The CME Group's employee education package currently includes 70% of on-the-job learning, 20% of access to new ideas and people and 10% of training. Previously, the company-run development programs were for employees expected to become successors to their superiors, but not for beginners or novices. The Talent Exchange program was launched in 2012 under the original title "Help Wanted".
Volunteering hand in hand with personal and corporate development
Talent Exchange helps project managers find volunteers among the 2,500 employees who are willing to dedicate one to ten hours outside their work week to help their projects. They simply post a request for help on the internal portal. Employees who want to learn something new, enrich their working life by gaining new experiences or meet new people in the company, answer in the same easy way.
All projects must have clear goals and expectations, a well-defined beginning and end as well as other parameters like any real project. Each volunteer's involvement has to be approved by his or her supervisor. HR people then make sure that both the project leaders and volunteers understand their cooperation in the same way. Active support from managers for subordinates to voluntarily participate in the projects is essential too.
The program has been very successful so far. It has helped implement 63 projects which wouldn't have been realized without the help of volunteers. Four hundred employees were placed into project teams. Records of individual projects show more than 30,000 views. The percentage of vacancies the company fills by internal candidates rose to 25%. Now the program is being adapted so that it could be mandatory for all employees identified as "high potentials".
Does your company offer a similar program?
-kk-