The Hindu Business Line : Tackling talent issues head-on

EMC, a global provider of information infrastructure solutions, began its corporate transformation three years ago with an agenda: that talent transformation in the company would happen with a strong accent on learning and development. EMC India, which sees itself as a microcosm of the global EMC organisation, delivers targeted learning and development programmes to all its employees to ensure that it is seen as an ‘Employer of Choice’ and its workforce drives business objectives and delivers innovative products and services that customers value.

“Since most of the business units are present here, it gives us the opportunity to provide job rotation and career growth to employees,” says R. Vidyasagar, Senior Director, HR, EMC Data Storage Systems India. Through its various learning and development initiatives, EMC touches the lives of employees through the lifecycle of their careers at the organisation, even after they reach leadership positions.

Poor employability

EMC is worried about the country’s disturbing employment scenario, says Vidyasagar. “Though India’s potential engineering talent pool presents some dream figures for a hiring manager, the reality is that employability in the IT sector is only about 25 per cent.”

The country has 347 institutes of higher education and 16,885 colleges with a total enrolment of over 99 lakh students. These institutes produce around 4.95 lakh technical graduates, nearly 23 lakh other graduates and over 3 lakh post-graduates every year. But when they arrive on the campus, recruitment managers find that not even a lakh of graduates are employable.

The poor employability levels have worked as a thrust for EMC India. In a joint programme with Junior Achievement (JA) India, a not-for-profit organisation and member of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide, the EMC India Centre of Excellence has been set up to help students overcome the skill gaps that becomes apparent when they enter the industry.

Says Vidyasagar, “The industry needs to work with all stakeholders to address the employability issue effectively and identify ways and means of empowering students through knowledge and skills required by the industry.”

The company is on a track of demystifying the IT industry to all its future employees. The JA-EMC alliance seeks to enhance students’ appreciation of software engineering, knowledge of macro-economics and business application of their skills. “This will help them understand how IT organisations work and the role that professionals play,” according to Vidyasagar. This engagement is expected to develop in students a better understanding of the workplace to help them make informed decisions. “We have identified some colleges and are talking to them. We expect to sign MoUs shortly,” he says.

Leadership pipeline

The next step in talent management is to create a pipeline of leadership and so through Individual Development Planning and Leadership and Executive Development Planning, EMC delivers targeted learning and development programmes to all its employees. IDP, which is mandatory for all EMC employees, helps them chart out career goals and prepares them for future roles through job-based assignments, self-development and education. For the top line of managers, there’s the leadership and executive development programme that is globally supported by EMC University.

EMC has been identified as one of the companies to make it to Training magazine’s top 125 list of companies with employer-sponsored workforce training and development. In fact, it is the highest ranked IT company on the list. Not surprising since the company is reported to spend close to $750 per year per employee on training programmes.