benchmarking hr

BENCHMarking

REINVENTING LEARNING
Training is out! Learning is in! The concept of the corporate university has taken over the reins in the corporate world. Don't miss these invaluable experiences from global giants like Motorola, Ford, Polaroid and General Motors. An exciting new feature in the Human Capital's series on "Benchmarking HR".

HR

earning organizations, knowledge workers, intellectual capital. The hottest buzz words of today are opening up new avenues for HR to evolve as a multifaceted catalyst for business growth. And not surprisingly, in top companies across the globe, the training professional is under the microscope, his skills are being scrutinized like never before. Employee development is taking on entirely new dimensions. The latest fever enveloping the training world is the 'corporate university'. The concept refers to a company's centrally managed umbrella of in-house or off-site training initiatives. Most companies that launch a corporate university have rather simple objectives. In most cases, the aim is to systematize training as a function, maximise investment in employee education, or develop workforce employability. There could be wider goals like driving change in the organization or propagating a desired cultural ethos. But the end result is always one - remaining competitive in the global village. In the USA of the late eighties, one could count about 300-400 companies who had invested in the concept of a corporate university. Today, that figure has multiplied four to five times. About 40 percent of Fortune 500 firms offer training programs designed and delivered in-house for employees. Two thirds of companies with universities have classroom facilities, and many are experimenting with instruction via computers, intranet, satellite and other delivery methods. In fact, Disneyworld and Dell are are seen as benchmarks in customer service training and computer education and are even preferred over traditional educational institutions as centres of learning. Disneyworld and Dell are the rare examples. Several companies are entering the education business to keep up with changing technology and demands from customers and employees. Another reason is that companies want to take responsibility to develop the right educational experiences for their people rather than just passively sending them to continuing education programs. Disney University and McDonald's Hamburger University are examples of corporate universities that have campuses in the traditional sense where employees can attend regular training classes. Others operate in a virtual environment where learning materials are delivered electronically. However, the term "virtual" does not imply learning delivered via electronic means only. Distance education is increasingly regarded as a

Several companies are entering the education business to keep up with changing technology and demands from customers and employees. Another reason is that companies want to take responsibility to develop the right educational experiences for people.
very important medium of instruction for the corporate university and the trend is growing. As a natural corollary, the role of the traditional university is changing too. It is becoming more of a partner and consultant to corporations, specially those who prefer to partner with universities in implementing employee development programs rather than make heavy investments on their own.

Benchmarking for the corporate university

The grass is always greener on the other side. If he can do it, so can I. Its one thing to decide on launching a corporate university, but doing it with panache is not a cakewalk. The process needs an overdose of benchmarking. Best practice in benchmarking suggests that your first step should be to decide what to benchmark. Each organization has its own specific needs. So, identify the factors most critical to performance in your organization and identify specific units of measurement for them. From this, you can move to the next step, i.e., identifying benchmarking partners. There could be unlimited options here competitors, customers, line managers, professional associations, suppliers, trade magazines, annual reports, even product catalogs... The list is endless. It would be killing not to make use of training metrics to measure your training function against those of other companies. Metrics can help by allowing comparisons across organizations and industries. Wait till you convert a handful of raw data into ratios and percentages that can be tracked. This is when the fun begins. The next step is analysis, or organizing of information. Particular emphasis must be placed on identifying performance gaps that exist within your organization and that of the 'best practice' organizations. This is also where you need to concentrate on the presentation of your findings. When benchmarking the corporate university, the road is long and wide. Many related issues will

COMPANIES REINVENT LEARNING : BENCHMARKS

MOTOROLA
Motorola University is the most widely benchmarked corporate university in the world. Size does matter, proves the Motorola University, a $100 million global service business operating through 99 sites across 21 countries, employing 400 professional staff members. The university is run as an independent business operation, a profit center catering to business needs of various units. The minimum number of training hours per employee is pegged at 40 hours annually. By 2002, the company plans to deliver at least 30% to 40% of its training via technology. Network-based learning is a critical part of that strategy.

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES
United Technologies Corporation (UTC) provides employees with a standard tuition reimbursement benefit. What's more, the company gives 50 shares of company stock, for a bachelor's, master's degree or Ph.D. received by an employee at an accredited institution. UTC pays 100 percent for books and tuition upfront, employees do not have to wait weeks to be reimbursed for education expenses. The company also pays for half of all time off needed to attend classes, up to a maximum of three hours per week.

DISNEYWORLD
Disney University has come to be known as one of the most admired training organizations in the world. Every new entrant spends the first two days on the job at a 'Disney Traditions' class. Here, employees learn about the Disney history, philosophy and concepts of quality guest service. In addition to orientation, Disney University handles all skill-building and behavioural training. Discipline-specific training is handled by HR managers, in support with the centralized training organization. Disney University is moving away from the idea of having one place for education. Training is increasingly decentralized. While the vast majority is conducted by internal staff, some computer and technical training is outsourced. The long-term goal is to have university classrooms, or satellite campuses, in every business unit.

IBM
Technology is the primary driver at IBM Global Campus. The corporate intranet is used as a vehicle for just-in-time access to continuous, skills-driven learning. Extensive Lotus Notes training modules, complete with tutorials and multimedia courseware are available online. Employees have online access to IBM international technical conferences and even a bookstore. Employees are encouraged to use internal networks to develop professional relationships with 'dispersed mentors.'

FORD
The Fairlane Training and Development Center (FTDC), Ford's worldwide headquarters for training is a state-of-theart complex occupying a massive area of 296,000 square feet, making it one of the largest training facilities in the world. FTDC offers more than 350 courses including general business, technical, computer application and management development. As many as two-thirds of Ford employees (more than 100,000 employees) attend courses annually. Ford's goal is to provide the required training for every employee, every year. This figure can be as high as 120 hours for a single employee. FDTC functions as a profit centre. There is 'money-back' guarantee if the course does not achieve the promised objectives. FTDC's annual operating budget is $10 million, an amount that jumps to $1 billion if time away from the job is included.

VOLVO
Volvo University is made up of five schools: sales and marketing, aftersales, technical, corporate services and a school of leadership that goes across all other disciplines. VU provides specific skills-building courses within each of these schools. Everyone in the company is required to submit a development plan. Completion of individual development plans is keyed into individual bonuses. Ten percent of bonus is based on the employee's ability to get the training he needs. For a manager, 5% of the bonus is based on making sure that his team gets the training they need.

COMPANIES REINVENT LEARNING : BENCHMARKS

ELI LILLY
The company's Global Learning Alliance is a process designed to allow employees uniform access to information and courses around the world. Courses are delivered through a Virtual Learning Centre using a high-tech, user-friendly electronic system meant to make learning simple and direct. The Virtual Learning Centre, which offers a variety of courses over the Eli Lilly Virtual Information System (ELVIS). Courses are distributed on diskette, CD-ROM, video and over the Internet. With the Virtual Learning Centre, the company saved more than $900,000 in operating costs during 1997.

AETNA
At Aetna, the corporate university has returned to its executive training roots. Training has been decentralized. Most formal learning for Aetna's 40,000 employees is designed and delivered training professionals within the strategic business units. Training and development systems in the company focused on executive education and leadership development. Learning is a continuous, integrated process for all employees, and the emphasis is on delivering business-relevant education.

POLAROID
The Polaroid's Leadership Institute offers a wide variety of courses ranging from conflict management to labor law and project management. Course information is emailed directly to all eligible employees. Enrolling for courses, and updating training records are all done electronically. An employee can create his own training package tailored to his specific needs. The Leadership Institute has revamped Polaroid's training department completely. The training department uses outside vendors to provide the bulk of its stand-up training. Outsourcing allows for cost savings and more flexibility in scheduling classes. The Institute also acts as a cost center within the company, reporting to the human resources department. An important part of this is the Institute's Leadership Development Initiative, a program aimed at providing leadership and development skills to Polaroid employees. Though mainly geared for supervisory levels, any employee interested in leadership skills can enroll in the program.

SHELL
The Learning Center at Shell projects itself as a clearinghouse for best practices company-wide. As a first step in this direction, Shell has developed an organizational knowledge base in partnership with consulting major Arthur Andersen. The company has an inovative intranet program called The Shell Learning Center Knowledge Management System, that allows employees access to corporate knowledge and information in three critical areas - leadership, business and engagement - at their desks. More interestingly, employees can take part in online discussions, which are live at times. Now this is real learning.

CHICK-FIL A
Chick-fil-A is a restaurant chain, that has achieved milestones through its training initiatives. The company largely uses inhouse professionals as faculty for its training programmes. One way of identiftying training needs is through an annual seminar, where front-line people are asked what they would like to see accomplished and where the company can improve. For a fresh restaurant operator, there is a six week long orientation training that covers everything from Chick-fil-A values and culture to making its products. After six to eight months, operators come back for advanced programs in various functional and self development areas such as leadership, marketing and finance.

GENERAL MOTORS
General Motors University (GMU) oversees training for 650,000 employees. GMU plans to have working associations with functional colleges that will serve its global customers for their employees and business partners. The courses taught in these colleges will be designed in close cooperation with operations people from General Motors. Like most corporate universities, GMU combine instructor-led courses with distance learning opportunities and intranetbased training.

mission, values and culture of the organization, while training simply relates to effectiveness at one's individual role. At most corporates where the corporate university concept has succeeded, one finds traces of strong commitment of top management towards development of the workforce. Business strategy is the key driver of all learning efforts. In fact, in these companies, corporate universities run as profit centers, working closely with various business units and responding to their unique learning needs. Employees are encouraged to regard training as a stepping stone to career development and are rewarded for passing courses. Best practice corporate universities are not afraid to experiment. They do not believe in universal ground rules. Motorola University works on the basis of structured learning system design, but as for Saturn, they use poets and comedians to build courseware, and it still works like magic. Experts recommend that the organization should determine the mix between tactical course contents, which are necessary to get the job done and strategic course contents, which will cover longterm goal setting. The generally accepted ratio is 20% strategic and 80% tactical. The audience of the corporate university must be the entire workforce. In time, training courses, which cover the whole spectrum of the workforce should be developed or outsourced to external trainers or institutions. Selection of vendors for outsourcing training delivery should be a careful process, linked to the needs of the target groups. In benchmark examples of the corporate university, courses are transportable via a variety of delivery modes. They are flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse groups operating in various countries. Courses reach out to wherever the organization is operating and expanding. Leaders suggest that the corporate university should be allocated adequate resources for running the operation professionally. Initially the cost could be budgeted for at head office but in time the training costs can be recovered from the business units. Eventually the corporate university can become self-funding. In most successful examples, the corporate university is a structure separate from the HR function, with the total training function under its umbrella. Functioning as an independent profit center, catering to the organization's business needs would be an ultimate path to progress. H C

appear that go beyond mere training. Some of these would include aligning of learning experiences with company vision and goals; creating company-wide consistency in training initiatives; partnering with local institutions and organizations; designing a comprehensive, performance-based curriculum; and measuring the value and impact of training. Now that is quite a bunch... It is equally important for the benchmarking team to consider the implications of the results. Critical here is the strategy used to report the results across the organization; and the identification of opportunities for improvement. To drive benchmarking results across the goal line:
v Obtain full participation from management. v Encourage all individuals involved to commit themselves to the process. v Communicate goals and strategies to all. v Define a realistic timetable and action plan. v Set up and maintain communication channels. v Drive benchmarking with perseverance.

Coming down to the brasstacks

Strange how little things make the big difference. Some organizations suggest the use of the name 'learning center' or 'institute' instead of university. It makes a lot of sense, too, because learning systems extend beyond the narrow concept of training. The realm of a learning centre is the