By Steven Rath Morgan, Corporate Human Resources , Global Learning for Xerox
Are you making learning a priority to help fuel career growth? The White House and Xerox believe you should. Faced with long lists of business obligations, employees and their managers can easily get caught up focusing on daily tasks, with little time to think about long-term learning and development opportunities.
President Obama has focused on learning and education as a national priority to fuel economic growth and overcome wage stagnation in the U.S. In the new White House Report on the President’s Upskill Initiative, Xerox has been called out as a learning leader.
At the recent White House Upskill America Summit, a small group of leading employers, labor leaders, educators, non-profits, and technologists shared promising examples of continuous learning on the job — I represented Xerox’s Global Learning organization. Vice President Joe Biden framed the opportunity during his speech, webcast from the summit: “Training increases innovation and profitability by unleashing the talent of employees.”
Watch VP Joe Biden on the White House YouTube channel (18 min):
ARVE Error: need id and providerDuring the summit, the group discussed long-term vision and near-term steps that public and private sectors can take to build a widespread commitment to upskilling employees through on-the-job training, apprenticeships, higher education, credentialing, and mentorship, particularly for front-line workers.
Read the White House Fact Sheet: “Administration Announces New Commitments in Support of President Obama’s Upskill Initiative to Empower Workers with Education and Training”
Xerox Global Learning is recognized, particularly for the use of enterprise-wide learning technology and tools for global workforce knowledge sharing. Prior to the summit, I met numerous times with White House and National Economic Council officials and industry consultants to frame issues and opportunities.
Learning Delivers Success at Xerox
At Xerox, we believe that employers, employees, and the economy benefit from investment in training and learning. The corporations that continuously learn, adapt, and use their total workforce are best able to respond to customer demands and changing marketplaces. These companies are primed for growth.
The benefits of training and learning for employers, employees, and the economy include:
- Attract and retain talent.
- Build a talent pipeline for employers.
- Improve employee engagement.
- Build career progression for employees.
- Expand pay growth for employees.
- Fuel economic growth for the nation and the world.
As the Vice President noted, barriers to workforce learning not only include access (cost), but also awareness of opportunities and individual employee commitment to use the available resources.
Xerox is committed to introducing new high-impact learning practices and technology, including mobile access to learning and valuable industry certifications for our workforce. Professional development, and a culture of learning and knowledge sharing, is critical to our success.
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