Published originally by nam.org
The manufacturing industry, along with many others, will need a whole host of workers to handle new technologies in the 20th century . . . but those workers are in short supply. One option is to “reskill” existing workers, including older workers who have spent years or decades on outdated systems.
The Wall Street Journal (subscription) takes a look at the reskilling program of TSYS, a credit card payment processor, which sought to train its aging workforce to use cloud services. More:
- “To retrain its more than 4,500-strong tech staff, or 35% of employees, TSYS had many of them take dozens of hours of online courses. Many also have gone through an immersive two-week digital boot camp, where they use the online training to create a new product or feature.”
The company did have trouble recruiting workers for this shift:
- “Early on in the process, though, enthusiasm for training wasn’t as easy to muster with some of his cohorts. TSYS leaders said they expected hundreds of workers to sign up for one of the first digital boot camps; fewer than 50 applied.”
- “Many veteran employees feared that if they struggled with the training, they’d end up with no job, or a pay cut if they were moved into an entry-level cloud-computing position, company officials said.”
Manufacturers use reskilling as one way to keep older employees productive, and there are many ways to make that transition smoother. Refer to The Manufacturing Institute’s study with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for more recommendations.