When acquiring and retaining technical talent, Macy’s has a big challenge. For one thing, it’s a tough market. Particularly in the San Francisco Bay area, where the department store chain is located close to prominent tech companies like salesforce.com. It needed a differentiator to stand out amidst organizations that can afford to give a software developer a 10 percent higher employment offer plus two years paid rent downtown.
To outsmart that kind of bid, Macy’s reinvented itself as a learning organization, one that cares about its technical talent enough to help them grow faster in their careers and become more competent while on their jobs. The organization began working with DevelopIntelligence in 2015 to onboard a special group of new hires – former interns.
These new hires were fresh from school with computer science degrees in hand and they needed to be ramped up quickly and efficiently. Plus, the company needed a way to replicate the onboarding process.
A Customized Training Journey
“For most technology, the success is not so much the mastery of the system as it is the ability to apply it to what one does,” said Bob Mosher, CLO, Apply Synergies, a learning and performance solutions company.
After all, transfer and application on the job is what training should be all about. That’s why customization is rapidly becoming the new normal. Recently i4cp, the Institute for Corporate Productivity, collaborated with the Association for Talent Development (ADT) to conduct research on customizing or personalizing learning. Almost 75 percent of the 250-plus learning professionals surveyed reported that personalized learning was an especially effective approach for training technical employees.
“As the cherry on the top, we found in our data analysis that personalized learning for technical workers is strongly correlated to both market performance and better overall learning effectiveness,” said Carol Morrison, Senior Research Analyst for i4cp.
“Almost 75 percent of the 250-plus learning professionals surveyed reported that personalized learning was an especially effective approach for training technical employees.”
26 Training Days
Topics focus on everything from front end web development, to mobile, Android/iOS and internal technology stacks.
6-7 Classes
The program has multiple domains including discovery, where the customer discovers the site’s capabilities; check out, which is about the customer’s shopping cart; and the marketing domain; where participants start to learn and do machine learning.
3-4 Days in Length Each
Some 8 to 15 people from each of Macy’s intern pools end up in two TechStars cohorts that begin around February and August each year and the company plays a keen role in ensuring the program is tailor-made to suit its needs.
Most Technical Training Is Ineffective For One Reason
It’s the classic hard skills vs soft skills problem.
Macy’s found a way to stand out amidst organizations that can afford to give a software developer a 10 percent higher employment offer plus two years paid rent.
Knowledge transfer and application on the job is what training should be about. That’s why customization is rapidly becoming the new normal.
Almost 75 percent of 250-plus learning professionals surveyed report that personalized learning is especially effective approach to train technical employees.
Technical Talent Need - and Want - To Learn in Labs
Gathering data facilitates continuous program improvement in real time. Learners complete pre-assessments before the first day of class to gauge their skill levels and experience. Each course also distributes a mid-class survey to gather feedback, like, “oh, this is so slow” or “labs are great. Interested in advanced concepts.” These enable real-time course shifts. Then post-survey, the instructor can speed up or slow down according to learner’s specific needs. “If you wait until the end of a class to ask what’s going on, forget it,” said Patrick Keating, Business Development, DevelopIntelligence. “We also do an After Action Review.”
Pay Attention To Learning Preference
Part of the appeal in customizing learning for technical employees is enhancing the relevance of the training and its ability to engage learners. That’s why Morrison said if workers tell you they enjoy lab time and find it engaging, you should absolutely include that in the training you design for them.
She said other research i4cp has conducted revealed that hands on experiential and collaborative learning with peer groups are both particularly effective. Further, using those delivery methods affords technical workers more opportunities to practice new knowledge and skills. “A lab offers them a safe environment to do that,” she explained.
Business Outcome
Data analysis shows that creating personalized learning for technical talent has strong correlations to both market performance and greater learning effectiveness and retention. With that in mind, Macy’s did not hesitate to invest in some 92 courses throughout 2018, including Java, Python, Node.js, React, and other technologies. The investment equalled 229 training days and more than 1,830 instructor-led classroom hours. The popular retailer created a true partnership with DevelopIntelligence resulting in five consulting engagements in machine learning, user experience design teamwork, a TechEDP training program, and evaluation and attendance administration.
