Response to Amazon Training a Third of its Workforce

Two stories this week caught my attention, both could be considered, metaphorically, as “two or more bodies of air – moving at widely different speeds meeting each other.” The first story comes from The Atlantic; “Higher Education Has Become a Partisan Issue – And university budgets are suffering as a result.” The second in the Wall Street Journal; “Amazon to Retrain a Third of Its U.S. Workforce As technology reshapes roles, the online retailer plans to train 100,000 workers in new skills, from machine learning to nursing.”
There is so much to digest from both stories just alone. However, when you consider my premise of the HR Perfect Storm, they come together in a manner that I could only describe best as turbulence. The Atlantic story exposes an angle I had not given enough consideration in my analysis of the Higher Education system. While inferred that political forces are at play more than ever on college campuses, it is worth reading to understand how many of the criticisms of lower standards, higher tuition costs and ill equipped graduates have provided politicians further cover for cutting funding to balance state budgets.
July 12th’s Wall Street Journal story highlighting Amazon’s announcement, can only further embolden the case of budget cutters for higher education. Why would it not? The dynamics of business and the pace of digital growth continue to expose the aging higher education model. Why else would Amazon spend $700 million over six years internally investing in its employees versus endowing a school or schools.
The Amazon announcement is the canary in the coal mine for many reasons. Following on the heels of Wal-Mart’s announcement last year to grow their talent with tuition assistance or outright payment for business or supply-chain management degrees, Amazon is going a step further. It’s clear that businesses (as they usually do) will do whatever necessary to ensure their profitability and survival in the market.
The Amazon article is rich with quotes that clearly articulate what is happening in the world of talent for many organizations. I particularly love this one;
Many have concluded that they must coach existing staff to take on different types of work, or face a dire talent shortage, said Ryan Carson, founder and chief executive of Treehouse, a firm that pairs tech apprentices, often from underrepresented groups, with employers and helps train them.
“It’s the beginning of the flood,” Mr. Carson said. “We’re basically just going back to a time where companies would invest in their own workforces.”
Yes! This is where board rooms need to be moving. Too many still think in terms of “right-sizing” through layoffs when labor was more abundant. In the current labor shortage of talent, actual talent that people desire, things must change. Which brings me to my second favorite quote from the article;
“It’s not altruistic,” he said. “There’s some hard-nosed business-decision-making behind this.”
Five-dollar word score for the use of “altruistic!” Yes, this is a smart business decision. But the kicker to these turbulent forces as they contribute to the HR Perfect Storm is this quote that is akin to the Eye of the Hurricane, “The big secret is there is no lack of talent,” Mr. Carson said. “We just haven’t been looking in the right spots. That talent is often at your own company. They literally already work for you.”
Stories such as these continue to expose the forces of change that are happening at a near unfathomable pace. We are living in an amazing time of innovation and disruption. Much like I’ve written about throwing outdated processes and rethinking talent, the one thing that continues to ring true is my favorite quote; “if you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less.”