3.7 Create individualized employee training plans that provide women opportunities to build skills in diverse technical areas to achieve skill parity within the company
Content
Description of Best Practices
Conduct individual and organizational sex-disaggregated functional training gap analysis for individual employees on competencies, skills, and knowledge they need to acquire to be effective in their roles as outlined in job descriptions, especially where women with diverse social identities are underrepresented
Close individual and organizational/ department skill gaps and imbalance through trainings with a strategic aim for exposing more women and individuals with diverse social identities to training and development opportunities
- Develop training plan for each employee and make sure to include measures explicitly aimed at guaranteeing exposure and/or upskilling for women to new but important areas of expertise
- If the analysis reveals that women are under-skilled in certain areas, invest in a training solution that targets women to achieve skill parity
Track differences between women and men, including those with diverse social identities, as this will provide helpful information for recruiting and onboarding
Accommodate unique gender-based constraints of trainees when formulating logistics and timing, platform, and approaches
Ensure opportunities include both group learning and individual learning plans to close knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA)[1] gaps
Develop different training formats and ensure childcare needs are taken into consideration (e.g., allow training attendance from remote workstations or by using online options to ensure women are not excluded due to traditional family roles)
Ensure trainings are held within regular office hours so that individuals, especially women, are not over-burdened with conflict with childcare responsibilities
Ensure learning opportunities are fully supported by the company and are offered through a variety of modalities, such as online learning, job rotations,[2] and classroom learning
Challenges of Implementation
Company may lack a structured process to conduct assessment
Analysis may require external support from an expert and resources
It may be difficult to address different training needs for women and men without introducing new bias
Training and skill development may happen on an ad hoc basis, but not with a long-term plan
Company may not have sufficient resources to train all employees at once
Company may not have sufficient resources to train all employees at once
Planners and trainers may not be sensitive or aware of the nuances and needs of holding training sessions at times convenient for all their employees and via methods that are most effective for different audiences
What Success Looks Like
Skills gaps assessed for individuals and within functional units
Gender equality gaps are addressed such that women and men feel equally equipped to perform within the company
Sufficient number of women and men are equally qualified for different positions (long-term)
Training plan in place for each employee
All employees able to attend trainings without additional burden outside of work hours
Employees benefit from learning opportunities, and overall KSAs improve
Resources and Tools
Tool: 13+ Sample Training Needs Assessment Templates (Sample Templates)
Tool: A Tool for Assessing the Gender Impact of Spending on Skills and Training (Close The Gap)
[1] KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES (KSA). These are what an employee needs to meet the requirements of a job. (Source: HR.com, Glossary of HR and Employee Benefit Terms)
[2] JOB ROTATION. Practice of transferring employees for temporary periods of time between varying jobs within an organization, which is often used as a training and development method. (Source: Society for Human Resource Management, Glossary of Human Resources Management Terms)