How These 5 Companies Are Shaping the Workforce of Tomorrow

Learn how major brands like Amazon, AT&T and Cisco are investing in upskilling, reskilling, and shaping the workforce of tomorrow. 

The last few years have been a transformative time for companies big and small. From AI-powered data analytics to chatbots and workflow automation, it’s clear that digitization will play a central role in how businesses operate over the years ahead. 

As the fourth industrial revolution ushers in a new era of technological promise, many organizations are quickly recognizing the importance of preparing today’s workforce to meet the challenges of tomorrow. According to the WEF jobs report, up to 50% of current employees need to be upskilled, making comprehensive training resources vital for your business to stay competitive.

At Correlation One, we ensure your workforce has the skills, training, and experience needed to tackle tomorrow's most difficult challenges. Read on to learn more about why some of the world’s most recognizable brands — such as Amazon and AT&T — are revamping employee training in digital skills, and how they’re doing it.

Why Digital Skills are Becoming So Crucial

Recent momentum in workforce retraining and upskilling is due to a confluence of factors currently reshaping the business landscape. To leverage the opportunities this digital future offers, business leaders need to ensure their workers have the digital skills needed to navigate these changes. Here are some reasons companies should consider expanding employee skillsets through improved training resources and education programs now, not later.

Automation, AI, and Machine Learning

It wasn’t so long ago when IBM’s Deep Blue artificial intelligence shocked the world by defeating chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov over a series of 6 games. Today, AI is virtually everywhere, from customer service chatbots and autonomous vehicles to facial recognition software and smart home appliances. AI and machine learning applications continue to improve at an accelerating rate, making it imperative for companies to build a workforce that knows how to utilize these emerging technologies.

Uncertain Times Call for a Capable, Flexible Workforce

Amid unforeseen events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the great resignation that followed, many businesses struggled with adapting to changes like remote work, supply chain disruptions, or the sudden shortage of skilled workers available to fill key positions. By ensuring workers have skills in essential areas like IT, data analytics, coding, or software development, companies can better prepare themselves to overcome obstacles in the future that digital solutions can help to resolve. In short, a better-trained workforce can make any business much more resilient when faced with rapid change.

Big Data is Big Business

The increasingly pivotal role of big data in business today is another fundamental reason why companies need to consider improving employee training resources. According to Statista, total revenue from big data is expected to exceed $103 billion by 2027 as advanced machine learning algorithms make it possible to aggregate ever larger datasets. With so many invaluable use cases for data analytics, businesses that don’t have the skilled workforce to tap into this growing market may soon find themselves left behind.

How Today’s Biggest Companies are Closing the Digital Skills Gap

Some of America’s most recognized brands are already taking action to ensure workers have the right digital skills to meet the demands of tomorrow. After all, the ability to leverage emerging technologies, software applications, and AI-powered resources rests entirely on maintaining a workforce that has the training needed to know how to use them. Here are a few examples of how today’s most successful companies are empowering their employees to take on greater responsibilities and ultimately facilitate their migration into more high-demand positions.

1. Amazon’s 2025 Upskilling Initiative

In 2021, this e-Commerce giant announced a 1.2 billion dollar investment in its Upskilling 2025 Initiative, which aims to give hundreds of thousands of Amazon employees access to a variety of valuable training and education resources. Among these efforts is the Amazon Technical Academy, a tuition-free learning program that aims to propel Amazon workers into the world of software engineering and the many career opportunities the profession offers. 

In addition, Amazon plans to expand employee skillsets in the emerging field of cloud computing through several AWS (Amazon Web Services) training programs that offer comprehensive training, certification, and direct job placement opportunities. Meanwhile, Amazon seeks to broaden employee skills in coding and utilizing machine learning through its Machine Learning University (MLU), which covers the critical fundamentals of this burgeoning field over a 6-week training course. According to a recent report from Amazon, about three-quarters of workers who took part in company-provided upskilling experienced some form of career advancement. Participants also experienced an average salary increase of up to 8.6%. 

2. AT&T “Future Ready”

The COVID-19 pandemic served as a wake-up call for many companies across the country as a sudden surge in remote and hybrid work began to redefine the role of technology in the modern workplace. In response, AT&T released its Future of Work Study in early 2022 which outlined the challenges businesses face in this highly digitized, hybrid future. 

Among other things, the study found that around 81% of respondents believe that the hybrid work model will become the conventional standard for businesses by 2024. This report comes on the heels of AT&T’s rollout of its Future Ready retraining program, which invested roughly $1 billion to upskill a significant portion of its workforce in key areas like cyber security, software engineering, data science, and more. 

3. Cisco

Another company seeking to prepare the workforce for a digital-centric future is Cisco — one of the biggest providers of networking hardware and IoT solutions. In February of 2023, Cisco announced a commitment to a decade-long plan to provide critical digital skills training to 10 million people globally. 

To meet this objective, Cisco has launched its Skills for All platform through the Cisco Networking Academy. This gives learners access to both entry-level and advanced training materials to help broaden their careers in the digital sphere. Through this initiative, Cisco signals its intention to help close the global digital skills gap and support the development of essential skills workers will need to thrive in the years ahead.

4. Microsoft

Similar to AT&T’s Future Ready initiative, Microsoft launched a digital skills retraining program in 2020 in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This initiative seeks to provide digital skills training to some 25 million people worldwide within a single year by offering access to no-cost learning resources, affordable certification programs, and cash grants to nonprofits that support the most at-risk communities. 

Microsoft expects nearly 150 million new jobs to be created by 2025 in critical areas such as data science or software development. Thus, by providing valuable reskilling resources, today’s workers can become better equipped to keep up with the rapid pace of technological advancement.

5. Google

In many ways, this Internet powerhouse is leading the way when it comes to providing employee training and upskilling resources. Through its apprenticeship initiative, Google offers numerous programs for giving individuals a clear career path in key fields like data analytics, digital marketing, and software engineering. Best of all, these paid apprenticeships are available to people from around the world. 

They also have very accessible eligibility requirements, ensuring that anyone with the drive to succeed can acquire the digital skills they need to broaden their horizons. The length of Google’s apprenticeship programs varies from 12 to 36 months. Once completed, apprentices are awarded credentials in their field of study along with the opportunity to explore full-time work with Google directly.

Upskill Your Workforce with Correlation One

At Correlation One, we provide employers with the training resources they need to build a skilled workforce that can compete in today’s digital marketplace. We also ensure companies gain access to a ready-made pipeline of qualified candidates to fill critical positions on demand. 

To help improve the efficacy of your recruiting efforts, we also offer comprehensive data literacy assessment tools to guarantee the right person is hired for the job. When you’re ready to learn more about how Correlation One can help you build a more skilled and robust workforce, contact us today to get started.