Business leaders prefer to re-skill their existing workforce over new hirings, according to edtech firm upGrad and industry body FICCI report.

The report titled "High-Impact Online Learning at Scale" said 87% of the Learning & Development (L&D) and business leaders upGrad interviewed during the COVID19 crisis said that they are looking to reskill over hiring.

It was also observed that reskilling existing employees is always more economical than hiring new ones.

Additionally, 75% of the respondents claimed that they considered reskilling successful, in their respective organisations.

Post COVID19 outbreak, the numbers show that the budgets for online learning for many of the respondents have increased to more than 80% of the total L&D budgets.

Online learning comes with a set of challenges that include low completion rates and indifferent learner engagement.

“With a rapid increase of mobile internet users in India, which is expected to reach 85% households by 2024, online learning can change the education system and enhance the effectiveness of learning & teaching practices," said Shobha Mishra Ghosh, Asst Secretary General, FICCI.

The rapid adoption of new and emerging technologies is imperative for business success today. Across verticals, enterprises face barriers to this adoption due to a skills gap in their workforces. Such barriers can be crippling, hampering business growth in present-day hyper-dynamic marketplaces.

“We aim to partner with businesses and governments worldwide to transform their talent in the face of accelerating change,” added Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder & Executive Chairman, upGrad.