Empowering Employees

Every progressive organization thrives to create a work environment that is
aimed at fostering better output and productivity from the employees. But in a
dynamic business environment organizations have to periodically train their
manpower so as to meet the business and client expectations. Over the years many
IT organizations have invested millions of rupees on training and re-skilling
people. Clearly, creating training programs for employees is the most important
task of any organization. Training programs are no more considered as mere
orientation or induction sessions that educate on the companys structure and
policies. The dimensions have changed and it directly affects employees
performance. Innovations have not just happened on the technology front but also
in the process of executing these training sessions.

Ground Realities

In most HR surveys conducted last year by different agencies, feedback of
many IT employees said that training has to be better addressed. Most often,
training procedure comprises imparting the basic technical and non-technical
skills through online and classroom teachings. According to a report by Nasscom
sometime back, close to 39% of all graduates absorbed into IT companies are from
a non-IT backgroundchemical, mechanical and civil engineering students. The
companies therefore invest a lot more time and cost in training these students.
The question is how relevant is the content when it comes to competency building
sessions?

For instance, job requirements of customer service executives, technical
support team, or sales representatives are very complex. They must be able to
address complex needs of customers and exhibit strong product or service
offering knowledge. They should additionally be efficient in deploying strong
service or selling skills, and should be capable of using multiple tools and
technologies, and hence the need for personalized training.

HR experts also aver that in this slowdown scenario organizations might see
training as an additional spend and defer it for the time being. While this
makes business sense from a cost cutting perspective it makes for people getting
redundant with skills that might not be right for a market in doldrums. Instead
of on-site training that involves significant logistics costs, organizations can
resort to concepts like e-learning and leverage technologies like
videoconferencing.

There is definitely a cost factor involved in training every HR asset in the
company. Despite the gloom the expense on training is only going on the upward
side and this is worrying the employers and HR experts. Says NR Ganti, chairman
and MD, SQL Star International, This is probably why e-learning portals have
grown to be hugely successful, with more and more companies looking to adapt to
this revolution and introduce e-classrooms to train their recruits, or in some
cases, outsource them to knowledge centers. Companies like SQL have launched
unique initiatives like its e-learning portal called www.thelearningport.com.
The portal is built to provide innovative ways of training employees such as
blended learning methods.

Blended Learning

According to HR experts, blended learning is the need of the hour. By this
approach, employees learn by doing a task rather than reading about it or
hearing someone talk about it. The hallmark of blended learning is realistic
training that is up-to-date and ongoing. The blended learning approach connects
knowledge to real-world job performance through a targeted curriculum and
engaging classroom environment. The curriculum blends instructor-led training,
e-learning, simulations, role-plays and performance support systems.

During blended learning training sessions students use and learn skills that
are needed to ensure their success on the job. Through role-playing, students
are quickly engaged in the relevant job content and concepts, and the
time-to-proficiency, or learning curve is decreased dramatically. Meanwhile
companies also make huge cost savings by adopting a blended learning approach,
says Ganti.

The road ahead for training looks checkered due to the economic flux. But HR
being the key asset, concepts like blended learning, remote training and e-tutor
are gaining more credibility. While nothing can replace classroom based
training, the alternate training channel only augurs well for the HR departments
which can now deliver training programs in a most cost effective fashion.

Shrikanth G

shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in