Udemy Embraces Skill Badges to Boost Workforce Development

August 02, 2023: Udemy has unveiled a new “badging” feature on its platform to address the growing challenge of assessing employees’ technical skills. The offering, rolled out by the online learning platform on Tuesday, allows workers to earn digital skill badges to showcase their expertise in specific areas.

Udemy’s President of Business, Stephanie Stapleton Sudbury, highlighted that one of the main obstacles enterprise customers face is their uncertainty in evaluating and validating the technical skills within their organization. This makes it difficult for employers to ensure that their workforce possesses the skills needed to achieve strategic business outcomes both now and in the future.

With the introduction of skill badges and its comprehensive skills framework, Udemy aims to provide employers with easily digestible ways to assess their employees’ skills. This will enable them to make well-informed decisions about learning and development initiatives for their workforce.

The move comes as part of a broader trend, with companies like Google, LinkedIn, and IBM also offering skill badges to validate their employees’ competencies. However, despite the increasing popularity of these digital badges, many employers still need to figure out how to assess the overall quality of alternative credentials.

Udemy has partnered with 1EdTech to address these concerns to ensure that the course content aligns with industry-leading technical certifications, such as AWS and Azure. This collaboration will provide employers with greater confidence in the relevance and credibility of the badges earned by their employees.

Moreover, Udemy’s initiative aims to enhance the job application process for candidates holding skill badges. A report from Northeastern University highlighted that many talent acquisition systems still need to be equipped to recognize and accept nondegree credentials. This requires stakeholders to advocate for better verification options and improved interoperability when adopting HR tech.

In conclusion, Udemy’s foray into the skill badges trend is a significant step towards bridging the gap between employee skills and employer expectations. By offering verifiable badges aligned with in-demand technical certifications, the platform aims to provide actionable insights for employers and valuable recognition for employees. This move will likely contribute to a more efficient and effective workforce development landscape, benefiting individuals and organizations.