With much of the workforce in 2020 operating from the friendly confines of their own homes, nothing became more clear than this: tech skills are no longer a luxury, but a necessity. Leveling-up those skills, though, is a team effort, and it’s incumbent on employers to make sure they are providing their employees with the proper opportunities to expand their knowledge, and, in effect, their career potential. Joe Atkinson is the Vice Chair and Chief Products and Technology Officer at PwC, one of the largest professional services firms in the country, and a company that is setting a precedent when it comes to upskilling its workforce.

“Everybody should have an opportunity to grow their skills. It doesn't matter where you are in the organization If you have a desire and an inclination, then we believe that employers have a degree of obligation, almost like an employee benefit. It's the new 401k to make those assets of learning technical skills available.”

On this episode of IT Visionaries, Joe details why PwC places such an emphasis on upskilling, the importance of growth throughout an employee’s career journey, and how the employee experience is shifting how PwC conducts its business.

Main Takeaways

• Leveled Up: In order for your business to continue to evolve, so must your employees and their skills. Corporations need to start putting an emphasis on upskilling their employees, and that includes everyone from entry-level warehouse employees to those in upper management. If you don’t invest in your employees throughout their career life cycle, your business practices can stall and your workforce won’t be as agile.
• Bob the Builder: While it’s important to work with third-party vendors to fill your product needs, it is equally as important to continue to innovate and build your own products. By building your own products, you have an opportunity to fill in the gaps within the marketplace while providing your clients with products that are unique to them and fits their needs.
• Death of Billable Hours: The billable-hours approach is no longer a viable way of conducting business. By placing an emphasis on activity, the consequence is that you tend to overwork your employees, which eventually leads to diminishing returns and employee burnout.

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