Amazon will invest $1.2 billion in upskilling programs to train its employees by 2025. The company aims to help them gain skills that will increase their efficiency and allow them to remain in step with the rest of the industry. Amazon’s Upskilling 2025 initiative, launched in 2019, aims to upskill 300,000 employees.
For a company like Amazon to invest in the talent development of its employees, it begs the question of just why reskilling and upskilling have become so prominent within multinational companies (MNCs). The answer seems to be lying in the never-ending evolution of technology.
In recent years, the demand for new skills as technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning have been on the rise in the Indian job market. Companies primarily based outside India are especially eager to ensure that their Indian employees remain on par with the global demands of the industry.
As such, MNCs in India have shifted their focus to training their employees to help them gain the skills needed to increase their work efficiency and quality. When it comes to reskilling and upskilling, artificial intelligence is the primary focus of different MNCs. Many organizations want their employees to have at least a basic knowledge of using various AI tools relevant to their industry.
Why are MNCs focusing on AI reskilling and upskilling?
As per the 2025 Global Workplace Skills Study by Emeritus, 96% of employees in India are using AI or Generative AI (GenAI) in some form for their work, with 95% of workers agreeing that AI has helped increase productivity.
This indicates a significant rise in the use of AI in the workplace, as both employees and employers have started to rely more on the technology. With AI and automation tools, several tasks once intrinsic to an organization’s operations are slowly being incorporated into how AI works.
While the use of AI has led to an increase in efficiency, it also, in many ways, has started to spell the end of skillsets that workers in India are long used to. The worry that AI might replace a worker is not unfounded, with many MNCs adopting the technology to better their operations.
That said, MNCs in India do not seem inclined to abandon their employees just yet. Even with the vast capabilities of AI, they are not willing to simply let their workers go.
73% of employers increased their investment in training over the past year, as per Emeritus. As it turns out, the knowledge that many existing skills might soon become obsolete has led major companies to accelerate their upskilling programs.
Through new measures in the training and development process, the companies have started to focus on retaining their workforce as much as possible by providing their valuable workers with skillsets to help them remain a part of the workforce.
With the widespread use of AI, MNCs have offered their employees upskilling programs focused on developing AI-related skills. Effective reskilling and upskilling methods also increase employee retention.
According to LinkedIn’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report, 7 out of 10 people claimed that learning helped them feel more connected to their company. The report also claimed that 47% of companies invest in career mentoring to boost employee retention. This is in line with the approach that major MNCs in India have taken to upskill their employees, especially in using AI.
Reskilling and upskilling initiatives
Observing the actions of some of the market’s most prominent names can reveal the true measure of MNCs’ investments in reskilling and upskilling initiatives.
Companies like TCS have taken considerable steps towards ensuring that their employees have the skills to work within the AI-dominated environment. In March 2024, the company announced how it had trained 3.5 lakh employees in GenAI skills to ensure their dominance in the field.
Similarly, Infosys launched its online educational program, Lex, in April 2018 to provide its employees with a continuous learning experience. The program has succeeded, with 30,000 participants clocking in over 39.5 million hours of learning in the fiscal year of 2022.
Participation in these reskilling and upskilling initiatives indicates something other than employers’ interest in training talent. It also highlights that employees are willing to participate in reskilling and upskilling to further their progress and remain in step with the industry.
Even the Indian government is keen on helping its workforce with reskilling and upskilling. A prime example is FutureSkills Prime, an initiative by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The digital learning ecosystem has a registered user base of over 20 lakhs across 13 states and over 160 companies. From the basics of AWS to the intricacies of cybersecurity, the initiative is geared toward helping Indian workers upskill digitally.
Having both the government and MNCs be invested in upskilling the Indian workforce in the digital field is easily understandable. The country has become a hub for various technological companies, and ensuring that this remains true in the upcoming years is crucial for the country’s economy and the financial plans of the MNCs.
What’s next for reskilling and upskilling?
Recent trends in reskilling and upskilling have highlighted the need for continuous learning. With technology constantly evolving, being content with expertise in one area is becoming a thing of the past. Workers today need to keep up with industry changes.
What has also become prominent is the ease with which workers can reskill and upskill. Platforms like Udemy and Coursera have become hubs for micro-learning, while upGrad’s digital courses have helped many employees earn educational qualifications while remaining in the workforce.
Thanks to AI’s growing capabilities and exponential rise in available resources, gaining guidance and crafting personalized learning paths has become much more accessible. Employees need only maintain a zeal for learning and be aware of using the latest technology to their advantage rather than succumbing to its vast capabilities.
Conclusion
Reskilling and upskilling the AI skills of its employees has become imperative for most MNCs in India. This urgency can be attributed to how AI tools provide more efficient ways of performing jobs that humans have always done.
However, most MNCs want to ensure that their loyal employees still have a productive role in their operations, which has led to the rise in learning programs. With robust reskilling and upskilling initiatives, companies can ensure decreased attrition while increasing employee engagement.
Employees also play a crucial role in ensuring the success of the reskilling and upskilling process. As lifelong learning becomes increasingly relevant, it is also essential that workers remain in touch with the latest industry updates and carve a niche for themselves that makes them indispensable to any employer.
