With skills gaps widening, how are leading companies preparing their employees to thrive—and not just adapt—in today’s digital economy?

For organisations to stay competitive, simply adapting is no longer enough. Employees must be empowered with the tools and learning resources to drive innovation, navigate complex challenges, and lead confidently into the future. Workforce development has moved beyond being a reactive measure—it’s now a proactive, strategic imperative to foster adaptability and resilience within every level of the business.

In this context, Bharti Airtel’s partnership with Skillsoft is an example of how strategic, forward-thinking learning initiatives can drive substantial impact, creating a robust learning culture that not only supports employee growth but also aligns with broader business objectives. 

This case study is part of the Skills Shift series curated to unpack the learning journeys of leading organisations, offering insights into how to foster an empowered workforce to meet the demands of tomorrow’s digital landscape.

The strategic vision: Driving learning and development

Bharti Airtel, a leading telecom service provider with a workforce of over 20,000 employees across India, has been at the forefront of India’s telecom revolution, adapting and leading from the 2G era to today's digital landscape. With a large and diverse workforce, the company needed to ensure that its employees—both in offices and on the field—had access to development opportunities. The company’s HR agenda focused on building a productive, inclusive, and engaged workforce aligned with Bharti Airtel’s business objectives.

Speaking of the strategic vision behind the partnership and how it aligns with Bharti Airtel’s broader goals, Taapshi Sharma, AVP - HR, Head - Learning & Development, shared that "With the rapid changes in today’s landscape, two priorities emerge for every HR and L&D team: continuous upskilling and reskilling. Achieving this requires building a culture where employees take ownership of their development."

The company recently launched a new Learning Experience platform to bring in personalized learning recommendations, social learning features, thus driving learner engagement. 

Airtel’s partnership with Skillsoft helped them leverage their diverse content library—including books, simulations, and certification courses—which allowed employees to learn in ways that suited them best. The availability of diverse format and content types helps bring in personalized learning recommendations, and  provide learners with the autonomy to choose content aligned with their career goals and interests.

Driving learning impact through campaigns

The L&D teams curated learning campaigns to drive the learning journeys. By introducing campaigns such as the "Learning Premier League" for the sales team and the "14 Days Learning Habits Challenge," the L&D team creatively engaged employees, using gamification and recognition to drive learning.

Leveraging the excitement of events like the T20 World Cup, a"Howzzat" campaign combined quizzes and micro-learning modules that received overwhelming participation from the employees. Gamified learning journeys and regular recognition of top learners through leaderboards kept the employees motivated and engaged.

The data-driven insights allowed for precise tracking and tailoring of learning paths to diverse employee needs. The company tracked several key metrics to measure the impact, including platform adoption rates, user engagement, and format preferences. Taapshi notes, "The pull-based, voluntary learning saw 85% platform adoption in just a few months, without mandatory training. We’re thrilled to see such high engagement in self-paced learning."

Having an engaging platform, which has relevant content, has inspired employees to engage in their learning journeys actively, culminating in Bharti Airtel winning the “Debut of the Year” award at the 2024 Skillsoft India Customer Awards.

Business impact: Laying the foundation for future growth

It is still early days and therefore impact at present can only be measured by way of input metrics of adoption and setting up of a learning culture.  “The Skillsoft partnership has been a key element in our journey of curating an integrating learning platform and bringing bespoke and bite-size learning at the fingertips of our employees. Additionally, we work closely with our businesses and functions to develop targeted learning journeys for each of them, ensuring our learning programs address specific needs effectively. We have also been working with teams to develop internal content, like our new podcast series, Limitless Pod, which received an overwhelming response. ” Taapshi noted.

Our work is focused on enabling a vibrant learning culture that enhances employee engagement, skill development, and leadership growth, positioning Airtel to build a future-ready workforce for the digital era.

Stay tuned for more in the "Skill Shift" series, where Skillsoft and People Matters showcase transformative learning strategies helping companies bridge the skills gap and drive business impact.

Learn more about how you can use Skillsoft Percipio to bolster your organisation’s future readiness!