Learning programmes and individual career development have become vital for attracting, engaging and retaining top talent. In an era marked by VUCAlity, organisations need to reevaluate and recalibrate their workforce strategies to navigate turbulent disruptions posed by pandemics, gen AI, remote working and multi-generational workforces. Understanding the rapidly changing talent and learning paradigm is critical for making the right strategic and human capital decisions to pave the way for sustained growth. In conversation with Sumit Sabharwal, Vice President – HR, Fujitsu International Regions, we discuss all this and more.
Shifts in the larger business ecosystem influencing workforce and L&D trends
Sumit outlines the top three trends shaping the current talent and learning strategies for organisations:
Remote work and flexi-jobs: With increased demand and requirement for remote work opportunities, organisations have designed policies to integrate flexibility in work processes. This indicates talent and employer readiness to embrace a new way of work that is more location-agnostic and autonomous. He shares that data reveals that there is a 55% increase in remote job postings and about 80% of the organisations have remote-working policies.
Digital literacy and AI-driven work: The confidence that managers and employers are displaying in their teams to work remotely has directly led to the concept of virtual literacy gaining prominence. With new tools to collaborate and improve efficiency widely available, people and organisations have no option but to find new ways of doing the same work using AI and automation technologies. This is particularly important for the HR function as the use of digital AI-driven tools will soon dictate all aspects of the employee lifecycle, from recruitment to learning.
Emotional intelligence: As we step into a world powered by AI, we need to focus on how to make our work and interactions more human. This requires a conscious shift in our perspectives to build emotional intelligence that can help people easily navigate digital systems. Keeping people at the centre of the conversation to ensure their safety, wellness and job security is vital to making the most of technology.
These factors are shaping the evolving learning culture in today’s business landscape, which is increasingly driven by what the workforce wants. People today are more aware of their career choices and want to work with organisations that offer learning support and career development as core EVPs. With training certifications easily accessible now, there’s a heightened sense of competition in people, which makes it easier to drive the agenda as 67% of the workforce recognises the need to learn new skills to improve their work.
To make their L&D frameworks more effective, employers need to identify and fill this gap between what people want to learn and what they are offering to employees. Making learning more relevant, experiential and integrated is one of the surest ways to articulate and communicate the importance of continuous learning that aligns with overall strategy and change management goals.
Building a culture of innovation and learning
Cultivating a culture of learning is indispensable for an organisation like Fujitsu, which relies heavily on creativity and innovation. Sumit explains that at a fundamental level, there is an unparalleled focus on creating an environment for people to learn. Whether an individual is learning to upskill for work or simply because of their interest, aligning the learning needs and individual development plans with the learning goals is crucial. Giving people the freedom to choose how they wish to grow and engaging people to understand their aspirations is the first step of this process.
At Fujitsu, there are quarterly connect meetings between team members and their supervisors to ensure this alignment between individual and business learning needs. Next, breaking the learning journey to focus on the fundamentals before branching out to third-party providers and certifications is essential. Finally, allowing people to learn at their own pace and in their own style will ensure better retention of information and higher engagement. Balancing internal training versus external learning resources is vital to managing budgets and leadership buy-in, along with designing learner journeys, assessments and reviews. Similarly, clear talent requirements and learning goals can help HR leaders decide whether to nurture talent internally or acquire external top talent to fill the competency gaps.
At Fujitsu, while the external vis-a-vis internal training ratio varied across different functions and programmes, for upskilling programmes, a rough estimate is 80:20 while for the Global Capability Centers (GCC), it’s 60:40. When it comes to training days, the minimum number is 5 but it can go up to 10 days basis skill levels and business requirements.
Fujitsu also operates one of India’s largest bilingual language academies for the Japanese language, and there is a strong focus on building language skills. Sumit shares that teaching people a language and technology is usually a winning combination, as it covers the most critical soft and technical skills that can help them assimilate into a larger organisational culture.
So, there are very clear incentives to include language in your learning strategy while also dedicating a focus on helping entry-level professionals get ready for work. This transition from campus to corporate can set the tone for creating the right learning culture and environment, alongside integrating DEI programs that tackle issues like biases and ageism.
Preparing for a digital-first future of work through skilling
Sumit emphasises that unshakable attention is necessary to build simple and complex digital skills for employees. Fujitsu has implemented programmes that help employees and their family members build basic digital skills, nurturing more nuanced competencies in AI and ML. Furthermore, people are given the proper support and environment to experiment and apply their learning. Similarly, digital skilling has also become a part of ERGs as people discuss concepts like technology change management to understand how to build new skills.
This unrelenting focus on change management from a tech perspective has made prioritising the skills that need urgent attention easier. It’s also important to consider new-age business requirements alongside existing core competencies that require continuous focus. This amalgamation of structured and unstructured approaches to learning can make your framework more agile and responsive to emerging challenges. At Fujitsu, 70% of the organisational training is structured and defined at the start of the year while 30% is flexible to ensure just-in-time skilling.
Another crucial concern that L&D professionals must contend with is finding the ROI of learning investments and interventions. While measuring the effectiveness of your learning program on the Kirkpatrick model can give you a fair idea about the impact, it’s important to look beyond matrices and numbers when it comes to learning.
Sumit says that the biggest litmus test of a learning program is retention, as learning should lead to accountability and motivation. So, before you calculate the ROI of your programs, find the gaps to measure them accurately. Simply measuring the motivation and clarity of the learner can be a good starting point to gauge the effectiveness of training.
This interview is part of a series of conversations with talent and learning leaders in partnership with UNext for our in-depth research report on learning trends SkillScape 2024: Navigating India’s Talent Horizon.
We are thrilled to announce the release of the Skillscape 2024: Navigating India’s Talent Horizon. Brought to you by UNext Learning & People Matters, this report offers valuable insights into navigating the future of work. Download your copy now!