Navigating the Great Upgrade: Training Front-line Workers
There has been much discussion about ‘The Great Resignation’ in which employees are refusing to come back to work due to expanded unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits have been severely reduced, and employees have not rushed back to low-level jobs, even during the holiday scale up. America has entered The Great Upgrade. National Economic Council Deputy Director Bharat Ramamurti confirmed this on Twitter on Jan. 10, 2022.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 14, 2021 that those who are quitting their jobs are mainly non- management women, people of color and low-wage workers: America’s front-liners. “Thanks to the pandemic, front-liners were forced to use technology to shepherd their children through virtual schooling. Now they want to use their new-found tech skills to work remotely, in less abusive jobs with greater compensation, especially since the new COVID-19 variants are accelerating. Sadly, digital jobs have been elusive to front-liners as corporations continually require a Bachelor’s degree in computer science to access these jobs. Hence, front-liners are gravitating to companies that allow them to utilize alternative credentials, like cybersecurity/tech certifications.”
Automation Workz is training front-liners with business technology skills in network engineering, cybersecurity, Python and Linux. We are helping them double their salaries to improve their lifestyle.
Every corporate leader, especially Human Resources, need to develop careers from the perspective of the front-liner. Front-liners desire leaders and trainers who understand the historical, cultural and economic events that have impacted them. Front-liners want simple culturally relevant hands-on training opportunities to improve their career. When corporate leaders understand front-liners they can navigate The Great Upgrade and seize the $9 trillion diversity market, which is 52% of the entire market.
Is your corporation prepared for The Great Upgrade?
Ida Byrd-Hill is a futurist, economist and CEO of Automation Workz, a cybersecurity reskilling and diversity consulting firm. She is author of Invisible Talent Market, a Black Labor Economics History book. She holds an MBA from the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University, with a specialization in People Management/Strategy and a BA Economics from the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor. Byrd-Hill has appeared in Associated Press, BBC, Crain’s Business Detroit, CW Street Beat, Cybercrime Magazine, Daytime NBC, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Essence Magazine, Good Morning America, Let It Rip, Michigan Chronicle, Model D, NPR, PBS, and X-conomy. www.autoworkz.org/diverse-lens
