Wipro revamps internal training framework for tech reskilling, digital push

BENGALURU: Wipro has revamped its internal training framework for employees and launched at least three technical training programmes over the past year to reskill its staff in newer areas of technology, especially digital, amid evolving customer needs in a rapidly changing technology landscape.

This is part of an organisational overhaul being undertaken at India's third largest software exporter by CEO TK Kurien with a focus on heavy automation of commoditised service lines and creating a leaner and multi-skilled workforce.

The efforts come at a time when Wipro's rivals such as Infosys are also rapidly overhauling their training framework in recognition of the fact that employees need to be reskilled on a large scale, and top talent needs to be identified quickly and separated from the rest of the pack to work on the toughest and most challenging new-age customer projects.

The three new programmes - ACME (All-round Capability Model of Excellence), UpScale and Cutting Edge - are part of a drive to skill in multiple areas, unlike in the past when the focus was mostly on learning one skill well, Wipro's head of talent transformation Vishwas Santurkar told ETin an interview.

"(ACME) has five dimensions of skills. Technology is one obviously. Second is domain. The third dimension is functional areas. The quality processes, especially with Agile methodology coming in, the Agile methodologies and those areas is a fourth dimension which we feel is very important for an employee to learn. And the fifth is behavioural skills," said Santurkar, a vice president at Wipro.

The Upscale programme will place an emphasis on learning new skills, in addition to an employee's existing area of specialisation, which fits into Wipro's new strategy of linking incentives to the ability to cross-sell several service offerings.

In March, during a meeting with analysts, Kurien had said that the company was putting a new incentive scheme in place, where incentives would be linked to incremental revenue and would also make it compulsory for account managers to cross-sell at least three of the company's five service offerings for them to earn variable pay.

"UpScale looks at what are the surround skills in your core skill area which an employee can take up. And the whole idea was that you have one core skill in which you have deep knowledge. On top of that, you take up another two skills," he said.

Wipro Technologies (Wipro Ltd)