Additional at-work programs can provide valuable learning opportunities that don’t involve a computer screen. At our European headquarters in Dublin, we’ve been piloting a program we call Career Growth Experience. First, we identified the capabilities and skills that have enabled people to achieve success in specific jobs. Now we’re helping Dublin-based employees connect the skills they want to develop with specific career experiences that demonstrate mastery in those capabilities.
We should also explore nontraditional reskilling models that can help companies expand their talent pool by tapping into parts of the population that have significant potential but have been out of the workforce for a period of time. In a session at Workday Rising in October, Sheila Marcelo, CEO of Care.com, spoke about how Care.com has been encouraging the reentry of stay-at-home mothers into the workforce by recruiting them to help run its online marketplace. Marcelo is excited by the results they are seeing.
In a similar vein, at Workday, we’ve rolled out the Career Accelerator Program, which provides technical training and internships to military veterans who are challenged with transitioning from military life to meaningful careers in civilian life. During the pilot program in 2016, 83 percent of participants joined Workday full time, and 100 percent of participants told us they would recommend the program to other veterans transitioning to civilian life.
Advances in technology will continue to change the way we view talent and organize our workforces. In the face of this, it will be HR’s responsibility to provide the leadership necessary to ensure workers have the new skills required for our organizations to remain agile, efficient, and prepared for whatever disruptions the future brings.