A retrospective analysis of Hewlett-Packard's Software Job Skills professional development program

Since the mid-1980s, The Hewlett-Packard Company has offered an extensive employee retraining program known as Software Job Skills (SJS). Through this program, personnel who might otherwise have been laid-off underwent immersion training in the complex sets of skills and techniques necessary to develop software in a team project setting. The goal of the program has been the rapid and thorough training of technical personnel in current computer programming fundamentals and techniques as well as the use of administrative tools and processes necessary to work effectively in a typical software development team.; While employer-based retraining programs are common in transitional industries, few companies have made as substantial an investment as Hewlett-Packard to equip soon-to-be displaced employees with the job skills necessary to continue to be of value to the company. The SJS program reflected Hewlett-Packard's well-known ethos of instilling loyalty and encouraging innovation by maximizing employee skills, knowledge, and potential, often called "The HP Way." While most companies in the United States typically provide some kind of employee training to balance changing economic requirements with employee need for continued employment, few companies provide programs requiring the financial and resource commitment of the SJS program. In fact, the SJS program exemplifies the public policy initiative known as the "The Third Way," a government labor policy that attempts to chart an employee-centric yet profitable course that lies between the extremes of laissez-faire capitalism and European-styled socialism. However, existing research is inconclusive as to whether employee retraining programs like SJS provide a measurable benefit to workers or the sponsoring organization.; Although demand for the SJS program has historically been strong, the program has currently been placed on hiatus. Hewlett-Packard was in the process of deciding whether to offer the SJS program again, to reorganize it into a new training program that better met its needs, or to cancel the program altogether.; The purpose of this study, which was administered in the form of a Web-based survey using multiple-choice, Likert-scaled, and short-answer items, was to solicit information from past SJS participants to assess the long-term utility and efficacy of this training program. No previous survey of this kind had been performed in the history of the SJS program. Research questions included: whether SJS participants were able to obtain a software related position within the company; whether the SJS program is still justifiable in the Hewlett-Packard's current corporate culture; how the SJS curriculum or pedagogy might be reorganized to better meet Hewlett-Packard's current needs; and whether certain types of formal training or previous work experience serve as predictors of success for SJS participants.; The findings assisted Hewlett-Packard management in determining the disposition of the SJS program. The findings will also revealed individual and group factors that were predictors of success that could be used to help in the selection of candidates for the program.