Skill Enhancement Policy 2022 [Discontinued]

Version 2.0 [Effective August 2022, ]

Skill Enhancement Policy 2022

Skill Enhancement Policy 2022 (SEP-22)

We are living in a VUCA world, where only the highly aware and the skilled can thrive and survive. It is a dire need for each individual, regardless of their domain, to replenish their knowledge and acquire new skills to do their jobs better.

The Skill Enhancement Policy 2022 takes its roots in the premise that there is always something to learn, regardless of age, position, and achievements. If a member would ever feel stuck wherever they are, it’s time to take a new perspective and most often a wider one.

The focus of this Policy

SEP-22 is focused on all full-time members of the McKinley Rice Community in order to foster a culture of continuous learning to upgrade skills that benefit their career development and in turn their employers as well.

The policy entails:

1. Scope of the Policy
2. What do we mean by “Skills”?
3. Understanding the Training Needs
4. A Personal Development Plan(PDP) for everyone!
5. Methods of Skill Enhancement
6. Documentation & Proof of Skill Enhancement
7. Skill Enhancement Evaluation as a part of Performance Appraisal
8. Skill Evaluation
9. Skill Enhancement Allowance Initiatives 2022
10. Implementational Roles and Responsibilities

1. Scope of the Policy

This policy applies to all permanent full-time members of the McKinley Rice Community. Members with temporary/short-term contracts are not eligible for Skill Enhancement opportunities. Members with temporary/short-term contracts may attend training(s) and webinars at their Lead's discretion. This policy does not cover supplementary members like contractors or consultants.

2. What do we mean by “Skills”?

Skills do not solely pertain to one’s domain knowledge or tech stacks. Each job position or role has a set of skills that they must have, work on, and excel at to get their job done competently.

For example, A Company lead is responsible for not just their knowledge of the tech skills but also for his communication skills, an ability to understand a situation and take necessary steps and actions, they need to be an excellent communicator, a mentor, and a leader.

The goal of the SEP-22 at McKinley Rice Community is to enable each individual to identify a set of skills that are relevant to their roles, to create and provide the required facilities, encouragement, guidance, and learning culture to do just that.

3. Understanding the Training Needs

In order to identify the individual, and the Employers’/ Project’s training needs, the Talent Advisor and Coach (TAC) will conduct a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) at a number of levels:

• Individual Needs: This can be shared by an individual during the onboarding program, a member’s appraisal, as well as through a survey conducted by the Talent Advisor/Community HR team. A member can also reach out to the TAC anytime in case of queries.
• Department/ Domain Needs: In this, the Company Leads and Project Leads play an important role in reaching out to the TAC for specific training needs. They understand their team’s needs better than anyone and they share responsibility for identifying and sharing training needs.
• Community Needs: This requires a community-wide survey to understand the amount and types of learning needed overall to ensure all members have the right knowledge skills and attitudes.

Timeline and frequency for TNA:

Individual Needs: Each member’ s skills would be identified and there would be a conversation around the relevant and vital skills that they need to develop going forward three times a year. This conversation will happen during the Performance Evaluation in January (plan for the next year), July (implementation review), and December (review for the current year implementation).

Each member is be expected to adhere to the skill enhancement plan that they create for themselves under the guidance of their Company Leads/Project Leads/COO/Talent Advisor, etc.

The TAC would track this and may ask for progress reports as and when needed from the Company Leads and/or the Project Leads. Ideally, these reports will be requested from the Company Leads at the end of each month, while they are conducting their personal connects with each team member for their monthly performance scores.

Domain Needs:

The responsibility of the domain needs lies with the Company Leads themselves. Each Company Lead is expected to understand the Skill Enhancement Policy and utilize it to the maximum benefit of their team members as well as the community to plug gaps in our talent pool.

They can contact the TAC for any queries or issues faced in order to identify gaps within the team and map out how they can be resolved.

Company needs:

The Company needs would be derived from the individual and domain needs to get a bigger picture of the culture and attitudes within the community.

If a survey is required to understand and investigate a certain notion, a company-wide analysis would be carried out by the TAC.

For this, the Skill Enhancement Committee (as a part of the Strategy Committee) will also aid in suggesting and organizing such webinars.

4. A Personal Development Plan(PDP) for everyone!

Yes, you read that right, a personalized roadmap for all the members of McKinley Rice Community!

Firstly, let’s understand: What is a Personal Development Plan?

A Personal Development Plan, also known as a PDP, is a documented plan that outlines ones goals, what strengths they already have in those areas, what needs to change to achieve those goals, and what skills a member need to improve in their areas of weakness.

Why do I need a PDP?

A PDP allows a member to set clear, detailed, and achievable goals. A member can prioritize the objectives that matter the most, or that will deliver the biggest benefits to their career.

One can set milestones and final deadlines, and take appropriate actions to meet and even beat those dates. (sky’s the limit!) Personal Development Planning helps bring their vision into a reality.

A member might not always achieve the goals set for themselves, especially if they are too ambitious(and not practical) and they are not documented anywhere. But with a well-documented plan to keep track of their progress and motivate them when the work gets tough, you’re more likely to be successful.

The creation of PDPs would be aided by the TAC for new joiners and existing members as mentioned in section 5 of the policy above. Skill Tags, as defined in section 4, would be used to map the current skills and those needed for the future.

Standard Operating Procedure for Creating a PDP

1. Each Lead will be trained to assist their team members to develop a PDP for themselves. Company Leads will be assigned as Formal mentors for their team members to aid them in setting short-term and long-term goals.
2. Each member should develop their PDP and send it for approval to their Company Leads. As a general guideline, the Leads should ensure that the developmental plan aligns with the company goals, an individual’s professional aspirations, and upcoming projects that are in the pipeline for the coming months.
3. Before approval, the Company Lead must also approve of a documentation methodology of the skill so as to track the progress. After their review, the PDP must also be sent to the client’s POC for review. The Global Management Consultant can aid in this process.
4. All the PDPs would be compiled under a single Master Tracker by the TAC. So if there are any changes after a member has submitted the PDP, they must inform the TAC again.
5. Additionally, a sheet that will contain the details of all the PDPs will be created in January 2022 and shared with all. The objective of this document is to keep the learning transparent as well as aid other members who are trying to learn the same subject/topic/programming language, etc.

Important Note:

1. Once intimated and explained on how to fill a PDP, each member gets a maximum of 10 days (including the weekend). to research, fill in their PDP, and get it approved from their Company Lead, Client POC and the Talent Advisor and Coach to finalize it.
2. In the event of non-receipt of the APPROVED and FINALISED PDP within this time, an member would be considered to be ‘Not Interested’ in the purpose of Skill Enhancement and hence would be marked 0 under the Skill Enhancement Policy 22.
3. Now, in a circumstance wherein due to genuine and unavoidable circumstances, the member is unable to focus their time on creating a PDP, they can request a extension of the PDP submission deadline after consulting with the TAC.
4. In such a condition where the PDP is not submitted, their overall assessment under the Performance Evaluation Policy would be out of ONLY 80% against 100%, resulting in a lower performance grade. (20% is the weightage of the Skill Enhancement aspect of the total Performance Evaluation)
5. Any exception to these rules would be ONLY under the case of extreme circumstances only on the approval of the COO.

The Company Leads can approve/reject the proposals as per their judgment of the skills relevant to the job roles. Only the approved Personal Development Plans will be documented in a “TAC Master Tracker” maintained by the Talent Advisor and Coach. A C-Suite executive, as well as the Talent Advisor and Coach, holds the right to examine the reasons mentioned and seek clarification if required. This is to ensure that each individual’s plan is S.M.A.R.T(Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant and Time-bound)

Link to the standard PDP Template to be used. All member can download and use this template to create a PDP.

For the Company-Leads and Project-Leads, there is a standard “Skill enhancement Tracker” Template that can be used to update and track the progress on the skill enhancement. They can make additional columns as per their requirements.

Link to the standard format for Tech and Project Leads: Skill Enhancement Tracker Template

5. Methods of Skill Enhancement

Each individual has their own learning preferences and learning style, as well as, there are skills that require a unique approach. There is not a single way to learn and upskill oneself and we understand that.

One can upskill themselves through several means, for example:

• Through courses and certifications
• On the job training (OJT)
• Through online tutorials, videos, blogs, podcasts, books, etc.
• Job shadowing
• Coaching & Mentoring (by seniors or colleagues)
• Attending conferences, webinars, or workshops.
• Reading from paid subscriptions (job-related), etc.

Whatever is the mode of upskilling, one must ensure that it has realistic implications and they are able to apply them in their work.

6. Documentation & Proof of Skill Enhancement

As mentioned in section(5), One’s Personal Development Plan encompasses the skills one is targeting, the timeline and methodology through which they will be working on their Skill Enhancement.

in order to ensure that a member has documented their learning in an efficient manner, consider the following:

During approval of the PDP: A member must come to a common ground with their Company Lead who would be responsible for approving their PDP on the methodology through which they can prove the up-gradation of skills.

Finally, the PDP will be approved by the TAC. The PDP can be sent back for corrections in case of any discrepancies or queries by the TAC.

During Performance Evaluation: In order to verify the learning, the TAC or Company Lead/Project Lead might ask for a collated document listing the learnings made, screenshots, methodology of learning, reviewer details, submission details, and the score in the test that they might have to take.

Note: A PDP is a reference document for performance evaluations for the assigned review panel. The candidate might have researched and learnt on topics beyond the ones mentioned in their PDP. During the performance evaluations, while presenting one’s skill enhancement, members must provide evidence of their learning through solid proof to obtain a just evaluation and scoring.

7. Skill Enhancement Evaluation as a part of Performance Appraisal

The Skill Enhancement Evaluations will follow the Performance Evaluation cycle: January, June, and December.

Let’s understand this evaluation better with two scenarios:

1. For a New Joiner:

• On joining McKinley & Rice, the new joiner alongside the TAC would be made to partake in the skill mapping exercise and the creation of the Personal Development Plan (PDP) post one month of joining. The plan would consider the quarter in which the member joins to aid for 100% execution of the plan.
• During the 3 or 4 month probation period(As per one’s Employee Agreement), the new joiner would be reviewed on their performance and the execution of the SEP at the close of their probation period.
• The scores on both of these evaluations would be recorded and be used for the purpose of new joiner confirmation into the McKinley team and that for the appraisal.

Post Probation:

After being confirmed as a permanent member, the PDP can only be revised and augmented in consultation with the TAC and the Company Lead. The updated PDP would then be followed to monitor an member’s skill enhancement for the remaining part of the year. (in case there are changes or additions)

Please note that the same would then again be revised in January in line with the company’s Performance Evaluation cycles (As mentioned in point-2).

2. For an Existing Member:

A similar system of evaluations would be followed for the existing members following the January to January appraisal cycle i.e. 2 evaluations would be conducted, the first one in July and the second one in December

• January: During the Performance Appraisal, a conversation around their present set of skills would be made alongside the TAC and a Personal Development Plan would be set in place focusing on specific skill sets that they need to focus on.
• July: The progress on these skills would be tracked between Jan and July by the TAC. An evaluation would be conducted for the same and the scores would be recorded for the purpose of Appraisals. If there are any changes to be made in the skills that need to be targeted, they should be addressed at the earliest.
• December: This would be the final assessment of the execution of the plans. A 50 points evaluation would be conducted and the scores are recorded for the appraisals.

So basically in one year, a member will have two evaluations:

July 50 points +December 50 points=100 point evaluation

Additionally, the TAC will keep a track of the progress made each month. This data will be collected from all respective Company Leads each month during the monthly Performance Evaluations.

8. Skill Evaluation

The evaluation and scoring of the individuals on implementation of the PDP would be conducted by the jury composed of all Company Leads, the TAC and a C-Suite Rep (for senior members) in July and December. The final schedule of the same and thus the calendar events would be marked by the TAC a week in advance of such an evaluation.

Skill Evaluation Methodology

This evaluation is for both technical and non-technical skills. The numbers in the parentheses contain the point distribution out of 100 total points.

A. Skill evaluation Committee Viva(40): Questions would be asked by the Skill Evaluation jury pertaining to the content of the presentation or the skills mentioned in their PDP. The session should be no longer than 15 mins.

B. Skill Evaluation Test(60): A test would be conducted prior to the presentation to evaluate the actual SE and the growth on the PDP. The preferred method of evaluation would be through MCQ questions. The test would be created by a domain expert in consultation with the Jury and the HR and would evaluate the growth on the technical and non-technical skills as per the PDP. The length of this test should not be more than 1 hr.

The points obtained out of 100 would be converted into 50 points for the purpose of computing the Skill Enhancement Scores as per the Performance Evaluation Policy.

Please Note: If it is found that a member has plagiarized any of their work displayed in the technical demo/presentation, it will lead to a direct zero score for their Skill Enhancement.

9. Skill Enhancement Allowance Initiatives 2022

This allowance would be given out as a part of the SEP 2022 to further the aim of upskilling the team on a continual basis and would be governed by the following principles-

1. The member should upskill in courses (or other means)that are approved as a part of the PDP in consultation with their Company Leads and the TAC.
2. The course chosen should further be approved before commencement in a written format for one to claim the allowance.
3. The allowance can only be claimed after the successful completion of the probation period within the organization.
4. The allowance would be capped at ₹ 60,000 Per Annum(January- January Cycle). The same would be prorated for people joining in Q2-Q4 i.e.

• For people joining in Q1- The available allowance would be ₹ 60,000
• For people joining in Q2- The available allowance would be ₹ 45,000
• For people joining in Q3- The available allowance would be ₹ 30,000
• For people joining in Q4- The available allowance would be ₹ 15,000

5. The allowance, if unclaimed, would not be carried forward to the next year.

6. To avail reimbursement, a completion certificate/ pass certificate on an exam is mandatorily required to be submitted.

10. Implementational Roles and Responsibilities

Talent Advisor and Coach(TAC):

• To Publish and implement the Skill Enhancement Policy company-wide.
• To spread awareness and initiate campaigns to help all the members understand the Skill Enhancement policy.
• To take feedback and make practical amendments to the Policy which can help improve the process and policy.
• Address queries from the members regarding the policy and training initiatives taken.
• Maintain the TAC Master Tracker, which contains the Skill Enhancement details for all members at McKinley & Rice.
• Conduct an in-depth Training Needs Analysis as required.
• Ensure that all the data related to the skill enhancement viz. initiatives taken, Personal development plans, courses are taken, etc. are organized and maintained by respective parties.
• Coordinate with all the Leads to ensure all data related to their learners is maintained and updated periodically.
• Handle queries and grievances related to the Policy.

Company Leads (CLs)

• To understand the Skill Enhancement policy to the best of their ability and motivate their team to learn.
• To understand the Standard Operating Procedure and take part in the process and suggest improvements and express apprehensions which can lead to improving the process.
• To address queries from their team-members regarding the Skill Enhancement Policy and guide them for the same.
• To guide the learners under their purview to create a Personal Development Plan and maintain records on a monthly basis on the predetermined platform.
• Guide and approve the Personal Development Plan created by the individual to the best of their knowledge and expertise.
• To be part of the cross-functional jury for Skill Enhancement Evaluations

Human Resources:

• To assist in the implementation and spread awareness of the Skill Enhancement Policy.
• Aid in the documentation

COO:

• To assist in implementation, required approvals, and budget of training events.
• Take random feedback from the members and Leads and suggest improvements in the methodology, events, etc. as required.

All members:

• To share responsibility for their own personal development, including suggesting webinars/seminars and attending relevant and mandatory training events and conferences. (Contact the TAC!)
• To assist in necessary arrangements if required
• To prepare their own Personal Development Plan as per the training and the format provided by the Talent Advisor and Coach. They can and they should ask for assistance and guidance from their Company Leads, Project Leads, Talent Advisor, colleagues, and the others that they deem knowledgeable in the matter.
• To seek appropriate authorization to attend training events from their CL/PL in case there are events during working hours.

“Learn Continually- there’s always “one more thing” to learn!”

-Steve Jobs