Lately, even the best organizations are struggling to keep workers from looking for new jobs. In a recent survey by PwC, 65% of employees reported that they are currently searching for a new role, and 88% of executives say that turnover is much higher than normal.
In a recent webinar, Gabe Dalporto, CEO of Udacity, had a conversation with Ravi Kumar, President of Infosys about different ways companies can invest in their talent to increase employee engagement, retention, and productivity.
Keep reading for the top three takeaways from the Fighting the Great Attrition with Radical Talent Transformation webinar with Infosys.
Hire People Who Know How to Learn
The traditional model of hiring was based on the concept of looking for people who already possess the skills the company needs. At Infosys, the recruiting strategy flips this model and instead of hiring workers with skills already in place, they instead look for people who are good at learning and demonstrate a desire to be lifelong learners.
“We have this value chain approach starting from assessing potential learnability,” says Kumar, “How do you tap into the potential of people, and then transition them using these pathways to skills and then to a job?”
These days, Infosys is tapping into a wide range of places to hire from, including community colleges, liberal arts and design schools, and more. Their main focus is to find people who are learning while also working because they are the best candidates for an apprenticeship program that trains employees in the exact skills the organization needs.
Upskill At Scale
Currently, there’s less available talent for hire than companies need. According to the August jobs report, there are 10 million open positions but only 8 million available workers for hire. This shortage in hirable talent proves that the best way to say ahead of the competition is to upskill workers that are already at the company.
“Deploying upskilling at scale is the key to staying relevant in the future,” Kumar says. “In fact, a large part of our growth is actually coming from not just hiring from outside, but actually reskilling what we have from inside.”
Kumar believes that a set of modular credentials — something similar to Udacity’s Nanodegrees — that can be built on top of each other but also uniquely suited to the specific workers’ interests, is the best way to upskill at scale. Kumar calls it a learn-and-work model, where employees build up new skills on-the-job. By combining forces with Udacity to provide that modular training, Infosys is hoping to close the talent gap while also providing more jobs.
Invest in Your Workforce to Fight Attrition
As stated earlier, many workers are considering leaving their current organizations to find new jobs. For some, it’s about making more money, but often it’s about finding a place where workers feel invested and can develop a career. Many companies are trying to offer more in terms of pay to keep workers, but simply throwing money at the problem doesn’t solve all the issues.
“You have to create more empathy, more purpose, and more stickiness in your workplace,” Kumar says. “One of [the ways to do that] is through upskilling and reskilling.”
There are many benefits to fighting attrition within the workforce through upskilling and reskilling. For one, current employees already understand the company culture and have meaningful connections within the company. Skills can be easily learned, but building a foundation as a worker at a company takes a lot of time and resources. That’s why the most successful organizations with the best retention focus on providing career trajectories for workers within the company.
Watch the Infosys + Udacity Webinar
If you’re interested in learning more about Infosys’ ideas on how to attract and hold on to top tech talent, watch the whole webinar.
Learn More About Upskilling Your Employees
Check out Udacity for Enterprise to learn more about upskilling your current talent and creating job-ready digital skills today.
