Companies shift focus on reskilling workforce for post-Covid world

With job losses and redundancies looming large, firms have taken to the idea of reskilling their workforce with gusto

As work from home and remote operations be­come the new normal, corporations have started focusing on reskilling their wo­rkforce to prepare for life afterwards. Not that reskilling is a shiny new idea; it’s just that with the spectre of job losses and redundancies looming large, firms have taken to the concept with great gusto.

One thing is clear: As and when normalcy in corpora­te functioning returns, cross functional expertise and better competencies will determine not just survival for the employees but also their roles, should they survive retrenchment rounds. The government withdrawing its earlier permission for non-essential e-commerce deliveries to resume and Oyo announcing pay cut and furloughs — both developments from the last few days — only hint at the uncertainty prevailing longer.

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The employees themselves realise this. LinkedIn’s latest “Workforce Confidence Index” survey (April 20) revealed 64 per cent professionals will increase their focus on learning.

With talent, either by choice or sensing the future, showing that kind of eagerness, companies are trying to instituitonalise the reskilling facilities. Take the case of FMCG major ITC, which has over 4,000 employees ac­ti­vely engaged in some or the other web-based learning prog­ra­mme to “gainfully utilise the ‘work-from-home’ period”. “Multiple stage gates tests are conducted to assess application in work areas. There are dedicated discussion fo­rums with senior management where the participation and success rate of these programmes are evaluated. The specific skills which the programmes impart and their ap­plication in respective work are­as are monitored carefully across each business. A central dashboard publishes regular bulletins on the coverage and application level of these courses,” is how Amitav Mukherji, head, corporate hu­man re­so­urces, ITC, summarises the broad contours and result orientation of the programme.

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As things stand, customising programmes based on employee learning needs, closely monitoring adaption rates and exploring external resources to improve training are some of the key aspects of this strategy. Employee well-being during quarantine is also a key ingredient with more Covid-like scenarios in mind.

Another FMCG player, Marico, has ensured it upskills members along fo­ur basic parameters: Individual needs, learning needs, preferences and aspirations; the em­ployee life cycle where specific rhythms and challenges are de­signed according to the various stages the employees are in; loo­king at specific cohorts for the leadership journey participants and finally, keeping future skill needs in mind.

Where it has altered its re­skilling programme post the Covid-induced slowdown is, by integrating additional learning tracks such as leading with re­silience, decision making in crisis situations, leading with em­pathy and so on. It has launched a slew of programmes covering overall member well-being —such as mind fit, eat fit, care fit and stay fit plans. All these, believes Amit Prakash, CHRO, Marico Limited, will come in handy after the immediate challenges subside.

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HUL is betting big on its re­cently-launched #HUL­Le­arns­Together — a campaign which contains a bouquet of different solutions to cater to unique le­arning and well-being needs. “HUL has a culture of continual learning – internal leader-led courses, best-in-class external resources and partnerships, and employees, based on their interest and upskilling priority, can join the session of their choice. A focus area for us now is helping our leaders with their energy and well-being and supporting them in leading remote teams,” says a company spokesperson.

Ajay Shah, vice-president and head, recruitment services, TeamLease Services, explains the now-versus-earlier scenario as far as reskilling is concerned: “Every established company wi­th access to digital data had platforms ready but the adaption was slow. Now it will pick up wi­th the management tracking the result orientation and it has be­come an important factor be­ca­use if your bandwidth has dro­pped to 20-30 per cent of actual work, the best thing to do would be to utilise the time for imparting information and knowledge.”

Ashutosh Bhattacharya, the founding partner of internal communication agency 10 minutes to 1, says that since the lockdown has been put in place, there are many companies approaching it with queries on skill upgradation. “When you create these programmes, you create purpose and structure in the life of an employee on a daily basis,” he underlines a key function of such activities.

These programmes are not for PR’s sake; corporations organising and sponsoring them mean business, quite literally. Success rates are determined by key factors like the levels of attendance, employees’ eagerness to participate which is measured through registration, interaction of employees which is measured through participation and instant feedback through live chats, says B K Goenka, chairman, Welspun Group. He makes it clear that the return on investment measurements are plugged into the employees’ human resource information system. The procedure takes 30 days to 90 days as it is dependent on the participant’s application to the learning process and then pulse surveys that would be carried out to measure the impact.