As per a research done by LinkedIn, 94% of employees prefer those companies which invest in their learning and development programs. Complex business landscapes, technological disruption, and tougher global competition have led to the growing demand for employees to upskill. Virtual and digital learning programs were already at their peak during the first wave of coronavirus pandemic. And till date, companies are continuing to enable their learning and development programs for their employees.
Mr. Venkatraman Girish is the Head HR – Smart World & Communication, L&T Construction. He is an experienced Head Of Human Resources with a demonstrated track record in the Technology, Infrastructure and related growth industries. Girish brings expertise in HR Leadership roles, Learning & Capability Development, Employee Relations, HR Technology and Shared Services. He has handled CHRO roles in organizations including Jubilant Foodworks, IBM, Accenture & GE.
Edited excerpts:
a) How are you adapting to workplace learning in the Covid-19 situation?
– Remote working has opened up a new set of skills and opportunities as WFH was never a choice before in the infrastructure industry. Digital learning capabilities have gone up. We can now see higher utilization of live virtual & digital platforms for workplace learning. Also, people are now focusing more on self-learning with a much higher visitor rate and engagement on the company’s digital learning platform ATL. In addition, technical certifications received a great response from employees. Apart from that, many leading organizations flooded their sessions through webinars where most of them were free Certification courses which saw an uphill during the Covid-19 pandemic.
b) How has digitization accelerated the process of learning initiatives in different business organizations?
– Digitization has removed barriers w.r.t. location, time, and employee coverage. Learning initiatives have become more flexible. There has been a gradual move from synchronous learning like Classroom / “Virtual Instructor-Led” to e-Learning, digital books, social media learning. Also, we can see faster adoption of digital platforms, as everyone is trying to be on board by constantly upgrading themselves.
Digital learning has brought in a cost-effective way of learning. L&T is seeing a major transformation digitally, as more and more sites are getting digitized and gathering information with a single click.
L&T also organized many PHYGITAL sessions across sites, where employees are made to make use of their time in taking courses and getting certified through our LMS / Virtual learning platform (ATL). The entire process has been a great learning experience as L&T never fails to experiment and adapt key trends in the market to sustain competition and excel in business.
c) What are some of the learning strategies applied by the businesses in their training program?
– We adopted few learning strategies which include Technical Webinars led by internal experts, freedom to employees to learn at their own pace & convenience, provision of a wide range of learning opportunities across a comprehensive curriculum, technical certifications in cutting edge technologies and an overall culture of celebrating learning accomplishments & appreciating internal trainers who share their knowledge with their colleagues.
d) What are the essential components of the various learning and development programs in your business entity?
– Few crucial components of L&D programs in our business include:
- A comprehensive L&D curriculum which covers Technical skills, Certifications, Leadership skills, Compliance and new joiner assimilation
- Capability building of our talent to meet their aspirations, drive business growth and operational performance
- Empower and enable self-paced, collaborative and social learning.
- Leverage cutting edge technology to enable the above elements
Although the learning and development initiatives are typically designed for the employees, organizations can also build them strategically for aligning with the company cultural goals in all aspects. This is crucial to feel the capability gaps, demonstrate the measurable ROI, get aligned with the business strategies, and then be well integrated with the organization’s learning culture.
The return on investments in learning include the ability to hire and retain high performing talent, enable business growth into emerging & more profitable segments, sustain business performance and build a differentiated organizational culture.
