Maximizing Employees' Skills
T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

The Challenge

The software division of a large telecommunications company was experiencing problems in making use of their employees' skills. Repeatedly, their software engineers took company courses in new technologies but then experienced long delays before they were assigned to a project where they could apply their new skills.

A cost/benefit analysis of the training programs showed the specifics. During a particular month, 30 engineers took a training course at an average cost to the company of $2,500. Six months later, only six of them were actively using the knowledge and skills they had gained. Obviously, significant time and tens of thousands of dollars were wasted when engineers returned from these week-long courses only to have to resume their previous work.

The programmers were impatient and dissatisfied. Because they had no opportunity to use new skills, the skills eroded or were lost. Enthusiasm waned. Several times, management found that capable personnel had to retake courses.

The Solution

Managers began using SkillSolutions™ to track employees. SkillSolutions™ enabled them to target training programs appropriate to their learning level, to the specific topics needed, to actual work schedules, and to the upcoming assignment opportunities for the period immediately after training.

The result was an impressive turnaround. The period between training and the application of new knowledge to skills was dramatically reduced, and employee impatience with the training-to-assignment process was eased. The company is now leveraging the training dollars spent by making far more effective use of the newly-trained programmers' heightened skills and knowledge.