Published: August 27, 2009
Rising to the Corporate Education Challenge
Amid layoffs and restructuring, many companies are rethinking, not discarding, their efforts to build worker capabilities.
Had the current economic crisis occurred in the mid-1990s, it would surely have been followed by severe cutbacks in corporate education programs. During difficult periods in the past, worker training and development initiatives were typically seen as little more than a pricey luxury. Today, however, amid layoffs and restructuring, many companies are rethinking, rather than discarding, their efforts to build worker capabilities. The notion that human capital management — and particularly employee learning — can create competitive advantage and support corporate agendas has never been more compelling.
There are several reasons for this trend. First, downsizing necessitates retraining. Add to this the related strategic changes: the acceleration of organic growth initiatives, movements into new and adjacent markets, and adoption of new business or operating models, such as increased offshoring and outsourcing. Learning programs can also help improve morale by sending a signal that the company plans to be around for the long haul; otherwise, why train workers and managers for the future?
And beyond the crisis, the strategic importance of corporate education is driven by broader trends. The rise of the service economy has made work more complex; employees are increasingly called on to solve problems, as opposed to performing rote tasks. Global economic liberalization, new regulatory requirements, and other changes in the world at large require employees to be sufficiently knowledgeable to perform a variety of tasks. Technological changes have forced workers to stay up-to-date on increasingly advanced equipment and practices. And the brain drain brought about by the retirement of the baby boom generation is shrinking the available talent pool, propelling an influx of new, undertrained employees. (See “The Talent Innovation Imperative,” by DeAnne Aguirre, Laird Post, and Sylvia Ann Hewlett, s+b, Autumn 2009.)
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