It is not uncommon for an individual to join a company and hope to stay within their ranks for a great time. However, many simply view new jobs as stepping stones to take them to a greater role in the future. Although corporations value employee retention, they cannot keep individuals from leaving. All they can do, is provide the tools someone needs to thrive in their space, for as long as they are there.
A way in which some companies strive to do this, is through adopting the values of a learning organisation. In order to be a learning organisation, a company must value opportunities to learn above all else, and chances to gain new skills are certainly invaluable. This means that employees within a company may feel more secure in their position, can grow within this organisation and be promoted internally, into senior roles, having gained volumes of experiences henceforth. However, it also makes your employees that do leave, even more desirable to new employers.
Learning organisations acknowledge that employees are valuable, and enriching their experiences within the workplace through stimuli and programmes that allow workers to grow and upskill. McKinsey.com, after undertaking research, estimate that coronavirus was a catalyst for changes within workplaces, and a subsequent demand for social and emotional skills will increase 25 percent in the United States alone over the next decade.
McKinsey suggested that by making skill building part of the daily life of the workplace, via what was called the “skills hub” an insurance company was able to implement a pilot study, focused around staff in call-centres and finance environments as their jobs would be most at risk when the company implemented more technological changes. They reported that “the hub offered learning modules to help employees gain necessary skills; when roles were being eliminated, the hub provided upskilling to help people qualify for a different role or to find adjacent roles where possible”.
By exploring the idea of reskilling individuals as an investment in employee talents, it allowed for staff in this company to become engaged. Daniel Pink identified that motivation derived from the idea of mastering your craft, autonomy at work and feeling that you have a purpose within an organisation, and in the world.
To reskill and improve upon pre-existing expertise, and becoming more engaged at work, means individuals may feel inclined to remain in these companies, as they are being valued as a person. So, even if a place is only a stepping stone, it may be a comfortable place to settle down for a while, after all, a nomadic working experience, throughout the pilgrimage that is the hunt for the dream job, can be exhausting.
Based in London, U.K., and founded in 2016 by Arvind Mishra The Agile Works (www.TheAgileWorks.com), is an up-and-coming recruitment and Agile consulting company. Arvind is a Certified SAFe SPC and regularly delivers both private and public SAFe certification workshops.
He is a design thinking expert, Sr. enterprise, portfolio Agile Coach with over a decade of experience working as an Agile coach in diverse industries such as banking, pharma, retail, auto, oil, gas, consulting and government.
The Agile Works; a small team of three strive to help shape the leadership's mind-set and values in readiness for their business transformation journey challenges. With Arvind at the helm, we strive to provide you with the agility tools to make your company that can thrive, and not just survive.
To book a consultation, or for any enquiries, you can contact Arvind via the following email address: arvind@theagileworks.com
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