CHROs Are Focusing on Ed-Tech Partnerships to Mitigate Employee Turnover

CHROs across the world are using the power of digital learning platforms, combined with certifications from prestigious institutions to engage and retain employees. Here's how...

Being in a CHRO’s shoes, it’s fair to say that employee learning and development has steadily taken over the erstwhile corporate training sessions of yesteryears- and not just for the tangible value-add. Employees become more motivated, turnover is controlled (almost a major challenge for any CHRO), not to mention the fact that a well-qualified workforce is also a major customer attractor.

Technology is all-pervasive, and several innovators are using technology to transform their employee learning and development programs into an online technology-based, service -platform. The good news is that these have been widely accepted not only by large corporations and SMEs but also by the hitherto conventional universities and academicians, many of whom are leveraging the benefits of any time, anywhere learning for professionals.

CHROs are reaping the benefits of this new wonder to the hilt and the results are showing. In fact, 2016 saw the role of formal training during employment jump from 30% to 52%, YoY. Another fascinating statistic is the fact that 68% of workers, especially in the millennial category have quoted learning and development as the “most important workplace policy”.

68% of workers quoted learning and development as the “most important workplace policy”.

While these facts may not surprise most HCM leaders, the increasing number of integrated platforms certainly point out to the dominance that organization sponsored, technology-enabled, learning and development will have in the years to come. Ed Tech is on the way to becoming mainstream even as universities partner with the leading third-party technology platforms and offering certifications that employees value.

All the marquee names are in the game already: Harvard, Stanford, INSEAD, HEC and even the ones closer home: IIM, XLRI, MICA, and their ilk are using technology platforms to stream real-time, high-end professional education to working professionals anywhere in the world.

There is hardly any downside to this model of learning and development. The upsides, however, are numerous. Here are the top 2:

Employees WILL wait to complete their programs and earn their certifications – which include the valuable ones from prestigious institutions and learning authorities. Probably the biggest advantage for any CHRO in this aspect is throttling employee churn, and the modern L&D program model holds forth the biggest contribution to a CHRO’s performance.

Talent Attraction= Customer Attraction – Both ends of the market consider the organization more attractive, perhaps not without a bit of the bonus competitor-envy thrown in. The top talent, especially in the modern workforce is continually in a search for validation of their skills. In fact, the industry leaders across all sectors are rapidly adopting the practice of using prestigious certification programs to enhance their employee retention programs. Customers also prefer doing business with an organization whose employees are certified in their respective job functions.

The war for talent seems almost never-ending, and talent retention is a fairly obvious item right at the top of the modern CHRO’s agenda. Learning Management Systems, when coupled with a prestigious certification holds the key to employee motivation and learning and development, all rolled into one. It’s time the CHRO’s who have ignored this phenomenon, sit up and take notice.