As generative AI applications invade the workspace, CIOs are rethinking training strategies. That means helping employees figure out how the technology can help them in their daily jobs and enhance company operations overall.
CIOs have two skillsets top of mind, according to Gartner Director Analyst Jose Ramirez. On one end, CIOs are prioritizing internal-facing database, network and IT support functions, Ramirez said. On the other end, baby boomers are retiring, a red alert for companies that use legacy software and infrastructure and lack younger workers who know these skills or want to learn them.
To fill high-demand technology positions, CIOs are turning to a mix of internal and external training strategies, leveraging resources from third parties and pairing workers up with in-house experts. A learning culture helps tech executives promote continuous training opportunities for their staff, especially as organizations embrace AI.
Hiring workers trained with in-demand IT skills is both expensive and difficult. That’s especially true in newer fields like AI. Jobs that require AI skills have a premium of up to 25% in some markets, according to PwC.
Instead of shopping for high priced talent on the open market, companies can reskill their own workers.
Manufacturer Lexmark offers employees the opportunity to take a year-long series of courses in areas like AI, data analytics and machine learning. The training comes through NC State University’s AI academy, a platform developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Labor. Lexmark has trained six cohorts of 15 people and is working with its seventh cohort now.
Participants are drawn from across the organization, and only about 25% work in IT, said Vishal Gupta, SVP, chief information and technology officer at Lexmark. Managers are encouraged to nominate employees who would be good candidates, and employees can ask to be considered.
Manager buy-in is critical, Gupta added, because the program is intense, often taking three to four hours of coursework per day. Leaders can help by giving employees opportunities to apply new knowledge to their work.
Lexmark also makes sure to celebrate these workers when their course is through. The company holds a graduation ceremony every six months, which the executive team attends. So far, no one has dropped out of the program, and there’s been almost no employee attrition.
Reskill workers at their own pace
A yearlong program is not the right fit for every employee — or every company. That’s why employers are also presenting other less-intense training opportunities.
Software company Hyland subscribes to online learning platforms and curates what it calls “playlists” of training modules that essentially build a class for someone to take — at their own pace, according to Hyland SVP and CIO Stephen Watt. To make sure employees take these classes, the company tracks participation and sets desired benchmarks.
Watt said creating a culture of learning can drive up participation. That includes making sure employees can work through these courses as part of their regular workday.
“Give your team members the time they need to improve themselves,” Watt said. “This isn’t something that can only be done after hours or on the weekend,” he said.
In September, Lexmark launched a broader learning opportunity for their employees who aren’t going through the AI Academy program. All employees are taking a half-hour course on how AI can help them at work, followed by a series of questionnaires that helps them choose, based on their role and current knowledge, what courses in AI they can take.
The goal is to determine “how we can apply AI to drive better productivity across the company,” said Gupta.
Leveraging in-house talent
Beyond online learning opportunities, CIOs can also tap into another powerful resource: their own employees.
Two-thirds of IT leaders found mentorship and coaching to be the most effective way to reskill their workforce, according to Gartner data. CIOs are undertaking initiatives like putting workers on rotational assignments for employees whose jobs might be phased out, to help them and their managers figure out where they should land next, said Ramirez.
Companies have to address legacy tech skill gaps, too, Ramirez pointed out.
As baby boomers retire, businesses lose critical knowledge about older technologies. That’s especially a concern for the public sector, where more senior workers are doing things like writing in older code languages and maintaining mainframes. “Brand new talent is simply not skilled in these areas — and also not interested in these areas,” Ramirez said.
CIOs can create communities of practice “with the intention to retain knowledge,” he said. Workers who are about to retire are encouraged to share “as much knowledge as they can with junior employees so they can take over some of these roles,” which includes creating documentation.
Instead of trying to replace older workers with someone who has the exact same skill set, CIOs can take a skills-based approach. “They deconstruct that role into skills and then have junior talent with those skills take on the work,” said Ramirez.