Customized & outcome-centric learning for a Skilled Workforce

India’s economy has progressed over the years leading to evolution of information technology businesses and continuous technology innovations that resulted in tremendous job opportunities like never before. While technology advancements have reached their peak with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and automation changing business dynamics, organizations around the world have been facing the reality of skill shortage, and India is at the core of this. A Talent Shortage Survey of 40,000 employers globally revealed that 45 percent of the organizations are struggling to fill roles and that India easily makes it to the top 10 most impacted countries list. 

On the surface, skilling should not be an issue. After all, India has one of the youngest workforces in the world and 64 percent of its sizable population will be in the working age group by 2021. Indian working professionals are culturally diverse, functional English speakers, possess good STEM skills and are ambitious. So, what exactly is holding us back from filling the skill gap and how can we fix that?

Constant technology evolutions have triggered workplaces to reimagine themselves. Development is a fast altering concept and learning is at the core of this. In the wake of digital transformation across industries, organizations are transmuting to adapt and embrace the evolving changes and demands that are exhibited in every business function. The only way to accommodate and adapt is through constant learning and real-world application. As there is a significant disconnect between the supply and demand of skills owing to the nature of the businesses, a “one size fits all” approach to learning and development does not work and puts business performance and innovation at risk. The approach to learning needs to evolve to align employee productivity and welfare with the business goals and metrics.

Reskilling momentum should be driven towards achieving tangible results that impact the employees and the employers positively

As Indian enterprises kick-start their digital transformation journeys, the need of the hour is to upskill and reskill their workforces in emerging digital technologies while also ensuring that the employees are adapting to the softer and cultural elements of digitally transformed businesses. Low-end IT jobs are becoming redundant, leading to a fall in hiring patterns, but the demand for professionals with specialized digital skills is on the rise. There is a short supply for such professionals mainly because of the disparity between industry expectations and academic curriculums. In the last two years, the need for reskilling has triggered professionals to proactively turn towards learning platforms to acquire new technology skills. The world is moving forward with advanced technologies such as Big Data, AI, Cloud, Machine Learning, Blockchain among others and professionals have realized that it's a “reskill or perish” scenario. 

Organizations need to create effective learning programs that are not only personalized but that can also provide clear outcomes to employees which are based on their existing skillsets, current, and future job requirements and structured career paths

Close to 1.5 million graduates enter the job industry each year, which makes it important that the young working professionals do not just find suitable job roles, but are also able to continuously adapt themselves to the changing industry needs. As workplaces evolve and business models change, professionals constantly need new skills to succeed. Reskilling and constant learning is every global CEO’s organizational vision and it's encouraging to see how organizations are adopting innovative and smart methods to instill a culture of learning that meets the personal and career growth ambitions of their employees and the demands of their growing businesses. 

With geographically dispersed teams and evolving business needs, there is no-one-size-fits-all approach to learning. Learning needs to vary for every business function and hence learning modules can no longer be uniform and common to all. Learning modules that can be customized to suit various industries and trends will only further help employees to apply the knowledge on the job. The training needs for fresher hires differ from those of mid-level managers and above. In fact, leading internet companies and Global In-house Centers (GICs) in India have online training programs as part of their onboarding process to ensure that their new hires are job ready, thus reducing the long training periods. On the other hand, Fortune 500 companies across IT, telecom, consumer and finance industries are now offering customized training programs on digital transformation to their employees across different levels and business units. 

The purpose of online learning in enterprises is to overcome the hurdles associated with traditional classrooms yet provide its face-value and benefits. Pure play e-learning hasn’t been successful on this front because of very low engagement, which has resulted in many MOOC learners dropping out because of lack of hands-on activity. The key for organizations is to ensure their employees are highly focused to learn through engaging learning programs that are outcome-centric. To address this, personalized learning through live virtual classes with global trainers, industry projects, labs and innovative features like study plans, community discussions, and teaching assistance further boost the learning engagement that results in higher course completion rates. 

Personalized learning programs reassure employees that their organization is genuinely concerned about their career growth and is investing in their careers via innovating learning programs. Thus, the need is to create effective learning programs that are not only personalized but that can also provide clear outcomes to employees. The outcomes must be based on their existing skillsets, current and future job requirements and structured career paths. More and more enterprises today are choosing “Learning-as-a-Service”. Collaborating with online training companies is giving enterprises many benefits such as affordable pricing, up-to-date and engaging learning content, ability to choose various industry experts as trainers, and most importantly, technology-enabled learning is providing teams across time zones with the flexibility to learn from anywhere and at any time. 

NASSCOM believes that 40 percent of India’s IT and outsourcing workforce will need to be upskilled over the next five years to make the most of new technologies. India has a unique opportunity to leverage this movement and become a world leader in a technology-driven world order. For that to happen, customized and result-oriented learning programs need to become a reality. Organizations should continue to instill learning culture in every employee and ensure learning does not stop. The reskilling momentum should be more driven towards achieving tangible results that impact the employees and the employers positively.