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Education is one of the essential factors to ensure an individual’s successful development and socialization. There are, however, certain ingrained misconceptions concerning education and the forms in which it has to be offered. For example, on-the-job training is still reliable, primarily on training courses, because they are seen as cost-effective and easy to be planned into the working week (Clifford & Thorpe, 2007). There can be, however, other ways to foster education within the organization that would be more effective and resource-efficient. I have chosen to discuss Etsy as an example of an organization that provides numerous opportunities for its employees to learn and develop their skills.
Etsy is an American company that focuses on creating handmade, vintage items, including a wide range of categories, such as clothes, furniture, bags, craft tools, and jewelry. The company takes its employees’ continuing education seriously and offers a large variety of courses, training programs, workshops, and other classes that allow employees to develop in different fields and activities. The company’s business unit has established Etsy School; classes taught both by invited teachers and employees themselves. Among the development activities I have witnessed are courses on mindfulness, biking, feminism and technology, sewing, cinema, programming, and many others. Encouraging employees to share their knowledge and help others to improve such extra-curricular skills not only helps them grow personally and professionally but also fosters community connections within the organizational unit (Ashforth & Mael, 1989). Employees are encouraged to find and share their interests, which helps to create a favorable environment where every member feels heard and appreciated.
Among the courses mentioned above, much attention is focused on IT systems and programming training. This is done not only to develop employees’ skills in a constantly changing and challenging field but to support different processes in the work of the organization. For example, Etsy employees can enrol on a course to learn to create a mobile app, and advanced training is available for the company’s programmers as well. Employees can gain or improve their knowledge of different programming languages, such as JavaScript, Python, and HTML, as well as develop skills in application programming interface design. The company’s API Team is constantly growing because more people express interest in the field after taking the course on it (Moskowitz, 2021). Etsy School acknowledges the importance of staying current on new advances in the field of information technology and introduces all recent developments to its training programs.
Since attending classes and training events happen on a voluntary basis for the majority of the employees, few factors that can deter them from learning have been displayed. Except in rare cases, all individuals were eager to take part in training (Moscowitz, 2021). This fact may be largely associated with the wide variety of activities and courses the company offers to undertake. From silk screening and juggling to Python programming and mastering blockchain technologies, all employees are bound to find something that would interest them.
The problems that do occur occasionally are connected to the time periods that can be inconvenient for some employees to attend certain classes. However, the way the training process is organized allows the company to minimize the consequences of this factor as well. In addition to the off-site lectures and workshops with regular schedules, Etsy provides a wide range of short classes that take place during the employees’ break or at the end of the working week (Ng et al., 2006). This, in turn, is possible because the company empowers students as well as teachers. Having attended classes with a small number of students, many employees took the initiative and continued to hold those classes as teachers afterward to make the company management continue conducting the training.
There have not been many issues that deterred learning in other parts of the organization. However, some issues that have risen more frequently than others were connected to the nature of some classes the company implemented. Being organized around the topics that were quite specific, many courses were soon closed because the number of people attending was insufficient for the company to continue holding those classes. The relationships that some participants had had before enrolling in the courses together could also create problems in some cases. This issue exists in many companies that foster “friendly” and “open” environments at the workplace. For example, it could be difficult for managers to criticize the work of the employees they consider friends. (Alderfer & Smith, 1982). However, one of the principles that Etsy adheres to is that all the drawbacks of integrating one’s personal life with their career and professional routines can be outweighed by the benefits of it.
All this allows the conclusion that Etsy’s experience in implementing various forms of on-the-job education can be considered as successful. First, they encourage employees to express their talents and interests and help them to hold workshops, courses and different outdoor events to engage more people. Second, the company makes the training programs as flexible as possible to enable employees to attend the classes both outside working hours and during breaks. Finally, they encourage employees to act as teachers, which also improves communication and the general environment at the workplace, ensuring a successful and productive work process.
References
Alderfer, C. P., & Smith, K. K. (1982). Studying intergroup relations embedded in organizations.Administrative Science Quarterly, 27(1), 35.
Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization. The Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 20-39.
Clifford, J., & Thorpe, S. (2007). More ways than one … exploring the use of different learning methods in organizations.Industrial and Commercial Training, 39(5), 267-271.
Moskowitz, R. (2021).The future of work is now. Etsy Blog.
Ng, T. W., Butts, M. M., Vandenberg, R. J., DeJoy, D. M., & Wilson, M. G. (2006). Effects of management communication, opportunity for learning, and work schedule flexibility on organizational commitment.Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68(3), 474-489.
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