Employee training and development plans are becoming more strategic due to the nature of the businesses to create value and efficiency not just for their customers but also for the employees. Retaining exceptional employees has become one of the priorities of companies and a decent payroll apparently isn’t sufficient to do this. A lot of top-tier international companies have been pioneering ways to motivate and keepoutstanding people for the long run. Below we explore inititatives from three multinational corporates that have been making major investments in human resource development.
OCBC’s Future Smart Program
Headquartered in Singapore, OCBC is one of Asia’s leading banks providing banking, insurance and other financial services through its numerous subsidiaries based in 18 countries. OCBC recognizes the instrumental role that technology and digital competency plays in up-skilling the employees and integrating them to the highly mechanized financial industry. In accordance with this, OCBC has identified seven digital domains or Future Smart Pillars and each pillar comprises numerous courses and modules that the employees can take online to enhance their digital qualification standards.
In addition to the provision of such comprehensive courses and virtual assessment programs, OCBC has taken the ‘gig’ approach to add value to its staff by allowing them to secure freelancing roles on digital projects and other tech-based gigs within the company. The employees not only will have an opportunity to work with experts across teams but also will receive trainings conducted by external gig professionals to maximize their digital capacity. The goal of this strategy is to make sure that the ever changing technology will not make them vulnerable and to remain relevant and stay ahead in the competitive global financial market.
Key Takeaway: OCBC’s Future Smart Program apparently emphasizes on meeting the demands of the industry through digital transformation of the employees. This is done not just by providing courses but also by creating opportunities, in this case, gig roles, to allow the employees to apply their knowledge and aptitude to meaningful team projects. This groundbreaking strategy is optimal to make the employees grow through a series of trainings complemented by practical technology projects.
Amazon’ Career Choice Program
Amazon is an American Seattle-based electronic business company, cloud service provider and one of the most iconic retailers worldwide. Amazon has gained its name from its highly innovative employment of technology and practices as well as a huge investment in its workers. Amazon’s Career Choice Program allows the employees to participate in several on-site classes within Amazon facilities to have better professional competencies and pronounced career goals.
Amazon’s Career Choice Program also pre-pays 95% of tuition and fees for associates to study select subjects for high-demand professions like aircraft mechanics, computer-aided design and medical technologies. Employees who have been with Amazon for at least one year are eligible for this opportunity and this is a peculiar chance for those who wish to pursue professional degrees to enrich their career profile before embarking on more lucrative full-time roles at Amazon or other places. Amazon has particularly funded this program not just to equip its employees with skills relevant to Amazon only but primarily to source the employees with substantial qualifications to magnify their future career possibilities.
Key Takeaway: That Amazon nurtures its employees not to make them the best ‘Amazonians’ but to prepare them holistically to become the best professionals is apparent in this purposeful educational subsidizing program. Amazon keeps in mind that to make the employees grow is to put them on a track of meaningful learning journey. This is a simple yet strategic way to let employees know that the company cares about them for the long term, potentially increasing the employees’ positive regard and loyalty with the company.
Singapore Airlines’ Esprit De Corps
Composed of several airline subsidiaries, Singapore Airlines is the world’s leading airline, best known for its corporate branding and customer recognition due to committing to consistent branding as in the using of Singapore Girl dressed in the Southeast Asian representative attire, sarong kebaya, as the mascot. Singapore Airlines’ Esprit De Corps is one integral part of its long, arduous and intensive training series to enable the flight crews to be ready to communicate and coexist with people conveniently and to enhance the customer servicing skills.
Esprit De Corps is fostered among the employees by grouping them into wards, each composed of approximately 180 crew members led by one leader. The leaders organize team bonding activities, face-to-face discussion sessions, networking and engagement sessions and other regular team working schedules to ensure that they are aware of personalities and capabilities of not just themselves, but also their co-workers and fellow crew members.
Key Takeaway: Singapore Airlines sees the significance of team unity and team coordination especially when it comes to dealing with customers on a corporate level. Singapore Airlines’ Esprit De Corps is aligned to the creation of camaraderie and team spirit among the crew members, allowing them to interact with one another for an ample amount of time and letting them communicate ‘enough’. An intimate relationship within employees themselves is a positive aspect of many successful businesses and a key step in developing them on a more holistic level.