ithering economic conditions may once again pose a threat to employee learning
and development. In an effort to slash discretionary spending, nearly half of U.S.
firms plan to cut their training budgets in 2009, according to a November report
by professional services firm Towers Perrin.
But while many companies see only crises ahead, Adecco
Group North America is taking a more optimistic view. It sees the current financial
turmoil as a prime opportunity to beef up the skills of its 6,000 permanent employees
and position itself to "catch the first wave" of new business when conditions improve,
says Rich Thompson, the Melville, New York-based staffing firm’s vice president
of training and staff development. (The training is not intended for Adecco’s contingency
staff that it finds for its corporate clients.)
Adecco Group North America is part of Adecco SA, a
Fortune
500 company with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. It bills itself as the largest
supplier of temporary workers in the world. Overall, the Swiss company generated
revenue of $33 billion in 2007. In addition to the 6,000 people directly employed
by the North American operation, it has about 120,000 temporary workers, and accounts
for roughly 15 percent of the company’s revenue overall.
The global staffing company is feeling the impact of
the financial crisis that is spreading like a virus to other sectors. Adecco’s revenue
in the U.S. and Canada declined 8 percent, the company said in a financial report
in November. But rather than curtailing development programs, Adecco North America
is going ahead with a plan launched in 2006 that requires every new employee to
complete a customized online learning program.
The intention is to centralize learning across Adecco’s
1,200 North American branches, which previously was "at best ad hoc, cost-prohibitive
and inconsistent," Thompson says. In addition, he says the on-demand system enables
employees to learn in their offices during the workday when it is convenient for
them.
Newly hired Adecco employees are expected to complete
at least one or two courses per day during their first 90 days, and completing the
program is a prerequisite to taking more advanced exercises.
Employees are lining up behind the mandate. Since its
inception, Adecco says the number of courses completed online soared from 78 in
2006 to nearly 60,000 thus far in 2008.
That number includes courses taken by longtime Adecco
employees, although Thompson attributes most of the uptick to newer employees. He
says 86 percent of newcomers thus far have fulfilled all the requirements of their
individual learning agendas.
"We know those people hear the same message in the same
way," Thompson says.
The company took its existing classroom material and
broke it into bite-size chunks that employees could complete online in about 15
minutes. It uses a learning management system created by GeoLearning Inc. in West
Des Moines, Iowa.
Adecco-specific learning requirements are divided according
to geographic region, lines of business or job function. For example, the skills
expected of recruiters who place financial professionals are different from those
who recruit and place clerical or support staff.
Adecco hasn’t eliminated instructor-led classes. Instead,
the company uses them as a reward. Only employees who fully complete their online
learning requirements are eligible to participate in Adecco’s instructor-led "High-Impact
Training" courses.
The arrangement not only helps cut back on airfare,
lodging and related travel expenses, but also lets Adecco classroom instructors
focus on strategy and execution, Thompson says.
Each class participant is given a coaching guide that
outlines specific steps they need to take to be successful in their job. Classes
revolve not around lectures, but instead thrust learners into group settings and
role-playing exercises that foster teamwork and communication. "We’re using the
classroom now for building confidence, not for introducing content," Thompson says.
Nearly one-third of corporate training in the U.S. occurs
online, and the percentage will grow as companies hasten to further reduce costs,
says Josh Bersin, whose Oakland, California, research firm, Bersin & Associates,
tracks trends in corporate training.
Large companies in particular are turning to e-learning
to get more bang for their training dollar, Bersin says.
"The content-development process forces companies to
think about their core competency models ahead of time, instead of just having an
instructor stand up and start talking," Bersin says.
Some of Adecco’s newcomers are farther along the development
path than others. Jacqueline Chen joined the company in 2007 as vice president of
public relations and communications and had previously represented Adecco when the
company was a client of a PR firm for which she worked.
As part of the required corporate training, Chen has
completed courses in diversity training and preventing sexual harassment. More significantly,
Chen is among a select group of human resources professionals at Adecco to receive
specialized training pertaining to an "internal reorganization."
"It helped me understand why we’re making the changes,
in layman’s terms and not corporate-speak. It also helped me understand how I could
potentially play a role in ensuring the success of these changes," Chen says.
In developing her personal learning agenda, Chen is
considering courses to strengthen her grasp of business and financial knowledge.
"Some companies have the methodology for mapping out
a career path but then never give any follow-up. Being a human resources company,
I imagine that’s not going to be the case here," Chen says.
Meanwhile, Adecco plans to continue using the classroom
not only to practice execution, but also to monitor people’s progress. Students
are given surveys before and after completing the class work. The surveys shed light
on whether employees are using what they have learned, Thompson says.
Although Thompson declined to be specific, he says the
program has exerted a "moderate effect" on Adecco’s overall turnover. "We know if
we get people through our program, we have a better chance of retaining them than
[those employees] that don’t go through it."
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