RECAP | ROUNDTABLE - What are the best practices to train and grow your staff in 2020?

Participants from Europe and Africa joined the Roundtable “What are the best practices to train and grow your staff in 2020”, and it quickly became clear that the current situation is causing challenges that are shared across all regions.
To begin the roundtable a summary of the what Uptime Institute has seen in the industry in related to Training, both before the COVID-19 situation hit, and after was presented, this included:
Results from the 2019 Annual Survey:
• 20% find it difficult to retain their current staff
• 41% cannot find qualified candidates for their open roles
Outcomes from the current COVID-19 crisis
• Staff are now classed as essential workers
• Many datacenters are creating split teams to avoid cross-contamination, whilst also facing depleted workforce due to illness
Therefore – staff within the datacenter need to be trained to both complete their current roles successfully, and also grow in their careers and increase their knowledge to fulfil the needs of the organisation.
Fed Dickerman, Senior Vice President of Management Services, led the technical expertise on the call and opened the discussion noting that the training and staffing picture for 2020 is completely different now from even 2 months ago, when many organisations we were setting their budgets and training plans in place for the year.
When discussing the current situation, a participant from South Africa noted that they still have a problem with trained members of staff leaving for alternative jobs, and especially with the current situation rather then try and fill their roles they are sharing resources with a Colocation provider they are using. The picture in Kenya is broadly the same, there remain very few people in the local job market that have any of the required training and/or qualifications required to run and maintain a Datacenter, and while initially there was also not the training available to close the gap a number of equipment suppliers are beginning to provide this training locally as the Datacenter market grows. A participant from Greece agreed that locally there were very few who already had the skills required so they had developed a 6 month training plan internally to help fill their open roles, but even with this they find it hard to recruit the staff they need. Indeed, it was noted that even if applicants have a degree in Mechanical or Electrical engineering, they have no experience with Data Centers.
While some participants mentioned they already were only using local training's as there was not budget to fly employees around, all participants on the call noted that remote online training seems to be becoming the norm at the moment. While the current situation means that budgets are tightened, or even revoked. However, as we proceed into the year, in order to maintain the Infrastructure so vital to keep those economies going, training will need to be looked at again, and this time the focus will most probably be that any external training becomes remote.
In conclusion Fred Dickerman left the participants with a final piece of advice: “Pause, look at the alternatives now available, and develop a new plan for this new situation”