At least 70% of clients are seeking advice on this,” says Verónica Rendon, Talent Strategy Leader at Mercer.
This growing interest has also led to significant budget increases. In 2023, for example, investment in training by Latin American companies was US$140 per employee. This figure is at least 25% higher than in 2019, according to data from Cornerstone. “Our training efforts accounted for nearly 70% of the talent budget,” acknowledges Gabriela Llosa, VP of People Management at Ransa.
The increased budget allocation reflects a drive to expand the reach of these programs to more levels of the organization, rather than limiting them to leaders alone. “Last year, more than 5,000 employees participated in reskilling and upskilling to support the digital transformation,” notes Paola Vera, Talent Leader at Interbank.
Today, most upskilling programs prioritize the development of soft skills, such as resilience and adaptability to change. “Over the past two years, we’ve used data from our platform to invite employees to take courses through the corporate university and our personal skills upskilling platform,” explains Georgette Page, Director of People at Telefónica del Perú.
In the case of reskilling, the focus is on greater specialization. The approach combines a mix of short- and medium-term virtual and in-person courses, delivered in-house in collaboration with universities or institutions specializing in human resources. “This year we will incorporate AI training as a cross-functional skill,” says Vanessa Ratto, HR Manager at Pacífico Seguros, which trained 540 employees in 2023 and plans to double that number this year.
Through this training, companies also aim to mitigate the fierce
competition for specialized talent, particularly in key positions.
