Great Learning, one of India’s leading EdTech companies for higher education and professional training, on account of World Youth Skills Day released a report titled ‘Upskilling Financial Impact Report.’
The report reveals interesting trends and insights on the ROI of upskilling for professionals at every stage of their career and emphasizes the long-term financial impact of upskilling. The study compares the returns that working professionals can get from upskilling, based on salary and salary increment data derived from primary and secondary sources as compared to professionals who do not upskill. It further illustrates the financial impact by making an intriguing comparison with asset classes including mutual funds, gold, and fixed-interest securities, among others.
The increment rates considered in the released report are in line with AON India’s Annual Salary Increase Survey. The report also refers to salary data of graduates and professionals prior to upskilling from Payscale. The salary data for those who upskill is based on the average salary drawn by Great Learning learners post completion of their programs.
1) Professionals who upskill earn Rs. 1.1 Cr more than their peers over a period of 10 yrs
According to the report, for both working professionals and recent graduates, upskilling can result in a significant increase in their annual salary.
For instance, a 25-year-old Software Engineer (from a tier 3 or 4 college), who on average earns 5.1 LPA; post upskilling can earn up to 10 LPA. The difference in salary every year would add up to 1.1 Cr in 10 years after considering the average annual increments and promotions cycle that are seen in the industry.
Data from AON India’s Salary Increase Survey forecast an average salary increment of 9.4% this year. The same survey indicates that the average increment for digitally upskilled professionals will be 12.5%. In addition, the promotion cycle of an average professional is 4 years as compared to an upskilled professional who gets promoted every 3 years as per the same report.
2) Upskilling provides minimum 18 times higher returns when compared with other asset classes like gold, mutual funds, and fixed deposits
The study provides insight through comparative analysis of the returns that professionals obtain when investing in any asset class. Gold rates, mutual funds, and cryptocurrency markets are subject to market risks. Upskilling, on the other hand, is an investment immune to the highs and lows of market insecurities and guarantees to get professionals high returns on their knowledge capital.
Investing in new skills fast-tracks career growth and compounds salary, assuring bigger and better returns than traditional assets.
If an individual invests 2 lakhs in equity mutual funds, it will become 6.2 lakhs in 10 years. However, if that same amount is invested in pursuing an upskilling course, that individual can earn 1.1 Cr more in salary than if he/she does not upskill as mentioned earlier. So the return is 18 times higher than equity mutual funds, which is the highest yielding asset otherwise.
3) Professionals who upskill can retire 10 years earlier than their peers who don’t
An early investment in upskilling by professionals can help them reach their retirement corpus 10 years earlier than others who do not.
For instance, the average salary of 4.4 LPA for a fresher going into a marketing role will increase to 6.5 LPA if they choose to upskill before entering the corporate world and by the time they reach the age of 50, the fresher who upskilled will have accumulated a lump sum of ~6 crores in their retirement fund. A person who did not upskill will need another 10 years to save the same amount.
4) Tech domains yield the highest returns but the others are not far behind
Great Learning offers dedicated career support to its learners through a widespread network of 12000+ hiring companies including almost all of the top ones across the globe. Below are some of the salary, industry, domain, city, and work experience trends seen among Great Learning’s learners through the company’s career support platforms – Great Learning Excelerate and CareerBoost.
- With an average salary of 6 LPA, Great Learning’s learners saw a salary hike of almost 62%
- The highest package of 28.15 LPA was offered by Microsoft for the role of software engineer to 6 learners
- Within Data Science, Business Analyst, Data Scientist, and Data Engineer were the top roles learners got offered last year with an average hike of 92%
- IT/Software and Pharma were the industries offering the highest salary hikes last year i.e. 96% and 150% respectively.
- Even though Bangalore saw the most number of placements, Hyderabad companies offered the highest average salary hike of 70%
Commenting on the report, Aparna Mahesh, Chief Marketing Officer, Great Learning, said,
“There is no doubt that upskilling oneself is one of the best investments professionals can make in today’s digital workplace. With this report, we have been able to quantify the financial impact of upskilling. People should make decisions about their careers and the skills required to succeed just like they would make financial investment-related decisions. This report will help students and professionals realize that keeping pace with technological advancements in the form of learning has measurable financial benefits and when they delay making this investment, they are also losing out on the returns. Millions of Great Learning learners are already on the path of building financial security by acquiring the right skills and building rewarding careers themselves.”
