Now here is something I think will be really a big win-win situation for employees as well as corporates.
If you have not understood what I am saying, here it is – IBM has announced a innovative partnership with Boston based Northeastern University College of Business Administration to complete an online degree course, which makes it possible for IBM employees based in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi to earn an MBA without disrupting their careers.
This is really novel – and I think has the potential to become a trend very soon with corporates, especially with the Large IT and Telecommunication companies and Multinationals.
Lets look at the benefits it will generate to the Company offering in-house degrees of this kind
- Employees in all probability will not leave for further Education, especially if they are getting a degree in-house from Reputed Foreign University.
- Employee retention problem will come down to a large extent, as this kind of offering will bring in loyalty for the company.
- One of the major points that clients look at while offering projects to companies is the average employee education. With such a scheme in place, companies can easily take the level of Average Employee education to next level.
- The company can afford to recruit Graduate resources at lower salaries and within a couple of years charge their clients fat fee for high flying MBA resources from known Universities.
- Offcourse, this will enhance the talent pool that company has for its own disposal.
- As the Degree course will be conducted online, existing Infrastructure could be easily be used. So, apart from partnering with a known University, they do not have to invest much in these kind of schemes.
I am sure there are few more indirect benefits as well, but the ones listed should be enough for corporates to look into such kind of partnerships seriously.
From the Employees point of view it is straight and simple – It is just huge plus for them !
- The Employees who will enroll will not have to leave Job (or salary) to complete their higher education
- The cost of acquiring high flying degree from foreign Universities will come by 90%, (especially because corporates will be offering subsidized rates). In case of IBM, they are offering 50% subsidy for it. The whole Degree can be acquired for less than $1200. Thats a steal !
- And finally you get a Big Degree from known University – What else will an Employee ask for.
It is surprising that companies like Infosys have already not done these kind of partnerships, especially because they have made some serious investments in building state-of-the-art training facilities for its Employees.
I have no doubt that this will become a huge trend for corporates in coming years – It can actually become a bait for attracting Talent.
How I wish, these kind of degrees were available when I was working :(
So readers, what do you think? Is this just for namesake – or does it have a potential to become a trend?
Let us know.