The shelf life of a skill is now shorter than ever. Research from the BCG Henderson Institute suggests that by 2030, up to 29% of workers globally—more than 1 billion people—will find that the demand for their job is disappearing. How can people and businesses keep pace?

The answer lies in reskilling, but not all reskilling initiatives are created equal. The BCG Henderson Institute and Harvard Business School surveyed 1,215 US companies that implemented reskilling programs (defined as programs that help employees transition to completely different roles). We also interviewed 40 executives from leading reskilling innovators. Of the companies we surveyed, 40% reported a positive return on learning investment (ROLI), 4% reported a negative ROLI, and the rest either did not or could not do the calculation.

The fact that 40% of companies are measuring the impact of their reskilling initiative is quite promising. While the impact of skill building in general is notoriously difficult to assess, reskilling programs have a clear, measurable outcome: the people who participate in the program find new jobs. It is therefore possible to compare the costs of reskilling a person with the prospective costs of letting a person go and filling the job through an external hiring process. Our estimates show that this equation turns positive rather easily. However, a certain scale is required to offset the initial investment.

By studying the companies that reported having successful reskilling programs, we identified five ways that can help other companies can achieve a positive outcome.