Despite technological advancements that are redefining business operations, growing competition among organizations to hire and retain top talent and worrying skills mismatch in the workplace, institutions have not put in place requisite learning and development systems to bridge skills gap, cultivate relationships in the workplace, ensure employee satisfaction and grow bottom lines, experts have said/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 5 – Training, Learning and Development industry players among them Human Resources practitioners and Training Managers are meeting in Nairobi for the inaugural Annual Training Evaluation Compendium in Africa, ATECA, conference, the first of its kind in the region.
Themed ‘Value and Accountability in Training Management and Human Resource Development Investments,’ the gathering is looking at placing a pulse on the current learning systems and technologies while championing for increased investment in modern training models that makes business sense to African organizations and their workforce. It is targeting corporate, academia, Not-for-Profit, government and International Development institutions.
Despite technological advancements that are redefining business operations, growing competition among organizations to hire and retain top talent and worrying skills mismatch in the workplace, institutions have not put in place requisite learning and development systems to bridge skills gap, cultivate relationships in the workplace, ensure employee satisfaction and grow bottom lines, experts have said.
Human resource practitioners and training managers continue to grapple with a fast changing business landscape that requires constant skills upgrade and a growing demand for personal development from staff coming at a time when reports point to a worrying trend where both leaders and staff lack organizational skills to take their businesses to the next level.
But even as employees express appetite for learning and development training that have proved effective in an organization’s wellbeing, studies indicate that there hasn’t been commensurate investment in them by organizations.
A recently released report conducted by City & Guilds Group business Kineo, a leading global skills organization, indicate that while employees around the world have a strong appetite for learning, they are inhibited by a lack of accessible, appropriate and engaging training opportunities. The study that surveyed 6500 employees and 1300 employers across 13 markets among them Kenya, South Africa and UK found that while 79 per cent of employees expressed interest in seeing a bigger focus on training and people development in their workplace, 85 per cent are currently struggling to access training in their workplace.
But even the existing training programmes have also come under scrutiny with only 16 per cent of those surveyed in the study finding them effective and relevant to their growth and that of their organizations. As the workplace learning and development programmes fail to meet employee’s expectations, the staff are looking at personalized alternatives with the research indicating that 6 out of the ten employees surveyed invested their personal time in learning, education or training activity, and 59 per cent had sought online advice, guidance or e-learning solutions.
The conference intends to also develop an open source compendium of best practices that will bolster and harmonize training, learning and development among African organizations while aligning them to emerging global trends.
