The modern Gregorian calendar has been an unifying factor for humanity, especially in the area of business. And, when this calendar is refreshed every year, the sense of a new beginning is felt globally. So, given its reach, particularly in business, this is as much a time for corporate resolutions (for both localised and globally-distributed teams) as it is for personal resolutions. Besides, can there be a New Year celebration without gifting?
So, corporates will do well now to offer their employees gifts that will help them reinvent themselves through the year.
In the New Year list below, we are spelling out not only what corporates can do for their employees, but also what the employed can do for themselves.
An 'upskilling’ gift
Today, it's often a choice between staying relevant and becoming redundant. Staying relevant entails upskilling or reskilling. Upskilling is as much the responsibility of a corporate as it is of the employee concerned. So, as an employer, why don't you gift them an online course from any of the reputed certification providers. A majority of these service providers are offering discounts or running special offers for those enrolling in the New Year.
Udacity is offering a year-end 30% discount on its “nanodegree programs”. A brief note about these programmes that has been posted on its website says that they help participants acquire “in-demand skills”
Edureka is offering a discount of 20% for those enrolling for certification training programmes, most of which run for the duration of a month. Courses in Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, Python, DevOps, BigData and Robotic Process Automation are among the courses on offer.
Many à study has pointed out that there is a huge shortage of jobs in core technologies such as these, so why not gift your employees a course fee that would help them get a certification in any of these? You can probably do away with the culture of handing out those gift vouchers that can be used in a lifestyle store. What do you think?
Build your network
Ennui is the central aspect of human existence. Eventually, even the activities that we cherish the most will pall on us. So, there is always the possibility that the fizz will be missing from the once-exciting job. When you hit this road, start expanding your network. Look for professional groups where you can connect with people who provide new career insights or the resources to navigate the course to a new career. For example, it may be good idea to join one of the local chapters of NHRD, where you can connect with human resource professionals.
Make a list of major conferences and workshops you would like to attend this year and ask your office to sponsor those that are most likely to add value to your work at office. To give an example, if you are a woman technologist and want to connect with like-minded people get yourself a pass for the Grace Hopper Celebrations.
Continual learning
Certain messages have to be driven through the year and then the exercise has to be carried out, year in and year out. Only then would employees who have just joined an organisation know and understand what it stands for. There has to be programmes through the year to generate awareness about certain issues.
The #MeToo movement was a wake-up call for many companies to train their employees in POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace) and to set up an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC). This training should be a continual exercise. Now, the digital world makes continual learning possible.
A number of online tools have come up to help organisations in creating an ethical workplace. These e-learning tools can be used any time of the day by employees, once their employer has signed up for it.
Rainmaker (rainmaker.co.in), for instance, promotes learning through short videos followed by some exercises. Each “short film” is 30 to 45 minutes long with different modules for associates as well as the manager. They also train companies on how to carry out a POSH audit.
“ePOSH”, a techno-legal cloud platform by 1to1help, an employee assistance programme provider, helps organisation address issues related to sexual harassment at workplace.
Let them volunteer
About 66% of millennials in 2017 believed that companies were more focused on their own agenda rather than on well-being of the larger society. In 2018, this statistic, as per the Deloitte Millennial Survey 2018, grew by another 12%.
Another study by Goodera, a start-up that helps companies manage their CSR programmes, found that only 26% of corporates have a formal volunteering policy. Employee-volunteering can be a great source of employee engagement. Millennials want their business leaders to make a positive impact in society. If your company does not have a formal volunteering programme, encourage employees to volunteer, either individually or as a team. Give them a paid time off from work, to volunteer.
