India, Inc. bets big on Corp varsities

NEW DELHI: If you wanna keep them, you gotta teach them — that seems to be the new mantra for HR managers. Learning organisations, meaning those which ensure constant employee learning, tend to retain employees better, agree HR professionals. With learning becoming a key differentiator for companies vying to retain talent, corporate varsities could be the next big thing in HR policies in the country.

Corporate universities are a global concept, used by the likes of Honda, BMW, McDonald’s and LVMH. These learning centres improve employee performance through teaching linked to the company’s business strategy.

Indian companies have already experimented with this concept. If Infosys has Infosys Leadership Institute for its employees, the Aditya Birla Group has Gyanodaya. Public sector unit National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has its Power Management Institute in Noida, which trains not just the PSU employees, but those from other power utilities as well.

“The corporate varsity concept boomed in the US 20 years ago, its time has come in India. Companies struggling to retain talent and vying for the same talent pool will find that this is the way to ensure employee retention,” said Shyam Viswanathan, chief executive, corporate education, Grow Talent Company. India Inc has been focusing on classroom and action learning.

With accelerated learning being the new mantra, it is imperative to train employees quickly and to ensure companies enjoy the return on investments as well.

Says Suchitra Rajendra, VP-HR, Frito Lay, “Gone are the days when a top performer will be happy with rewards like an overseas trip or frequent promotions. Today, the employtee needs to feel he is being given opportunities to learn by being assigned many responsibilities.”

“Without its employees’ growth, an organisation can’t grow. Continuous development of the employee is an imperative with us,” says NTPC general manager (HR) AC Chaturvedi. NTPC has not only been rated among the top three best employees in the country by various agencies, but also has an attrition rate of 0.23%.

IBM, which has a global corporate varsity in UK is learnt to be connecting its Indian employees virtually with the varsity as well as sending teachers from the varsity to train its India employees.

Adds Mr Viswanathan of Grow Talent, “With attrition being linked to how the employee envisions his future, employers have to ensure a learning opportunity for their employees to tap their untapped potential and help them grow more competent.”