Upskilling solutions are everywhere. They range from free, general online courses to full-scale workforce development programs.
Despite their ubiquity, not all upskilling programs are created equal. In fact, most upskilling solutions miss the mark with, only 12% deemed highly effective. Keep reading for:
- The pitfalls and benefits of common upskilling methods
- How to choose the best solution for your organization
- Which upskilling methods facilitate real-world impact and ROI
Your options for upskilling
Below is a table you can use to compare Correlation One's custom workforce development platform against popular market alternatives. The rest of the article will provide a more in-depth review of each upskilling approach.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) deliver training via self-serve, online platforms. Popular examples of MOOCs include LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, and Udemy.
Some advantages of MOOCs are that:
- Training is widely accessible, scalable, and quick to implement
- Programs offer ready-made content that can be consumed by a large number of employees at once
- Content is usually pre-recorded so employees can consume it at their own pace
On the flip side, MOOCs do have their limitations, including:
- Minimal customization: These courses typically follow a one-size-fits-all approach. MOOCs may cover broad industry trends but rarely consider an organization’s specific tech stack, strategic objectives, team structure, etc.
- Limited ROI data: The lack of alignment with your organizational goals makes it hard to quantify the value of newly learned skills. MOOC program data also focuses on learner engagement rather than business impact, leaving ROI unclear.
- Low engagement: The asynchronous training, limited interaction, and minimal instructor support that MOOCs deliver hinder workforce engagement. As a result, training completion rates are low at 12.6%.
Another drawback of MOOCs is that employees are responsible for choosing and completing courses themselves. This approach has two main issues:
- Upskilling success depends on the employee’s motivation and willingness to invest personal time. With only 52% of MOOC participants ever logging into the courseware, it’s unlikely that your workforce will develop new skills from this method.
- Skills development is disconnected from organizational processes, people, and technology. This is a missed opportunity to align upskilling to workforce needs and foster a connected culture of learning, development, and innovation.
While MOOCs can be a good starting point, they lack the depth, employee participation, and customization required to drive organizational transformation.
Best for:
- Fully asynchronous upskilling
- Employee-led professional development
Avoid if:
- You’re required to demonstrate training ROI and widespread workforce proficiency
- You need training tailored to your organizational challenges and context
- You want to ensure high training engagement and completion rates
Universities and bootcamps
Universities and bootcamps provide more structured learning and deeper courses than MOOCs. These programs are ideal for employees who want:
- A more formal educational experience
- The chance to learn alongside peers from different organizations, backgrounds, and industries
However, these programs have limitations when it comes to large-scale enterprise training, such as:
- Standardized curricula: University and bootcamps serve a broad audience, which makes it hard to tailor the learning experience exclusively to your workforce.
- Limited scalability: These training providers may struggle to scale their offerings for enterprise programs due to rigid infrastructure and limited class sizes.
- Few coaching moments: With little one-on-one interaction, it’s unlikely for your employees to get live feedback, coaching, or mentorship from this training modality.
- Logistical constraints: Many programs require in-person attendance, which can be challenging for employees across different locations or with varying schedules such as frontline workers.
While universities and bootcamps offer a solid foundation for skill development, they don’t provide the business-specific customization many organizations require.
Best for:
- Fostering learning opportunities and collaboration with peers outside the organization
- A more formal, classroom-based upskilling experience
Avoid if:
- Connecting skills development to organizational ROI is your focus
- Cohort-based employee learning is important for your organization
Custom workforce development providers
For organizations eager to drive training ROI, customized upskilling solutions provide a more targeted and effective approach. Here’s why:
- Tailor-made training: These solutions go beyond generic content to directly align with your organization’s unique goals, context, and challenges.
- Learning for all levels: All employees — including individual contributors, frontline workers, and executives — receive training relevant to their roles and benefit from collaborating with one another.
- Mentorship opportunities: Customized upskilling programs typically offer individualized coaching, support, and mentorship to ensure employee engagement and workforce success.
- Impact and ROI: By connecting learning outcomes with organizational goals, companies can directly see the ROI of upskilling efforts. This ensures that training delivers real business value, rather than being a checkbox exercise.
- Quality at scale: Scalable solutions don’t have to be generic. Customized upskilling programs effectively engage teams across time zones, cultures, and business functions.
Best for:
- Generating cost-savings, revenue, and ROI for your organization
- Widespread workforce development initiatives
- Achieving high employee engagement and training completion rates
Avoid if:
- Asynchronous training is your preferred approach to upskilling
Upskill your workforce with Correlation One
Correlation One is a custom workforce development provider that specializes in building data-driven workforces for Fortune 500 companies and public sector organizations.
Our learning experiences are human-led, AI-assisted, and social by design to achieve industry-leading employee engagement rates and ROI.
We offer live, expert-led, cohort-based training that delivers widespread skills development and application at your organization. Each upskilling program:
- Features custom content tailored to your organizational goals and workforce skill gaps
- Achieves real-world business impact through the completion of capstone projects
- Empowers employees with real-time feedback, mentorship, and 1:1 data coaching
Recap: How to ensure upskilling produces strong ROI
The future of workforce development lies in the ability to deliver customized, organization-specific learning experiences. As enterprises and public sector organizations face more complex challenges in data and AI integration, they need training that goes beyond the basics.
Correlation One's tailor-made upskilling programs ensure that teams are not just learning but also driving measurable ROI and business transformation.
By investing in personalized upskilling programs, organizations can realize the full potential of the workforce and compete in the AI economy.
Partner with Correlation One for your upskilling needs today.