‘Traditional upgrading and learning methods typically aren’t happening fast enough to keep up with the pace of work right now’
HR professionals hoping to help boost productivity at their organisations may want to turn their workers’ attention to microcredentials.
That’s because skills‑focused courses are increasingly necessary as technology, including artificial intelligence, reshapes jobs faster than traditional education can keep up, says one expert.
For employers under pressure to do more with leaner teams, she suggests microcredentials may offer a more agile approach to development than longer qualifications.
“Traditional upgrading and learning methods typically aren’t happening fast enough to keep up with the pace of work right now, especially with AI,” says Trish Matthews, CEO of Green Wise Academy, in an interview with Canadian HR Reporter. “People are looking to quickly hone their skills on current information, things that are happening in business and in industry, and they don’t have a lot of downtime to collect key important information that’ll support their roles in the organisation.”
What are microcredentials?
A microcredential is a representation of learning, awarded for completion of a short program that is focused on a discrete set of competencies (such skills, knowledge or attributes), and is sometimes related to other credentials, according to the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO).
The Future Skills Centre (FSC) describes microcredentials as short, employer‑relevant learning experiences focused on specific skills or competencies, awarded on the basis of assessment and often stackable into other credentials. They are promoted as flexible and lower‑cost options to support rapid upskilling and reskilling as digitisation and automation change labour‑market needs. For HR teams, that flexibility makes microcredentials an attractive tool for addressing emerging skill gaps without waiting for full program cycles.
However, according to the FSC’s State of Skills: Microcredentials report, released in March 2025, “many industry partners and employers remain confused about and lack awareness of microcredentials,” with employers highlighting inconsistencies in what skills and learning are actually conveyed. In one survey cited, 59 per cent of employers said they were “not familiar at all” with microcredentials and only 10 per cent reported having a good understanding.
Provincial governments have nevertheless poured money into the space. British Columbia provided $5 million for 35 microcredentials in 2021 aimed at priority shortages, while Ontario has committed more than $60 million to its microcredential strategy, funding over 1,900 programs and more than 100 projects. Other provinces, including Quebec, Alberta, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, have launched their own frameworks and pilots, creating a patchwork system HR leaders must now interpret.
HR urged to prioritise current skills over legacy degrees
Matthews says that, in hiring, employers are increasingly looking beyond formal degrees to evidence of recent, targeted learning. A four‑year degree or master’s still provides a foundation, she says, but after six years “information has changed so significantly that you’ll be looking at what candidates have done to support their knowledge around specific industry standards.” For HR, this means CVs need to be read with an eye to what learning has happened lately, not just what was earned a decade ago.
She argues that organisations should weigh current capability more heavily than legacy qualifications. Employers, she says, want “not just educational background and not just relevant employment background, but current up‑to‑date skills that employees are keeping up with on a fairly recent basis,” adding that she would expect “two to three microcredential sessions in a year for employees that are trying to keep up in terms of trends in industry and business strategy.” That expectation signals a move towards continuous learning as a performance norm.
On the future balance between degrees and short courses, Matthews believes microcredentials will gain relative importance. “My personal opinion is yes,” she says when asked whether they could become more valuable than traditional degrees, pointing to a “20‑hour microcredential that can make you a bit of an expert in an area that’s needed for your organisation to grow.” For HR, this shift forces a rethink of how job postings, pay bands and promotion criteria value recent, job‑specific learning versus older, general qualifications.
Nearly 9 in 10 (88%) employers believe that industry microcredentials can help a job candidate stand out, according to a previous report.
Linking microcredentials to internal mobility
While governments and post‑secondary institutions have moved quickly, Matthews says the way employers manage microcredentials internally will determine whether they deliver business value. She argues that learning must be directly connected to internal mobility and workforce planning, not treated as a series of ad hoc training events. That alignment is crucial if HR wants learning investments to translate into measurable productivity gains.
“You need to tie all external or internal learning to mobility,” she says. The key question, she adds, is whether a credential “moves either the business forward or does it move the person’s role forward in a strategic way.” That framing positions microcredentials as levers for succession planning and redeployment, rather than stand‑alone perks that sit outside career paths.
Matthews advises organisations to put “guardrails” around employee learning choices, guiding staff towards high‑quality, relevant programs while still allowing some flexibility. “If you can guide employees towards high quality relevant programs and provide financial support or time for them to take those types of credentials then I think that you can maintain some interest in the content while still achieving, you know, the business goals in the end,” she says.
Taking microcredentials is “a good step in the right direction of making learning more modular and bite-sized,” according to one expert.
