In the Post-covid-19 World, L&D Needs to Work as an Enabler

Noida, India - Oct 29th, 2020 - Agility, adaptability, digital upskilling, tech-savviness are the pre-requisites in the post-COVID19 times. Companies must develop a strategy that enhances the digital capabilities of employees and empowers their adaptability and resilience, believes Shyam Verma, CHRO, JK Tech.

In an exclusive interaction with People Matters, Shyam Verma, CHRO, JK Tech shares some of the L&D initiatives initiated by JK Tech in this pandemic and the changing face of L&D.

Here are a few excerpts from the interview-

Q. The pandemic has also brought back the importance of reskilling and upskilling of resources as part of the larger business transformation in the wake of the crisis. What do you think are some of the trends around reskilling and upskilling post-COVID-19?

A. Mankind is witnessing one of the most devastating crises ever in human history. The pandemic that outreached 6 months affected the whole world. Every industry and sector has been affected in some or another way. Many economies around the world have endured long-term chronic suffering due to this pandemic. To succeed in post-COVID 19, it is a must for businesses to invest in upskilling and reskilling of the resources.

Analytics, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Automation, Cloud-based technologies, Quantum Computing, etc. would help organizations maintain an upskilled talent pool. It is, therefore, key for people to develop an aptitude to learn upcoming technologies and organization to future-proof employees through upskilling and reskilling. IT-based services companies have already stepped up in the reskilling of employees and meeting the demands of the clients.

Thus, to sustain in the post-COVID19 world, where business dynamics will change every day, it is extremely essential for an organization to act sensibly, leverage the right mix of technologies in various processes, or they will be left behind in this era of digitalization.

Q. How is the role of L&D professionals changing?

A.The ongoing situation has been a catalyst to a rapid shift in learning models, as this has opened a plethora of new-age learning opportunities for the employees as well as organizations. The current situation has reflected the need of the L&D department like never before. The role of L&D Professionals is now more crucial in the post-COVID19 world as they need to work as an enabler.

Training will be paramount in ensuring business continuity. Therefore, L&D professionals need to double up their efforts on making the learning process entirely virtual via digital methods as work from home (WFH) should not act as a deterrent when it comes to contributing meaningfully to the organization.

Thus, companies have to see the broader picture and in the post-COVID-19 scenario, L&D needs to be more agile, creative, tech-driven, and people-centric, with the capability to offer to learn flexibility within the working hours of the employees’ while utilizing technology.

Q. Companies that continue to invest in training and offer learning opportunities for their talent will emerge as winners on the other side of this crisis. What are some of the L&D initiatives initiated by JK Tech in this pandemic?

A. JK Tech understands the importance of learning and development and to continue delivering value-creating efforts, our company has taken several steps to establish and expand virtual learning programs. To upgrade the team’s functional expertise virtual functional training is being conducted on a monthly and quarterly basis.

Furthermore, to add some value in the work from home routine and bring positivity and productivity among the employees we have come up with JK Tech knowledge sessions for the employees where every employee gets an opportunity to learn about different subjects from multiple domains.

Additionally, our Technical Architecture Group (TAG) conducts bi-monthly/ monthly webinars for the internal audience to ensure employees are aware of the key solutions being introduced in the market. In order to maintain employee engagement and employee morale, fun activities are organized frequently.

Q. The pandemic also highlights the need to reskill and upskill workers towards stronger data science skills, a better understanding of artificial intelligence, and to expand digital literacy overall. What is JK Tech doing in that direction?

A. In this tumultuous time, data science has been at the forefront of detecting and predicting COVID-19. JK Tech is persistently working towards imparting training to expand the digital capabilities as well as working towards exploring the new horizons of an end-to-end digital customer experience journey. We have around 50+ certified practitioners from Integrated Intelligent Automation practice.

Recently, our practitioners certified themselves in overall 25 certifications during the last quarter across various RPA tools including AA, UiPath, and Soft motive and attended instructor-led training on “IQ Bot” facilitated by Automation Anywhere. Furthermore, JK Tech Team has been conducting technology webinars for the internal and external audience and share key insights and experience in automation, analytics, cloud technologies, etc., worldwide.

JK Tech also has its Intelligent Automation, Analytics, and Customer Experience Centre of Excellence where the employees continuously work towards building industry-specific and process-specific solutions.

Q. As talent leaders, reimagine workplace learning, what are some of the non-negotiables for improving learning culture in their organizations?

A. The non-negotiables that I see for improving learning culture in the organization are to:

• Formalize training and development plans yearly, quarterly and monthly. The training should be made mandatory for employees to participate. In addition, formalizing the knowledge sharing process would boost the upskilling and reskilling of employees.
• Employees who successfully complete the training should be recognized which would further motivate others to follow suit. This could also be done by giving upskilled employees a bigger role through Internal Job Postings (IJPs).
• Internal surveys and polls should be done to evaluate the training imparted and improvising the training further.

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