Build v. Buy: Should You Upskill Employees or Hire New Talent?

by Tim Pape

What We Cover in This Blog:

  • The risks and opportunities of training versus hiring talent
  • Upskilling considerations like cost, time, resources, and more
  • Hiring considerations like cost, leadership support, skill gap urgency, and more

When to Train Employees, When to Add Employees, and Why

This is a fast-moving world and skill gaps in the workforce can feel like precarious speed bumps. They slow your team to a crawl at the very moment you need to race ahead to meet change and tackle business goals. 

How can you minimize or erase the impact of these obstructive gaps?

Option 1: We Buy Skills by Hiring for Skills

For many hiring managers, the answer is to simply buy the skills by finding the right hire right away. And why not? It can feel faster to hire someone who is pre-skilled and (fingers crossed) able to contribute from their starting day on the job.

But, if you are always acquiring skills through new hires, what happens to the talent inside your business? Stagnation. Those speed bumps expand as more and more employees fall behind without upskilling and reskilling opportunities. 

Option 2: We Build Skills by Upskilling Employees

Another option is upskilling and reskilling the employees you have. A boon to retention and loyalty, training employees you know and trust to do work you need has numerous upsides. First, it keeps the business advancing together, minimizing skill-based slowdowns and growth hazards. Second, it increases workforce adaptability, teaching team members that growth and change is part of how the business and careers advance.

With plenty of upsides, upskilling and reskilling also face challenges. The first being time and urgency. The need to move quickly can sometimes keep businesses from taking the time to slow down and train. Other times the complexity of the skills needed, or the lack of in-house expertise and support, means the business has to hire the skills versus building them. 

How Do You Choose Whether to Upskill or to Hire?

So what’s the secret to knowing the right approach to workforce advancement–upskilling or hiring? Sometimes the answer is obvious. You just know you have to hire or it’s time to train. And other times it helps to have a checklist of considerations to help make the answer clear. 

That checklist is below, with a list of seven helpful considerations Synergis Learning and Development consultants guide businesses through as they assess how to approach various skill and knowledge gaps.

Upskill v. New Hire Checklist: Considerations & Questions to Ask

  1. Time: How Much Do You Have?

How much time do you have to get the project done or the need met? If deadlines are tight and the learning curve is steep, hiring someone with the required skills may be the only way to deliver on time. If you have more flexibility, upskilling current employees can be a great, long-term investment.

  1. Expertise: Is There In-house Support for Reskilling?

How deep is the existing expertise on your team, and who can train and support new learners? If your team already has a strong foundation and internal mentors, upskilling can be efficient. If not, bringing in outside talent with specialized knowledge may be necessary. Other times, finding a third-party provider to build and deliver the training can jump start a new area of expertise and a knowledge center for the business. 

For this consideration, it’s critical to ask, “how much do we need this to become an internal and growing area of expertise for the business?” If it’s substantial, building in-house expertise needs to be a priority, whether that begins with a new hire who can lead it or a new training program that will build it. 

  1. Talent: What’s the Appetite for Learning?

Do you have eager learners or a team of skeptics? A mix? The willingness and ability of your team to learn new skills is crucial. If your team is motivated and open to growth, upskilling can be highly effective. If not, hiring may be the better route as learning skeptics can cause more harm than good, even to the best-laid upskilling plans and programs. 

If upskilling and training are the approach your business needs, don’t worry. There are plenty of ways to reskill employees quickly and thoroughly and without losing time to your competitors. Connect with the L&D experts at Synergis to learn more. 

  1. Knowledge: Is Insider Insight a Must?

Is deep institutional knowledge required for the role? If so, upskilling someone who already understands your company’s processes and culture can be more effective than hiring externally. If the role is more technical or independent, outside hires may ramp up just as quickly.

  1. Skill Gaps: How Large is this Skill Gap Challenge?

How big are the knowledge or skill gaps? Minor gaps can often be bridged with targeted training, but if the gap is wide—such as needing a brand-new technical specialty—hiring someone with that expertise may be more practical.

  1. Retention: Could Hiring Talent Lead to Employee Turnover?

Do you need to retain in-house talent? Investing in your current team through upskilling can boost morale, loyalty, and retention. This is a tricky factor to navigate because the desire to upskill doesn’t always mesh with timing or the skill needs. In these cases, sometimes a balance of hiring and upskilling is the way to thread the needle–growing internal skills while leveraging new hires to cover immediate needs and gaps. 

  1. Executive Buy-in: Which Way Is the Business Leaning?

Leadership support is crucial for any talent strategy. Executive buy-in ensures alignment with business goals and secures the necessary resources. If leaders prioritize internal growth, upskilling initiatives are more likely to succeed. Conversely, if rapid transformation is the focus, leadership may favor hiring new expertise over investing in training. Leadership’s perspective is another important factor to weigh, and can reveal the level of support you will have moving forward.

Whether these questions lead you to an upskilling program or a recruiting effort, Synergis workforce and learning and development teams are here to help. Connect with Synergis today to get your workforce ready for the challenges ahead.