Categories:
- FOBO is becoming a global challenge, with studies suggesting that 40% of skills will become obsolete by 2030.
- Upskilling and reskilling programs help professionals stay relevant and align their development with corporate strategy.
- Personalization, with itineraries tailored to each employee, and a proactive culture of experimentation, also add points when it comes to encouraging daily learning.
- Intergenerational programs and reverse mentoring reduce digital divides, reinforce motivation, and promote internal cohesion.
Madrid, December 10, 2025. The incorporation of the latest technological innovations into the world of work will render 40% of today’s essential skills obsolete by 2030, according to the ‘Future of Jobs Report 2025’ published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) at the beginning of the year.
In line with these forecasts, FOBO (Fear Of Becoming Obsolete) is becoming an increasingly common problem among workers worldwide. Faced with this challenge, ODILO, a Spanish edtech company that transforms the way people and organizations learn in a unique digital environment, proposes adopting these five simple steps to put an end to FOBO in any company:
- Identify and measure the impact on the team
The first step in combating FOBO is to admit that it is not an isolated phenomenon. In 2023, 1 in 5 workers in the United States reported experiencing it, according to a Gallup poll. Since then, this concern has grown, with cases in numerous companies, especially larger ones.
Internal surveys and open conversations help you identify and measure the severity of these cases. They are also invaluable for analyzing skills gaps, translating this information into clear action plans, and implementing periodic assessments to evaluate each employee’s status in this area.
- Continuous learning: the opportunities of upskilling and reskilling
Continuous updating of skills and knowledge is essential to ensure no team member is left behind and to encourage both personal and professional growth in the workplace. In this way, each person continues to give their best and contribute to the business’s growth.
In this regard, companies must allocate part of the working day to developing training programs aligned with corporate strategy and tailored to the tasks and functions of each role and department. Similarly, it is essential to formulate cross-cutting skills, such as technological and digital competencies, to ensure each professional remains relevant and competitive.
- Customize learning paths
It is also crucial that programs are tailored to individual abilities, needs, and starting points. The key is to offer flexible training paths that progress at each employee’s pace. This makes learning a more fluid, motivating, and ultimately enriching experience.
In this regard, the value of the most advanced learning platforms lies in their content recommendations based on individual profiles, enabling professionals to design their own itineraries and track their personal achievements. This links training progress to growth opportunities within the company.
- Reverse mentoring: a necessary boost.
Encouraging younger employees to train more senior profiles in new technologies promotes two-way learning and creates a culture of collaboration. This approach enhances knowledge transfer, reduces the digital divide, and strengthens internal cohesion.
Reverse mentoring programs assign intergenerational work pairs in which each profile has a set of clear objectives and obligations, and the company serves as facilitator so that learning does not fall solely on the initiative of each individual.
- Foster a proactive culture of experimentation
Learning should never be an add-on, but a fundamental part of everyday work. Creating spaces for innovation, running workshops to deepen knowledge, and testing technological tools are among the actions that can be taken to transform FOBO into curiosity and proactivity.
These measures promote resilience and the ability to respond to new challenges. This approach can be complemented by publicly recognizing the involvement of the people who are part of these initiatives, as well as the successes achieved and the lessons learned from failures.
“Overcoming FOBO should not fall solely on the worker. It is an urgent call to action shared between the organization and the employee. Therefore, companies must offer real development opportunities that foster motivation, resilience, and growth in their teams. At the same time, each individual must commit to their own position as key to continuing to provide irreplaceable value in the workplace,” says Iván López, Global VP Corporate Sales at ODILO.
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ABOUT ODILO
ODILO is a digital education company that allows any organization to create its own Learning Ecosystem, offering its users unlimited access to the world’s largest catalog of multi-format educational content and the possibility of creating all kinds of learning experiences without restrictions. More than a thousand platforms have already been created, allowing access to 170 million users on five continents.
ODILO, the world’s largest educational ecosystem, has content agreements with more than 7,300 providers of digital educational content in all formats (courses, interactive applications, videos, podcasts, newspapers, magazines, audiobooks, e-books, etc.).
ODILO is a multi-vertical company that promotes learning in private companies, public and private schools, public and private universities, certified professional training, public administration, and government.