In today's world of disruption and technological advances, it is becoming crucial for organizations to develop a learning culture to reskill and upskill their workforce to prepare them for the work of tomorrow, else, they stand the danger of becoming irrelevant.
KPMG along with national human resource development (NHRD) assessed the state of learning and development in 138 leading organizations in India across the sectors. About 81 per cent of organisations report that their learning strategies are aligned with their business strategies.
However, measuring the impact on business outcomes is an untouched area, with only 18 per cent organisations measuring it. By showing tangible impact, learning and development (L&D) can build credibility with its stakeholders but measurement cannot be an end in itself. It's important to be cognizant of what and how much to measure.
In 29 per cent organizations, learning happens in isolation or is at best connected to Performance Management Systems. For employee development to be complete, learning needs to be better integrated with the other HR processes as well. Research shows that only a small percentage of organisations reporting connect learning to the developmental goals of an individual. This is a huge risk because it indicates two things. One, that learning is seen as a stand-alone activity. Two, that L&D is not owning the overall employee development.
This is also highlighted in the fact that only one in five organisations surveyed have the concept of personalised learning. Corporate learning still needs to evolve to bring the learner front and center. An analysis of the survey findings reveals that employees have limited autonomy in choosing their learning paths.
Also, companies are not leveraging technology for learning even though digitization is a key area. 50 per cent of the organisations have not explored the potential of learning through technology enabled platforms. "Embracing technology can help companies to scale their offering, make it cost efficient and also make it more impactful," says Nishchae Suri, Partner and Head, KPMG Learning Academy.
From all the sectors, it is ITES/BPO/KPO sector that are highest on the learning maturity index (LMI) of 79 across industries with highest scores. The lowest in the rank are NBFCs. This sector is characterised by a very low integration of learning with other HR processes and absence of a learning culture. Two out of three organisations in this industry, report very limited manager support and leadership endorsement to learning.