Telenet is organizing training sessions for all employees to deal with talent shortage

Mechelen, 14 November 2022 - The ‘war for talent’, vacancies that aren’t getting filled, the content of existing jobs changing so much that different skills are required, or the creation of completely new jobs: these are the structural problems that are keeping the HR manager awake today. Reorientation and continuous training are more important than ever before. It is something that Telenet strongly believes in as well. By organizing ‘learning weeks’ in autumn the company wants to wake up its employees and make them aware of all the growth opportunities and learning paths it actively offers. Telenet will be launching training sessions, online learning experiences, keynotes and even an internal trade fair to introduce all departments and their job vacancies. All of which to be followed during working hours, for more than 3,500 employees.

Telenet wants to encourage its employees to strengthen their knowledge and skills through training, further training or retraining. Due in part to increasing digitalization, there is more often a gap between the skills that employees have acquired during their training and those needed for the job today. A dynamic career that includes regular further training is therefore a must, especially given that today's active population will need to stay at work longer. Employers must ensure that their employees are ready today for their role in the job market tomorrow.

Making employees aware of shared responsibility

To raise awareness of this among all its employees, Telenet is launching the Learning Weeks. It’s a broad concept to get as many employees as possible to think about their career in an easy accessible way. During a five-week period in autumn, Telenet will organize numerous workshops, courses, keynotes and even a trade fair where each department will explain its vacancies, adding up to as many as 200 jobs, to colleagues. A second session will follow in the spring of 2023, after which all employees (i.e. more than 3,500) will have completed the process.

Kirsten Florentie, HR manager at Telenet: 

45% of our vacancies are already filled internally and we wish to embed this even further. Given the talent shortage, we need to use our own workforce to fill vacancies more than we ever did before. These ‘grow weeks’ are organized by Telenet to encourage its employees to think about their careers and a dynamic growth path. We would like to point out that they can, or even should set aside time to learn and take control of their growth. The employment agreement states that as from 2023 every full-time employee will have at least four training days per year: people have a right to training, and Telenet wants to fully support that. People cannot stand by and watch their career. It is a shared responsibility and we expect them to use the resources provided. Besides, studies show that employees also expect such opportunities from a company. If someone gets tired of his or her current position, we want to provide every opportunity for further development within the company. Growth is - and has been for a long time - much more than simply taking on a leadership role. Broadening, specializing or completely retraining yourself to a totally different position is also possible and is actively encouraged.”

Other programs

In addition to the Learning Weeks, Telenet has other tools and specific programs. All employees can introduce a summary of their skills and ambitions on the online platform ‘Expedition T’. It provides tools for evaluation interviews but also opportunities to find a coach for a particular skill that someone wants to develop further. ​
​In turn, the internal internship program 'The Switch' gives employees the opportunity to get a taste of a completely different position within Telenet for a period of 4 months - with the necessary coaching and on-the-job training. If this ‘switch’ proves to be a positive experience, the employee can permanently take up the new position. The Switch program is currently being tested with features for cyber security, data and digital.