Upskilling vs Reskilling: Discover What’s Best for Your Workforce

Upskilling vs Reskilling: When to use Each

In today’s business climate, one certainty remains: change is constant. New technologies, evolving consumer expectations, and shifting market dynamics are reshaping how enterprise and franchise organizations operate. Amidst all this disruption, the question isn’t if your workforce needs development—it’s how. Should you focus on upskilling your people, or is reskilling the better investment?

While both approaches aim to strengthen your workforce, understanding the key differences—and knowing when to prioritize one over the other—can significantly impact business performance, employee retention, and your competitive edge. Read on to learn about upskilling vs reskilling, and when to use each for the best results.

Upskilling vs Reskilling: What’s the Difference?

At a glance, these terms seem interchangeable. But when you dig deeper, they serve distinct strategic functions.

• Upskilling is about enhancing an employee’s existing skill set. Think of it as vertical growth—deepening their expertise or equipping them with adjacent skills that elevate their current role.
• Reskilling, on the other hand, is about transformation. It prepares employees for entirely new roles—often in response to changing business needs, automation, or shifts in organizational structure.

According to the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Reports 2020, 50% of all employees would need reskilling by this year. But at the same time, 40% of core skills will change, making upskilling just as critical. Have organizations prepared for this monumental shift in workforce needs?

For organizations in the extended enterprise space—franchise networks, partner ecosystems, or global channel teams—recognizing this distinction isn’t just semantics. It’s a strategic decision that can influence everything from training ROI to operational agility.

When to Upskill

Upskilling makes the most sense when the employee’s role is still relevant, but the demands of that role are evolving. For example:

• Franchise owners adapting to new POS technologies
• Sales partners needing deeper product knowledge
• Customer service reps responding to shifting consumer behavior or support channels

In each case, the employee remains in the same job function, but their success depends on mastering new tools or techniques. Upskilling is often the faster, more cost-effective route compared to hiring new talent.

Benefits of Upskilling:

• Improved performance: More capable workers produce better outcomes.
• Increased engagement: Employees feel invested in and motivated to grow.
• Retention: According to LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report, 94% of employees say they would stay longer at a company that invests in their learning.
• Scalability: Easily integrated into ongoing partner or franchise training programs.

Best Practices:

1. Conduct skills gap analysis to understand where teams are falling short.
2. Integrate upskilling into LMS pathways, like certification tracks or ongoing microlearning modules.
3. Use performance data from platforms like LatitudeLearning to identify where upskilling can improve key KPIs.

When to Reskill

Reskilling becomes essential when roles are being phased out or when new functions are emerging that require a fundamentally different skill set. In the extended enterprise, this might include:

• Reallocating store-level staff into digital fulfillment roles
• Training channel partners to support a new product line or service category
• Helping support teams transition into CX design roles as AI handles more routine queries

Reskilling can be a larger undertaking than upskilling, often involving structured learning paths, new certifications, and significant time investments. But it’s often necessary for long-term adaptability.

Benefits of Reskilling:

• Business continuity: Avoid disruption during organizational or market shifts.
• Talent retention: Keep loyal employees by moving them into new roles instead of letting them go.
• Future readiness: Equip your organization to take on emerging business opportunities.
• Alignment across networks: Standardize training for new initiatives across global partners or franchises.

Best Practices:

1. Map future role requirements and reverse engineer training programs from that vision.
2. Build personalized learning paths within your LMS to guide learners through their career pivot.
3. Leverage blended learning—combine eLearning with hands-on mentorship, especially useful across franchise and partner ecosystems.

Choosing the Right Strategy

Often, the best approach is a blend of both. Upskilling ensures continuous growth within roles, while reskilling prepares your workforce for transformation. The key lies in aligning your training strategy with business objectives.

• Launching a new product line? Upskill your existing sales and support teams.
• Reimagining your go-to-market model? Reskill employees into new functions to support the shift.
• Seeing high turnover in partner networks? Upskilling can boost performance and engagement; reskilling may be needed for underperforming regions or segments.

LatitudeLearning’s LMS provides robust tools to help extended enterprise organizations design, deliver, and manage both upskilling and reskilling initiatives. Our platform supports learning paths, role-based training, certification management, and analytics—making it easier for you to scale personalized learning across franchisees, partners, and internal teams.

Upskilling vs Reskilling: What’s Best for Your Workforce?

Upskilling and reskilling are not opposing strategies—they’re complementary levers for workforce development. For enterprise and franchise leaders, understanding when and how to use each can make all the difference in staying agile, competitive, and prepared for the future of work.

As you evaluate your training strategy, ask yourself:

• Are we preparing our workforce for tomorrow’s challenges?
• Are our partners and franchisees equipped to evolve with us?
• Do we have the right tools to deliver targeted, scalable training?

The organizations that can confidently answer “yes” to these questions are the ones who will lead the next decade of growth.