There are few topics these days that animate a CEO more than the mere mention of social media, video games, and web surfing. To them, these activities are a waste of time, a distraction, a productivity killer.
But what if there was a way to harness the power of technologies like Facebook, Twitter, Farmville, and Second Life to train and retrain workers faster, cheaper, and more effectively? Would that get management to stand up and take notice?
Well, the future is now and the timing couldn’t be better. It’s no secret that America’s businesses have a real need to educate and re-train workers quickly. The skill levels of the current workforce and unemployed don’t match the needs of employers. Unemployment remains high but job openings go unfilled because the skills required today have completely changed since the post-war industrial era began, when many workers were trained. If employers fail to educate, train, and re-train workers quickly, they will miss out on the global economic recovery that is underway now, and they will fail to improve productivity, the key to future growth. Ironically, the very technology that many employers see as a workplace distraction may be the magic bullet they seek to close a growing skill gap.
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