Providing corporate learning opportunities is never far from the minds of inspired HR and other executive chiefs of the business world. They know for a fact, backed by reportage from around the world, that this is the one tool that provides employees single-minded confidence in their abilities.
Given the panic entailed in the business world by the pandemic, individual contribution and performance evaluation are and will continue to be under the scanner. Several business houses have already carried out retrenchment or will be forced to do it as soon as they are back to business-as-usual. There is a palpable freeze on fresh hiring and promotion. The severity of the unemployability problem becomes extremely apparent as recruiters cannot relax requirements while looking for new talent in these changed circumstances. But an endemic solution can be meted out to the top echelons of talent in the form of corporate learning. It is a two-pronged approach to breed trust and engagement in employees who show promise.
If corporate learning does not step in, candidates have no choice but to undertake self-learning and certification to prove to prospective employers that they do not fall under the purview of the unemployability problem or non-transferability of skills.
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Corporate learning melds hands-on learning opportunities for practice and skill-enhancement with efficient management of personal growth targets. The timing for such opportunities at technical education and innovative cross-training modules could not surface at a better time – when workers recognize the need to reinvent themselves and also have the time to dedicate to the learning of new tools. By taking advantage of corporate training solutions made available by the employer, employees can hit the ground running when the demand for skill stacked up against them paces up again. Many experts are of the opinion that unemployability is a bigger problem than unemployment in India.
The consensus among the ranks of workers and managers that learning is the need of the hour tips the scales toward online learning through corporate training solutions backed by video conferencing portals. The advent of and acclimation to edtech solutions and future of learning have the advances of digitization to thank. They make upskilling and reskilling possible without violating the norms of social distancing and remote working. While communal workspaces and offices run below capacity, attendance at technical education workshops sees full attendance. In the assessment of the trinity of cost, quality, and scale, the returns on learning online are in favor of taking the plunge.
Innovation in corporate learning and development offers true value because:
- It can be conducted in a self-paced format from the comfort of the home or wherever the employee follows shelters-in-place norms.
- The digital platform helps match candidates to career-shifting short courses, upskilling and reskilling avenues, and career-mapping tools at a glance. Learners can examine programs and curricula before choosing promising ones or shifting gears into related career pathways.
- AI-powered algorithms go one step further in analyzing learning styles and career patterns to suggest courses that are temperamentally-attuned to learners’ needs.
- Edtech applications, language apps, and online learning software are affordable by companies that seek to bring true value to employees through corporate learning. Employees allying themselves with such provisions make learning both engaging and efficient in terms of ROI of learning.
- Information Technology experts, app developers, and third-party vendors can come together virtually to put a framework that adds value to the many as such modules are scalable and dynamic
India’s very own high-performing public sector unit BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) is one of the shining examples of corporate training solutions invoked at the right time to regulate the unemployability problem. The company has created over 230 corporate learning opportunities for its employees through various mediums such as e-learning courses, webinars, and online training on technical, functional, managerial and behavioral domains.
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Corporate learning avenues are highly pertinent to India’s literate, bilingual, and relatively young workforce. Taking advantage of them in a slow period such as this one can turn a troubled time into one that nurtures new assets and abilities for India’s promising but sluggish economy.
References:
- Alok Kshirsagar and Co, Adapting workplace learning in the time of coronavirus, McKinsey Accelerate, May 2020
- Prachi Verma, BHEL lays down online employee engagement initiatives during lockdown, The Economic Times, May 1st, 2020
- Bornali Bhandari, Is e-learning the best bet during lockdown?, The HinduBusinessLine, April 24th, 2020
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