What benefits does an organization get out by setting up an academy?

ANS: Setting up an Academy Organizations set up training academies where they provide a training course with/without certification in the area of their specialization to fresher candidates. Sometimes candidates with lesser experience are also considered. The candidates are charged fees for this course and are hired on successful completion of the course. The setting up of the academy involves answering the below mentioned questions: Why set up an academy? Who will do the training? Where will the training be conducted? How will it be conducted? Benefits of setting up a Training Academy By setting up an academy, an organization can get following benefits: (1) Reduced Hiring Costs As lesser number of employees will be hired by using consultants and more number of students will be hired from the training academy, the hiring cost is reduced. Also the organization generates revenue on every candidate trained. (2) Reduced Training Cost During the training period the candidates are not paid salary, so the cost of salaries paid during the training period is saved. The cost of salaries is a big component of training costs. For a BPO offering an average salary of INR 10,000 per month and a training duration of 2 months. Salary costs are INR 20,000 per employee during training. It may have hired 1000 employees last year and trained them and borne the cost of 2 Crores towards salaries during training. But by setting up an academy it saves on 2 crores in terms of salary costs. (3) Reduced Training Period Train to Hire process completely concentrates on training the new candidates, only the selected candidates are paid at the end of the training. As a large chunk of the training is conducted by the academy, the training period of the company reduces substantially. Their go-live time is the shortest. (4) Improved Bench Strength The organization has ready replacements available in case of employee turnover or any additional manpower required for expansion. The academy always has excess people than what the organization requires. This gives the organization

the flexibility to backfill at short notice and expands the business in the shortest possible time. The candidates ready in waiting to join the organization is called the bench strength. The Who and Where part of the questions can be explained as follows: Academy is the centre where the training would take place. The organization has to first decide whether the training will be conducted by the in-house trainers or it will be outsourced to vendors who have expertise in the required training subject. Once this is decided, the organization identifies a place for the Training Academy where the training would take place. Training Academy is either situated in the existing part of the organizations premises or a low cost area where the cost of land is relatively cheap. Organizations set up the Training Academy in the existing premises because it saves them any additional cost and makes it easier to make resources available to the candidates. Sometimes, the organization is reluctant to use its office space to avoid any administrative issues, maintain safety, and avoid information leakage about their products or schemes etc. These issues may arise due to having candidates inside the premise, who are yet not the organizations employees. Therefore, the Training Academy is set up outside the company premises. Other reasons for different premises are: (i) Not enough space in the company premises (ii) Organization reluctant to have the Academy in their premises (iii) Training outsourced to a vendor When the academy is to be set up in another location, then a low cost area is identified where the cost of land is relatively cheap. When the Train to Hire process is outsourced fully or partly to a vendor, the centre could be provided or arranged for by the vendor. This saves the organization any administrative burdens. The other reason could be that the organization is looking at the academy as a separate business venture. Benefits of setting up an academy for the organizations for the company, managers, and employees are :FOR THE COMPANY Reinforce corporate strategy, culture, and vision. Establish expectations for performance excellence, resulting in a

systematic approach to professional development, improved job satisfaction, and better employee retention. Increase the effectiveness of training and professional development programs by linking them to the success criteria (i.e., behavioral standards of excellence). Provide a common framework and language for discussing how to implement and communicate key strategies. Provide a common understanding of the scope and requirements of a specific role. Provide common, organization-wide standards for career levels that enable employees to move across business boundaries. FOR MANAGERS: Identify performance criteria to improve the accuracy and ease of the hiring and selection process. Provide more objective performance standards. Clarify standards of excellence for easier communication of performance expectations to direct reports. Provide a clear foundation for dialogue to occur between the manager and employee about performance, development, and careerrelated issues. FOR EMPLOYEES: Identify the success criteria (i.e., behavioral standards of performance excellence) required to be successful in their role. Support a more specific and objective assessment of their strengths and specify targeted areas for professional development. Provide development tools and methods for enhancing their skills. Provide the basis for a more objective dialogue with their manager or team about performance, development, and career related issues.