A silver bullet for businesses in an economic downturn
As one third of the global economy is likely to fall into a recession in 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), what Vietnamese businesses could do to maintain growth was the topic discussed at the Seminar titled "Staying ahead of the curve during economic slowdown" in Hanoi on April 4th.
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| The Seminar "Staying ahead of the curve during economic slowdown" took place on April 4 in Hanoi. (Photo: FUNiX) |
With the panelists including industry experts Greg Brown - CEO of Udemy, the world's leading training platform; Nguyen Hung Son, Member of VINASA’s Standing Committee, Chairman of FSI Technology Development and Trading Investment JSC; Nguyen Thi Thu Hien - Director of the Enterprise Training Academy under FUNiX; Bui Nguyet Anh - Vietnam Director of BNI, the world's largest trade association; Le Dinh Thinh - Talent Development Lead at One Mount, the seminar offered multiple perspectives on how Vietnamese businesses could overcome an economic downturn.
The panel discussion revolved around two main topics: competing through employee upskilling and building a culture of lifelong learning.
Udemy CEO Greg Brown opened the seminar by presenting global trends shaping organizations’ upskilling effort, such as an aging world population, recruiters’ increasing emphasis on skills over qualifications, job mobility, a hybrid workforce, rapid digital transformation...
This was all happening with the backdrop of economic uncertainty and volatility. After about a year of uncertainty in 2022, the global economy is in a steep slowdown, and even a moderate hit could tip it into recession, according to the latest report by the World Bank.
In these uncertain times, it’s even more crucial for employers to bridge the skills gap. “By building integrated learning programs, organizations can turn the tide and find new revenue streams through upskilling their teams,” Brown said.
Brown’s presentation showed some thought-provoking statistics. One study of 3 million workers highlighted career development as a top driver of employee engagement. Low employee engagement caused organizations an estimated 7.8 trillion USD per year, or 11% of global GDP.
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| CEO Udemy Greg Brown speaking at the seminar. (Photo: FUNiX) |
By fostering a culture of learning, businesses are 2.6 times more likely to exceed financial targets, 7.2 times more likely to engage and retain employees. Organizations with the most engaged employees are 23% more profitable. Loyal employees also typically plan to stay 6-10 more years than other employees
Udemy CEO also shared about success stories of Udemy's customers, such as: Panasonic, Booz Allen - the world's leading consulting firm, Eventbrite - a global self-service ticketing platform, Lyft - a Silicon Valley based ride-sharing tech company. With its Marketplace model, Udemy is one of the biggest Massive Open Online courses (MOOC) platforms in the world. Udemy's partners have experienced 18 - 20% growth thanks to investment in employee learning.
During the panel discussion, the panelists also offered practical solutions to companies to raise competitiveness through building a culture of learning.
According to Nguyen Hung Son, Member of VINASA’s Standing Committee, Vietnamese tech companies are aware of the importance of regular upskilling. However, skill development is not yet timely and optimal in terms of resource usage. Many businesses are also not familiar with new, technology-powered learning services.
Le Dinh Thinh, Talent Development Lead at One Mount proposed applying agile thinking to business upskilling, i.e it should be flexible and timely rather than perfect. Thinh brought up the concept of "Buy and Build", in which, "Buy" is to attract talent with benefits, "Build" is to retain them by establishing a learning path for each position. At One Mouth, Udemy's in-depth analytics on users has given management with valuable insights to provide timely support to learners.
A learning solution highly recommended by the panelists is to take advantage of online learning platforms and help employees build learning habits by providing personalized, in-demand content. As employees apply what they learn to their work, a culture of learning is formed, enabling organizations to quickly adapt to unpredictable market changes.
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| The panel discussion at the Seminar. (Photo: FUNiX) |
Udemy CEO expressed belief that for learning to be effective, businesses need to build learning programs to match with what they need. To do so, they should enlist support from professional learning solution providers.
At the seminar, Brown introduced Udemy Business, a robust employee training and development platform trusted by more than 14,000 companies around the world. It boasts 59 million learners, more than 200,000 online courses designed by 71,000 instructors.
FUNiX, an online learning platform specializing in IT Professional training, is currently Udemy’s exclusive partner in Vietnam. According to Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, Director of the Enterprise Training Academy under FUNiX, the two companies are both committed to equip learners with practical, in-demand skills, thereby enhancing businesses’ competitive edge.
Since signing a partnership agreement in May 2022, FUNiX and Udemy have worked together to provide nearly 2,000 courses with Vietnamese subtitles as well as original content designed by local experts on Udemy Business. The platform aims to provide content which can meet virtually all upskilling needs of Vietnamese businesses.
(Source: FUNiX)
