A

PROJECT REPORT
ON

“IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE CLIENTS OF D-PERENNIAL”

A Summer Internship Project (SIP) done

in
D-Perennial
“Human Resources”
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of degree of Master of
Management Studies (MMS) under the University of Mumbai

Submitted by
Nidhi Chandrakant Thakur
ROLL NO: 2020M086 PRN: 2020016402190977
BATCH: 2020-2022 ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-2022
Under the guidance of
Dr. MANISHA WAGHMODE

Bharati Vidyapeeth’s
Institute of Management Studies & Research
Navi Mumbai

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Apart from my efforts, the success of my project depends largely on the encouragement
and guideline of many others. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people
who have been instrumental in the successful completion of this project.
The internship opportunity I had with d-perennial was a great chance for learning and
professional development. Therefore, I consider myself as a very lucky individual as I was
provided with an opportunity to be a part of it. I am also grateful for having a chance to
interact with so many wonderful people and professionals who led me though this
internship period.
I am using this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude and special thanks to Ms.
Deepti Arora and Ms.Priyanka Arora, the pillars of d-perennial who in spite of being
extraordinarily busy with her duties, took time out to hear, guide and keep me on the
correct path and provided me with their careful and precious guidance which was
extremely valuable for my study both theoretically and practically.
I would also like to express my indebtedness appreciation to my departmental supervisor
Prof. Manisha Waghmode. Her constant guidance and advice played the vital role in
making the execution of the report. She always gave me her suggestions that were crucial
in making this report as flawless as possible.
I express my gratitude to the staff members of Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Management
Studies and Research who directly or indirectly helped me. I would also like to express my
sincere gratitude to all my office colleagues in d-perennial.
I perceive this opportunity as a big milestone in my career development. I will strive to use
gained skills and knowledge in the best possible way, and I will continue to work on their
improvement, in order to attain desired career objectives.

NIDHI CHANDRAKANT THAKUR

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3
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Summer Internship Project (SIP) titled ‘Impact of Covid-19
on the clients of d-perennial” is successfully done by Ms. Nidhi Thakur, 2020M086,
Batch 2020-22, Academic Year (2021-22), a student of Bharati Vidyapeeth’s Institute of
Management Studies and Research, Navi Mumbai , submitted in partial fulfillment of
MMS -Master of Management Studies programme affiliated to the University of Mumbai
from 24th May, 2021 to 31st August, 2021 at d-perennial, Navi Mumbai.

Date: ___________

_____________________ _________________
Dr. Manisha Waghmode Dr. Anjali Kalse
Project Guide Director
BVIMSR BVIMSR

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The impact of COVID-19 on business and corporate Learning and Development (L&D) is too great to
be ignored. Nothing prepared us for the COVID-19 pandemic and the immediate transformation of in-person
workforces into virtual ones. Consumer behaviour and spending are changing rapidly due to lockdowns
and restrictions. Businesses are trying to stay afloat by launching new products/services, reaching out
to customers, and reconfiguring modes of operations. In the same way, social distancing is making
L&D leaders to search for alternatives to face-to-face classroom training.

This project covers the impact of covid-19 on L&D department, challenges faced by them, training shift
from offline to online and how ultimately it affected us as an organization.
COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the lives of people at social and economic levels, and for
this reason, business enterprises are forced to come up with new strategies and policies, in order to deal
with this unprecedented situation and to plan ahead. This encompasses a new era of business management.
In view of this, the practices of human resources management including acquisition, training and
development, motivation, in addition to other practices are among the key managerial functions that are
likely to evolve and change.

For many of us, work will never be the same. The COVID-19 pandemic has left its mark on every aspect of
our work life — from the daily commute to our physical environment to the way we communicate with
colleagues and clients. Millions of people around the globe have become participants in the biggest remote
work experiment in history.

Coronavirus has changed employee training at its core. As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to
limit in-person interaction, remote learning solutions allow companies to continue growing. ELearning,
online learning, distance education, and even virtual exchange are the main tools used to prepare
employees for remote training. These new demands of hybrid and remote work are tasking HR with
being much more intentional about learning design.
As organizations choose from a range of work models — centralized and remote — to meet the needs of their
employees, learning and development professionals will need to adapt. Using remote learning and
videoconferencing will enable them to train a more liquid workforce, and adapting topics for onboarding,
health and safety training, and diversity training will enable them to prepare a workforce for wellness and
success.
Employee expectations around more human-centred learning are creating a need for more
personalization within L&D, while leaders also have to be proactive to help distributed employees learn
from one another despite the distance, create innovative approaches to non-classroom learning and
ensure learning is accessible everywhere—in different formats and to all employees.

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2020’s entirely unexpected change of course is forcing all of us to rethink how we can develop and train
our people and create and strengthen organizational capabilities and culture when we simply cannot get
together in person.  Managers must coach more (as they should do anyway), and HR and training
departments have to get more creative in their programming.  Simply putting people-development on
pause until we “get back to normal” is not an option, because we’re not going “back to normal” anytime
soon, if ever. 

This is an incredible opportunity for us to not just iterate and build on what was, but to  do something
totally different. Going back to the old way of doing things and trying to iterate certain things we did
before is not going to move the needle.

The better organizations are actively wrestling with the questions of how to invest in their people to
develop skills (including new skills to lead change and stay resilient through this pandemic), fortify
their cultures, and help employees execute and create value for all their stakeholders.

Digital—and the mandate to reach our learners in new and different ways—is here to stay and it is going
to continue to be disruptive. As L&D professionals, we need to be comfortable with disruption; it’s no
longer a new way forward, it is the way forward. Yes, we’re going to be doing different things, but the
knowledge and capability that make us great at what we do today are still as important as ever, and the
foundation for what comes next for us as a profession and industry.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Sr.No PARTICULARS PAGE NO.
.
Acknowledgement 02
Certificates 03
Executive Summary 05
Table of Contents 08

1. Introduction of the Project 10

- Concept, Significance and need of the study 11
- Objective of the Study 13
- Scope of the Study 14
- Introduction to the Topic 17
- Literature review 25

2. Introduction to L&D and HR Consultancy Industry 27

- Overview of HR consultancy industry 30
- Overview of L&D consultancy industry 33
- Current Scenario 35
- Future Trends 37
- Major players in the industry 39

3. Introduction to the Company

- Organization Profile 41
- Services 43
- SWOT Analysis 47

4. Research Methodology 48
- Research Design 49
- Scope of the study 50
- Sources of Data 50
- Data Collection Tools and Techniques 51

5. Data Analysis and Interpretation 52

6. Conclusion and Suggestions

- Findings 69
- Suggestions 71
- Limitations 72
- Conclusion 73

7. Learning Experience from the Project 75

Annexure

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Bibliography

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 INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT

1. Introduction of the Project

Learning and development, often called training and development, forms part of an
organisation’s talent management strategy and is designed to align group and individual
goals and performance with the organisation’s overall vision and goals.
Learning and Development refers to the programs designed to help new employees adjust
to the workplace successfully. In addition, they include the formal ongoing efforts of
corporations and other organizations to improve the performance and self-fulfillment of
their employees through a variety of methods and programs.
Learning and Development have emerged as formal corporate functions, integral elements
of corporate strategy, and are recognized as professions with distinct theories and
methodologies as companies increasingly acknowledge the fundamental importance of
employee growth and development, as well as the necessity of a highly skilled workforce,
in order to improve the success and efficiency of their organizations. For the most part,
Learning and Development are used together to bring about the overall acclimation,
improvement, and education of an organization’s employees. While closely related, there
are important differences between the terms and the scope of each.

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Learning and development is the method of accruing value in employees in human
resource. This includes evaluating employees for potential skill gaps and then developing
it, “on-boarding” new staff and honing the skills of current employees. This activity is
carried out in a regulated environment and techniques such as coaching, individual and
team training, and staff assessments are used for carrying out this activity.
The sudden onset of the COVID-19 global health crisis disrupted work patterns in
companies worldwide.  One of the work areas most affected has been employee learning
and development.  The mandate to move employees to working from home has made it
impossible to provide in-person, classroom-based skills training.  Regardless of what the
world will look like at the end of the pandemic, one thing is clear: Coronavirus has
changed employee training at its core.
The impact of COVID-19 on learning and development has ushered in a new generation of
remote workers. Just as we have in the past, we are swiftly adapting to how we
communicate, shop, educate, and work to our ever-changing environment.

Concept & Significance & Need of the Study:

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shifted the way we learn. Learning and
development practitioners have been challenged to step outside of their comfort zone, be
curious and embrace new ways of delivering learning with high impact for the digital age.
This longitudinal focus group study investigated the experiences of a group of independent
learning and development (L&D) practitioners as they responded to the onset of the
pandemic, dealt with the professional and personal ramifications, and navigated their way
towards an exciting, yet in many ways, daunting and uncertain future.
The virtualization of work is not a recent phenomenon. It has gone through several phases,
each driven by shifting employee priorities and evolving communication and collaboration
technologies.
In the early days of the internet, freelance employees began setting up home offices to gain
control over their work schedule and location. Despite the benefits of remote work, these early
virtual workers had to give up formal connection to a company, the support of a team, job
benefits and career advancement within a company.

As the technology improved, organizations began to extend the freedom to work anywhere to
their full-time employees. More stable, secure communication and collaboration technologies

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enabled employees to work on team projects seamlessly from their home offices.
Organizations began to see the benefits, including access to a larger talent pool, lower costs of
work and the ability to scale labour to business conditions. L&D professionals, meanwhile,
started providing remote workers with the skills they needed to succeed from home.

In more recent times, the need for a shared environment led to the development of co-working
hubs with open workspaces, technology and creative environments. Some co-working spaces
were organized around particular communities, where people could share ideas and techniques
within a supportive and creative community. These communities eventually grew into hotbeds
of talent and innovation.

But nothing prepared us for the COVID-19 pandemic and the immediate transformation of in-
person workforces into virtual ones.

COVID-19 has forced organizations to adapt current learning approaches to enable remote
and online delivery, urgently and radically, with little or no budget available. Organizations
are turning to the L&D teams for content curation and content creation to build more
learner centric programs internally. A majority of L&D professionals are shifting their
Instructor led training (ILT) spend to Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) and online
learning. With costs of in-person training no longer applicable, more budget is now freed
up to invest in world-class digital learning experiences that learners can engage with while
at home

During a disruption like COVID-19, organizations may acknowledge and address

employees' anxiety and uncertainty, while building a learning strategy that reinforces the
link between business and longer-term capability building.1 This balance between people-
needs and business-needs requires L&D to first, be integrated with other HR arenas such as
employee engagement, performance management, career advancement and mobility
rewards and recognition, HR policy and so on.

Leaders may embed purpose in how they talk to employees, moving from the ‘why’ to the
‘how’ in establishing and linking employees to a clear purpose. Every employee touch
point, and therefore, every HR intervention may evoke the purpose, this is possible if
leaders themselves are able to see a clear business impact of L&D on talent and on
business. L&D may, therefore, put in place measures and metrics to track the effectiveness
and impact of learning on business.

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Objectives of the Study:

 To understand the functions of Learning & Development Department.

 To study the impact of covid-19 on the Learning & Development department.

 To study the challenges faced by Learning & Development department in this crisis
and understand their coping mechanism.

 To study the effectiveness of remote learning solutions.

 To study the remote work models used by our clients.

 To study how the crisis affected our organization.

 To study the future of Learning & Development.

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Scope of the Study:

The COVID-19 pandemic will be a time remembered in many years to come. It has
affected all aspects of life, from health regulations, economic struggles to social and
political impacts. Many restrictive rules and regulations have been implemented globally,
ranging from mass quarantines, lockdowns as well social and physical distancing to even
closures of schools, businesses and other institutions.
Policies have been made for the workforce to adapt during the pandemic, including shift
switching schedules, remote working and work-from-home (WFH). But how does these
work-from-home and remote working policies operate effectively during a pandemic?
Definitely, through an online approach.
This is where the Learning and Development (L&D) professionals have to step up their
game. They have the ability and capability to enable corporate training to be delivered
through online based measures, circumventing the need for face-to-face interaction.
In the future, human resources (HR) and L&D leaders will be dealing with a liquid workforce
— a workforce of non-traditional workers like freelancers, consultants, contingent workers
and part-time employees. The pandemic has changed the workforce structure, and the number
of liquid professionals is projected to grow. Learning professionals are used to relating to their
full-time workforce, but learning to train and motivate a liquid workforce will require a new
strategy.
Going forward, maintaining a digitally ready workforce that can adapt to a changing landscape
will be a priority for HR and L&D. Organizations must have rigorous contracting and on
boarding processes in place for their liquid workers. These processes protect the company,
help it meet compliance requirements and foster the fast on-ramp of liquid workers. Consistent

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on boarding processes also help liquid workers instantly feel like part of the team and hit the
ground running on projects.

Worldwide remote work measures this year have caused the digital economy to grow more
rapidly than ever before and increased the stresses of managing work-life balance. These
challenges give new importance to worker health and wellness, and for HR and L&D
professionals, the future of work will require a stronger focus and a more holistic view
of employee well-being.

With our current spotlight on diversity, HR and L&D professionals will also have a mandate
to ensure that people are treated fairly — from recruiting to off-boarding — regardless of race
or ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, economic status, background, age,
or culture. As a result, diversity and unconscious bias training will become more important.

The pandemic has also highlighted the importance of emergency preparedness training for
employees, and the safety of the employees returning to work will require training. Learning
professionals will also have to train managers on how to lead remote workers to ensure both
productivity and employee engagement.

There will be new opportunities and challenges for learning professionals in the future, but the
workforce will be depending on them to thrive and adapt.

It’s no secret that the novel Coronavirus has impacted businesses across the globe. None of
the departments, be it sales, delivery, HR or L&D have been able to make the great escape.
While it has forced organizations to look for a more agile method of operations, learning
teams have never witnessed such a huge demand for a digital approach for its processes.
The economic disruption led to budget constraints which L&D teams had to deal with
along with multiple challenges to showcase the ROI of their training programs.

Not only this, lack of experience with remote learning and ill-preparedness of instructors
has resulted in never before turmoil for the L&D departments. However, this duration has
been effectively utilized by them to determine the relative accomplishments and let-downs
of virtual learning experiments, focusing on honing employees’ skills and competencies.

As L&D practitioners reflected on the longer-term implications and opportunities for the
profession, four key insights emerged:

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1. There is a place for all forms of learning, from in-person, to digital, to blend. Learning
intervention decisions will be context-specific. However, more organisations will
embrace the benefits of digital learning, blended with high-quality in-person
interventions that promote social interaction and the accompanying peripheral learning
benefits.
2. New learner priorities and challenges are emerging in the digital age. There will be
increased focus on inducting and onboarding employees digitally, developing a healthy
and productive team culture when team members are dispersed, promoting employee
health and wellbeing, and employing core management skills remotely. L&D
practitioners will have a key role to play in supporting skill development in these areas.
3. Adopt a learning mindset towards our design, delivery and consultative skills. The
L&D practitioner’s own skillset must continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of
employees and organisations effectively. Practitioners need to show courage, curiosity
and humility. To ensure they continue to add real value, they must invest in their own
skills development and role-model what they teach others about being open to learning
and new experiences.
4. Relationships and human connectivity are even more crucial in the digital era. In an
increasingly technology-enabled world, physical closeness has become the novelty
versus the norm. To maintain a sense of human connectedness and fulfilment from the
work that we do, we must be purposeful in building relationships and rapport with
learners, stakeholders and peers. We must do so in a way that is open, collaborative,
supportive and real.

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Introduction to the topic:

With the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses and organizations faced sudden
slowdown and uncertainty. Lockdown forced people to work in radically new ways, and
organizations rediscovered and repurposed ‘how to work and sustain’. Leaders had to
balance the new business priorities while finding ways to engage and leverage their people.
Workforce issues became central business issues and this compelled the HR organization
to respond quickly and creatively.
The traditional HR role evolved to facilitate agile working. A silver lining of the COVID-
19 pandemic is that it proved HR to be a bolder, ‘exponential’ HR, one that would expand
its focus and extend its influence to better address organizations’ workforce and business
issues.
HR now has an opportunity to build on its newly enhanced position, and shift its role from
managing employees to re-architecting work, so as to position organizations to thrive
sustainably.
The pandemic has brought on significant change and uncertainty. Independent L&D
practitioners have been reflecting upon what these changes may mean longer term for the
learning and development profession as a whole. As L&D practitioners reflected on the
longer-term implications and opportunities for the profession, four key insights emerged:

1. There’s a place for all forms of learning – from in-person, to digital, to blend. For
those who weren’t already delivering digital learning, the pandemic has acted as a
catalyst for online delivery and has challenged assumptions about which mediums of
learning are most effective. Some organisations and industries treated digital
learning with scepticism; however, many of those same organisations have shifted
their stance dramatically to embrace all aspects of digital learning with open arms.
That said, there will continue to be a place for face-to-face learning, and some
organisations will move quickly to reinstate this when logistically possible and safe
to do so. This is a good opportunity for L&D practitioners to use their expertise to
ensure that the learning delivered is in the most effective format.

For certain organisations (for example, those with clear security and confidentiality
concerns) in-person learning will remain the core approach. However, many others, despite

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embracing digital learning, will be keen to blend this with in-person learning interventions.
They will see real benefit in bringing employees physically together and creating learning
communities away from day-to-day operational distractions, where organic social
connection and all the valuable peripheral learning that comes alongside it can occur.
Blended learning had already started to come into its own within some industries
preCOVID and will gain much more traction in future (a trend previously noted in the
CIPD’s Learning and skills at work 2020 report). L&D practitioners must continue to work
with stakeholders to evaluate the impact of digital solutions alongside in-person delivery
and other learning modes. Through this evaluation, we will discover how to get the best
from each approach and be equipped to make sound judgements on how to blend the
modes effectively. Ultimately, we will deliver high-quality flexible programmes that suit
both the organisational context and learner needs.

2. New learner priorities and challenges are emerging in the digital age Despite greater
difficulty in diagnosing learner needs during such a tumultuous time, this study
highlighted several key areas of priority and challenge emerging as a result of the
pandemic and its dramatic changes to organisational life:
• delivering effective induction and on-boarding practices in a digital environment
• developing and sustaining a happy and productive team culture/identity when team
members are physically dispersed
• promoting employee health and wellbeing, and in the short to medium term, helping to
reduce the anxiety of many around returning to the workplace
• integrating a ‘remote management’ dimension into learning topics, for example
leadership skills such as coaching, giving feedback and motivating teams. Equipping
leaders and managers to execute these skills effectively through digital means and in
person will be vital to ensuring happy, productive and high-performing employees.
There is room for further research as to whether digital delivery can work for any learning
topic or whether some topics require in-person interaction to be truly effective. The
pandemic has challenged us to find new, creative ways to make previously unworkable
things work, to be curious and open to possibilities. However, as above, further testing and
evaluation will be needed to assess which modes achieve the greatest positive impact on
learning transfer and behaviour change, thereby making them most sustainable. Find CIPD
resources on responding to COVID-19 in our Coronavirus hub.

3. Adopt a learning mindset towards our own L&D skills Regardless of the learning
topic, L&D practitioners need to role-model continual learning through building and

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 adapting personal skillsets, so they are best equipped to thrive in response to the
ever-changing present and future demands.
• Design skills: In-person learning content can rarely (if ever) be magically converted to
the digital platform with the same impact without thoughtful redesign. So, we must apply
sound learning principles and give careful attention to designing and curating digital
content that will engage, inspire and provoke behaviour change in learners.
• Delivery skills: We must show ongoing commitment to developing delivery/facilitation
skills for the new age, learning how to strike the right balance between the use of
innovative technology tools to generate engagement and tried-and-tested methods. Do this
through active listening, asking thought-provoking questions, drawing out insights, and
bringing energy and motivation to a group of learners in an authentic way. We must also
equip learners to use online tools and navigate the online environment effectively.
• Consulting skills: There is an exciting opportunity for L&D practitioners to up their game
in this area, partnering with leaders and clients as they navigate through this turbulent time
and into an uncertain future. Through taking a consultative coaching approach with sound
diagnosis from an early stage, we will understand contexts more deeply. This will help
diagnose needs and make sound recommendations, demonstrating the value that L&D can
add to supporting long-term organisational goals.

4. Relationships and human connectivity are even more crucial in the digital era be it
with learners, stakeholders or fellow practitioners, cultivating relationships in the
increasingly digitalised world is of paramount importance. Working at a physical
distance from others forces us to collaborate differently and more deliberately. We
cannot take our network for granted but need to be more conscious about growing
and sustaining it as learning professionals.
We also have an opportunity to promote this concept both explicitly and implicitly
through the learning interventions we deliver. We can have a lasting impact on others by
intentionally generating connection and rapport in our interactions, both inside and outside
the formal training environment. We can role-model ‘being human’ in the digital world by
showing our vulnerabilities and encouraging others to be their true selves, remembering
that this is uncharted territory and that we are all on a learning curve together.
And lastly, there is room for everyone. We build ourselves up by reaching out and
supporting our fellow L&D practitioner peers, through recommendations, coaching and
mentoring, testimonials and partnership working. Let’s think about how we can recognise
one another and recognise the power of collaboration for our success and the success of
others, and consequently, the success of the L&D profession.

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The future of learning is blended ... COVID-19 has forced organizations to reimagine a
new Future of Work, where virtual presence and physical presence co-exist. A high-tech-
high-touch approach shall help reap the advantages of anytime-anywhere-any device
learning, while plugging in the softer human-element for employee development. Blended
learning is thus, an overwhelming design favourite of learning professionals, it helps get
the best of both worlds. Such a hybrid model is here to stay and shall spearhead a
continuous learning culture for the Future of Work.
Continuously upskill-reskill to build a resilient workforce and a future-forward business...
The Future of Learning involves offering a robust future-skills curriculum for employees.
Without losing sight of humane issues such as mental health, happiness and holistic
wellbeing. L&D must work closely with the C-suite and business leaders to drive a
continuous learning culture and to uphold the employee experience. For this, L&D teams
must first step-up their own skills-game and unlearn and relearn the future-skills.
Upskilling for tomorrow is about unleashing the employee potential, and this starts with
the L&D function becoming future forward in its own skill-outlook.
The global pandemic has challenged humans in unprecedented ways, but as the adaptive
species we are, it has been also a trigger to accelerate transformation: there is a heightened
focus on resiliency, transition management and stress management that accelerates the
importance of cultivating a growth mindset.
With the global economic outlook, it is inevitable efficiencies and cost-savings will be top
of the agenda. Those L&D departments that are not seen as being business critical or at
least, have a plan to become business critical and deliver tangible value, will come under
scrutiny.

Challenges faced by the L&D department:

The challenges were three fold i.e.

(a) Making meaningful supply of well curated content from a barrage of online and digital
learning assets
(b) Being mindful of the fact that it is engagement first, and development next, for the
learners, so as to be mindful of work-from-home eventualities; and
(c) Converting some of their key flagship deliverables into virtual / digital medium without
compromising on the impact and effectiveness.

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 It is such a pleasure to see that all across, L&D teams have stood up to these challenges,
have successfully delivered and have so well supported their organizations. This was a
change in action, change on the go, and change for a brighter and more sustainable future.
L&D truly became a strategic partner to business, in helping its human resources stay
invested in creating value.

In the shift towards virtual learning, the biggest challenge faced was to convert ILT to
VILT curriculum. Virtual Learning formats were designed with shorter iterations i.e. 60-90
minutes and 2-4 hours modules, as against the traditional classroom modules of half a day
to 3 days. Apart from designing shorter consumable content, L&D was to work closely
with the business for learning-support to ensure high levels of virtual adoption. L&D teams
may want to proactively support people and managers to help them adopt the learning
technologies and tools.

With learning going virtual, challenges such as low attention span, poor experience design,
long course durations, and lack of proper technological infrastructure persist. Hence,
employers need to design the Employee Experience keeping in mind the modern learner’s
disposition for learning while upholding the health, safety, productivity and collaboration1.
The right blend of high-tech and high-touch is required to achieve this.
These are some of the reasons for the training disruption, leading to the challenges that
organizations and learners are facing today due to COVID-19:

Organizations  High dependency on ILT or classroom training

 Lack of proper infrastructure, including systems and
bandwidth
 Classroom prepared trainers
 Budgetary constraints due to economic instability
 Lack of experience with remote learning
Learners  Instability to strike a balance between work and life amidst
work-from-home
 Unfamiliarity with learning through digital platforms
 Stress due to the present situation

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To integrate learning with work-life, L&D may curate a learning design that suits the
learner’s flexibility, choice, and style. Personalized learning insights and data driven
learning assessments can help curate a Netflix-style learning experience.
Learning Delivery should enable learning for-task, rather than learning-for-job, so that
learners are able to perform specific tasks better. This is possible when the focus is on
‘application of learning’. A data-driven learning ecosystem can objectively help people
shape their career conversations and coaching to set goals, manage their development and
control their career. But mere data is not enough, the robustness of L&D tools is crucial to
learning success. For example, logistical and technical glitches mar the flow of learning,
and hence it is important to invest in state-of-the-art reliable learning systems.
Such a learning methodology starts at the team-level, with managers who are closely
connected to their teams, taking the onus for their team members’ skill development.
During the pandemic, at the manager employee level, high-touch engagement became the
need of the hour to balance social distancing. Going ahead too, managers need to
understand how their people’s motivations for learning vary depending on their aspirations,
and encourage them to consume learning at the ‘point of need’. As stated by a Manpower
report19, almost two-thirds of organizations offer free training, but employees say they
also need the time, support and guidance to capitalize on it.
With the right manager and leader support, employees will feel a sense of ownership,
accountability and belongingness, and will be motivated to put in efforts and time to learn.

How eLearning is shaping the Workforce?

As eLearning enables corporate training during this pandemic, the workforce entirely relies
on online based courses and insights. Learning and Development strategies now maximize
the use of online learning platforms and also consider the avid use of technology to enable
accessible learning and communication methods.

For instance, a usual weekly meeting can still be held through a virtual conference through
PC and mobile devices. Online virtual communications such as Zoom, Skype, Google Duo,
Facetime, WhatsApp and similar video conference platforms can be used as options to
substitute ways of communication among the workforce as well as between learners and
coaches or trainers. This can simplify circumvent the need to communicate face-to-face
effectively.
The increased use of eLearning also shapes how data is being stored, mostly through cloud
storage such as Google Drive, DropBox, Microsoft One Drive, and personal devices. For
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companies with confidential data management, storing data with this method might be a
risk. But with technology such as intranet, internal drives and multi-factor authentication,
these security issues can be prevented to keep data secure.

Despite the risk, eLearning is still one the most effective ways to keep the workforce
connected. Digital learning can also shape the workforce with creative methods. Unlimited
boundaries of eLearning access can spark interesting approaches such as online
collaborations, extra courses, and out-of-the-box learning concepts. Online based learning
can also advantage employees that prefer self-directed learning or those that prefer learning
through social media platforms, virtual events, webinars, and online classes with or without
instructors.

But at the end of the day Learning and Development during a Pandemic is all about
adapting. The corporations have to adapt their business plans, Learning and Development
professionals to online and virtual approaches, and the workforce to an eLearning
experience. Digital learning might just be the solution that helps corporations maintain a
productive and healthy workforce during difficult crisis.

The Advantages of Corporate eLearning During the Covid-19 Pandemic:

With social and physical distancing, lockdowns and also quarantines deployed as measures
to avoid transmission during this pandemic, many corporations and businesses have
considered work-from-home or remote working policies for employees.

These policies support corporations and businesses to still operate despite the pandemic,
but at the same time minimize the risk of transmission while maintaining a healthy and
productive workforce. With a quick and adaptive approach, ideas such as e-learning, online
training and virtual communication can be successfully implemented throughout the
workforce, even from home.

For companies that are not yet familiar with eLearning, this would be the right time for the
Learning and Development professionals to initiate ideas to successfully make use of
online training approaches and make it familiar among the workforce.

22
Meanwhile companies that have already operated eLearning and training have a better
chance of developing and experimenting various methods and courses, preferably creative
approaches to prompt new online strategies.

A few examples aside to activate corporate eLearning, can include strategies and ideas
such as providing psychosocial support, activating digital learning systems, setting offline
functions for easier accessibility, opening massive open online course (MOOC) platforms
and providing self-directed learning content.

These initiatives can also help narrow the knowledge gap of conventional employees that
aren’t yet familiar with e-learning and modern workers who are already in line with the
progress of eLearning.

With a well-planned eLearning platform, Learning and Development can be accessed

efficiently, and still effectively maintain productivity while supporting social and physical
distancing.

Literature Review:

Training and development involve a process that improves the skills, knowledge, attitude
and behaviour of employees, which ultimately will improve their performance. Training
and development also will increase the superiority of organization.

Training involves two key aspects:

1) Organization efficiency, and

2) People and technology.

Pertinently described training and development as a process and method for the
improvement of the aptitude, skills, ability, knowledge, and attitude of employees in the
execution of their specific work-related job. Through training, employees can transform
their old talent and knowledge into new ones more easily. In the concept of training and
development was described as a systematic progression of knowledge, skills and abilities
in the execution of job-related duties within organization

23
Training plays an important role in a period of crisis, such as pandemics (Devyania,
Jewanc, Bansal, & Denge, 2020; Hamouche, 2020). It helps to develop the needed skills
for employees (Akkermans, Richardson, & Kraimer, 2020); to increase the COVID-19
awareness, to reduce the risk of the virus spread, and to prevent mental health issues
(Quaedackers et al., 2020).

It also helps to support employees in the process of transition toward remote working. In
fact, not all employees have the proper digital skills to cope with these changes generated
by the use of ICT, whence the necessity to train them on the utilization of ICT, which will
help to facilitate their work and communication with their manager and peers while they
are away from their workplace (Greer & Payne, 2014).

According to Przytuła, Strzelec, and Krysińska-Kościańska (2020), organizations face the

challenge of reskilling and upskilling their workforce to be able to deal with the
requirement of new context of ‘distance economy.’ In this case, the main challenge for
HRM practitioners might be related to the development of a training program adapted to
the new reality of the organization and the employees and to choose the proper training
methods, considering physical distancing measures coupled with the necessity to have
employees quickly operational to sustain the company business.

This suggests that managers and HRM practitioners need to go beyond the traditional
training methods. Devyania et al. (2020) recommended, in this case, to change employees'
training programs in a way that ensures a long-term transition toward the new working
practices.

The success of remote working is also dependent on managers' understanding of the virtual
supervision of employees (Aitken-Fox et al., 2020). In this context, the HRM practitioners
should play a strategic role by supporting and training these managers on how to manage a
virtual team, to help them to overcome these difficulties and to cope with remote working
challenges in order to be able to support their team members (Hamouche, 2020).

Besides training, COVID-19 has posed significant challenges related to career

development in organizations. According to some authors, COVID-19 has led to a grand
career shock (Akkermans, Richardson, & Kraimer, 2020; Baert et al., 2020). The study by
Baert et al. (2020) based on the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on career outcomes
and aspiration among a panel of 3,821 employees, showed that due to the COVID-19
crisis, employees were afraid of losing their job in the near future. In addition, some of

24
them expected to miss out on a promotion that they should have received if this crisis has
not happened.

INTRODUCTION TO L&D AND HR

CONSULTANCY INDUSTRY
25
 2. Introduction to L&D and HR consultancy Industry:

Human Resources tends to concern itself wholly with the management of resources
relating to an organisation’s employees. The main focus for HR staff is to deliver solutions
to ensure the effective running of an organisation with responsibilities including, payroll,
talent management, recruitment, organisational development and employee engagement, to
name a few.

The HR function works to recognise business needs and provide solutions where problems
arise. It is, therefore, integral to the smooth running of any organisation.

Learning and Development often sits within the HR function as its training arm. L&D
concerns itself with the management of employee training and development needs to fulfil
their roles to the best of their ability. L&D roles can involve identifying learning gaps,
designing and developing learning solutions, completing assessments and evaluation, or
simply providing training to the organisation’s workforce.

L&D is equally as important to the business as HR and helps to ensure that an organisation
has the skilled talent needed to excel in its markets.

26
What are the similarities between HR and L&D?

HR and L&D are often grouped together under one HR function within an organisation.
This is often because there is some crossover on certain key responsibilities. For example,
talent management is an area that can easily sit under HR and L&D, with its focus on
ensuring that an organisation has the right talent to deliver its business goals and strategy.
This generally sits under HR but can also be incorporated into an L&D professional’s
responsibilities to identify skills gaps and ensure staff are offered effective training.

Another area in which the lines blur between the two is performance management. Again,
seen as an HR task, performance management does crossover into the L&D realm as
individual’s skills and knowledge are monitored with training needs highlighted in
performance reviews alongside overall attitude and job satisfaction.

Many areas pose a similar crossover with both HR and L&D professionals taking on
responsibilities such as: 

 Onboarding, to identify new starters’ skills and training needs whilst welcoming
them to the organisation.

 Succession planning, to help identify, develop and support the talent pipeline.

 Change management, to teach individuals the new systems or processes and ensure
they are prepared for and accept the changes.

 Career planning, to help individuals guide their own careers by offering training
and resources.

 Talent assessments, to decipher the skills and knowledge of the current workforce
and where additional skills are required.

 Talent development, offering employees the opportunity to gain further skills and
knowledge through training.

27
  Coaching and Mentoring, to allow other members of the team to pass on their
knowledge and expertise to colleagues.

 Employee engagement and surveys, to monitor employee sentiment and ensure all
employees are kept engaged and knowledgeable about business updates.

 Exit interviews, to gather feedback from employees on their experience at the

organisation and reasons for leaving

How do HR and L&D differ?

However, whilst both HR and L&D professionals do take on some of the responsibilities
listed above, there are some in the opinion that L&D should not sit underneath HR and is a
function in itself. L&D is primarily concerned with the development of an organisation’s
staff through understanding how people learn. Arguably, this is using different skills to
those required to undertake an HR role.

Whilst HR professionals may dip into ensuring training programmes are up and running
and undertake talent assessments to identify skills gaps, it should be the responsibility of an
L&D professional to analyse these results and ensure the training put in place is effectively
closing the gaps.

L&D is not involved in aspects of HR such as payroll, reward or diversity and equality.
The function exists to ensure that an organisation has the right talent and is developing that
talent effectively to deliver its business goals and strategy.

Overview of HR consultants:
HR consulting is the practice of delivering all aspects of human resource management as
an external provider, and with the professional and business issues associated with
operating such a practice—including client development, contracts and client management.

28
According to Global Industry Analysts, Inc. (GIA), HR outsourcing remains strong with an
expected combined global market of almost $54 billion by 2020.1 Talent management has
emerged as an area of focus from a strategic HR standpoint.
The demand for these services is not limited to large organizations. For independent HR
consultants, in fact, the greatest area of opportunity might be with small companies.
According to the Small Business Administration, the vast majority of U.S. businesses have
20 or fewer employees. That represents significant opportunity for independent HR
consultants.
As more organizations have chosen to lighten their staffing burdens by contracting for HR
services, outsourcing opportunities have grown for independent HR consultants.

Nature of the Work:

HR consultants are basically small business owners and must have the same traits as any
other entrepreneur. These include:

 Ability to work independently.

 Basic business management skills such as accounting, office management and
customer service.
 Ability to market services.

In addition, successful HR consultants have expertise in a specific area of HR practice—or

broad expertise as a generalist—and an identified target market with a demonstrated need
for the services the consultant offers.
To attract clients, HR consultants must be able to demonstrate, through their background
and experience, that they can accomplish certain goals and objectives. Potential clients are
interested in knowing what the HR consultant can deliver and in seeing evidence that the
consultant has done similar work in the past.
A consultant's varied experience with multiple organizations can provide an edge without
undermining the capabilities of in-house staff. Consultants' relative objectivity and neutral
stance are valuable to organizations. This neutrality allows consultants to focus on real
issues and solutions instead of on internal politics.
Staying up-to-date on HR trends and issues can be a formidable challenge, but it is a
necessity. Participation in professional organizations can be a good source of information
through other HR colleagues and through material made available in publications and
online resources and at conferences. The life of an independent consultant can be

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rewarding—and maddening; it can be invigorating—and demoralizing. The ups and downs
are influenced primarily by clients and the quest to find them, keep them and work with
them effectively.

Business Management:
HR consultants must be adept at managing their business as entrepreneurs and using their
time efficiently when no one is driving them but themselves.  Some key business
considerations for HR consultants include:

 Areas of focus. Determine whether the consultancy will provide general or

specialized HR services, and identify services that will be provided.

 Target market(s). Determine the target market to be served (e.g., industry,

geography, main point of client contact).

 Legal structure. Determine whether the business will operate as a sole

proprietorship, Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), S corporation or other entity.

 Management team. Decide whether the consultancy will be operated

independently, or whether staff—or partners—will be necessary to meet client
needs.

 Financial. Identify revenue and expense expectations and establish a preliminary

budget for operations.

 Administrative. Determine how business operations will be managed, including

such matters as invoice management, collections and tax considerations. Identify
necessary outside resources (e.g., legal, financial).

30
  Insurance. Identify insurance needs, which include health and life insurance as well
as professional liability insurance. The type and level of coverage selected will be
based on the HR consultant's financial situation, level of exposure and degree of
acceptable risk. 

 Licensing. Determine licensing requirements. States, as well as many cities and

counties, have different rules about business licenses. HR consultants should check
with the appropriate agencies to determine requirements for doing business in their
area.

Overview of L&D consultants:

Every organization is searching for an opportunity to improve their workers' performance

to meet various business goals every year. You may have a checklist of criteria or an
assignment to measure the employees' and departments' performance and gaps. Still, a
passionate learning and development consultant can do more than that.

Professional learning and development consultants are responsible for analysing,

researching the employees, and assessing different aspects to identify areas of
improvement. They create multiple programs and show them to upper-level officials for
approval and collaborate with departmental managers for running them. Consultants devise
learning strategies and plans based on various research results for the development of
employees' skills.

Benefits of working with L&D consultants:

Drive forward with your learning strategy -

Organisational learning is going through large scale changes. It needs your expertise and
input. Focus your time and experience on developing and driving forward your strategic
learning plan. Leave the operational and daily management of learning to the LnD
consultancy.

Get recognition for L&D -

Working with managed learning service will allow you to focus your energies on those
areas that your organisation need the most. This will guarantee that your organisation will
recognise the importance of what L&D does.

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Improve the commerciality of L&D -
For too many years businesses have looked at L&D as a cost not an investment. LnD
consultants help you overcome this and ensure that your L&D department operates in such
a way that your organisation recognises the importance of investing in learning.

Enhance employee performance and productivity -

Being able to work more closely and efficiently with your organisation will ensure you can
create a learning strategy aligned to strategic goals and develop appropriate learning
solutions to enhance employee performance.
Providing the right learning solutions which address employee needs and improve their
performance has been proved to increase employee happiness and retention. Improving
your employee value proposition, to retain and attract the best talent for your organisation.

Achieve return on investment for your learning -

Having access to high-quality resources and developing outstanding processes to deliver
these learning solutions are key – L&D consultants help you from the off from designing
effective learning solutions through to measuring the effectiveness of the solution once
complete. It has to be worth it, for all the right reasons.

Improve operational efficiency -

In addition to streamlining core processes, identifying and removing waste, they will
respond to changing requirements and leveraging resources that contribute most to your
success. You’ll be working with a partner with an understanding and hands-on experience
of L&D.

Reduce the cost of your learning -

They ensure the value of your investment in learning goes further. They use their
knowledge of the L&D market to advise you on solutions to make a lasting impact,
improve learner process efficiency, reduce the direct cost you pay for external training
resources and provide a scalable service so you avoid additional headcount costs.

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Current Scenario:

The year 2020 had been one with extraordinary challenges. As the coronavirus spread
across the world, no country was left untouched. India too is dealing with its share of
unprecedented challenges, not the least of which has been the dramatic shift of the business
ecosystem from in-person (or physical) to virtual processes.

Given these tectonic shifts in the business landscape, ‘Talent Management’ is now among
the top five priorities for most organizations, irrespective of their industry or market
position. Hence, in such a scenario, Learning and Development (L&D) needs to take a
more strategic and proactive role to ensure holistic development of people resources. The
idea is not to just up-skill an individual, but also to ensure that the learning strategies are
well aligned with the organization’s key business priorities and performance.

Learning professionals are now taking a more strategic and proactive role in planning and
developing training that’s aligned with business goals and, therefore, improves organizational
performance. Let’s look at some of the key trends that will define the L&D segment in
2021.

The business market is changing at a rapid pace, requiring organizations to become more agile
and responsive to change. Technology is only accelerating this rate of change through
innovations in areas like automation and artificial intelligence. Organizations must now reskill
and upskill employees at a faster rate, deploying learning experiences that quickly close
technical and soft skills gaps and prepare everyone — employees and customers alike — for
the future.

33
Growing Focus on Soft Skills Training - Technology is evolving business practices through
automation and artificial intelligence (AI), and the future of work will include jobs that don’t
exist today. Even with this transformation, soft skills like creativity, agile thinking,
communication and collaboration will stay in high demand.

Soft skills are not learned in a one-and-done training event. To truly develop these skills,
employees require multiple training experiences over an extended period of time to learn and
practice them. We foresee a continued focus on soft skills training, and L&D professionals
must create comprehensive learning experiences to develop this critical skill set.

Learning becomes an everyday activity: Learning has become as important as any other
routine business task. Where earlier the inclination was towards holding workshops and
seminars periodically to provide an opportunity to employees to hone their skills, the
prevailing pandemic has given an impetus to the need for continuous evolution and
adaptation.

Regular assessment of one’s own skills is the primary focus of present-day learning
programs. In fact, demonstration of newly acquired skills is not just an end-of-program
objective, but it also needs to be showcased in the form of continuous and productive
engagement in various activities.

The pandemic has led to multi-hatting. Traditional roles are taking on new dimensions and
now, more than ever, there is a felt need for resilience and rapid adaptation to the changing
scenario.

This has also highlighted the emerging gap between the expected and actual soft skills of
employees. Thus, the pandemic has effectively shifted the focus of organizations towards
bridging this gap and developing the behavioural skills of their employees.

Help dealing with the pressure of delivery: With people not just working from home, but
also learning and playing right out of their living rooms, the idea of keeping a work-life
balance has taken a completely different meaning. On one hand, it offers a tremendous
amount of flexibility, on the other, it is difficult to decide when the workday ends and
personal time begins. This is where relevant soft skills will come in handy to balance out
and manage this delicate balance.

34
Future Trends:

As the business world is increasingly taking on a digital avatar, learner-centric experiences

targeted at imparting relevant technology skills – aligned with the organization’s key
expectations – will form a core area of L&D strategies, going forward.

The most successful organizations will be the ones that will effortlessly transition with the
changing face of business. This can be achieved by providing equitable learning
opportunities to all employees in the garb of personalized training with adaptive learning
modules. Structured training will keep employees meaningfully engaged; facilitate their
reskilling and upskilling; and aid them in taking on more specialized responsibilities.

Learning experience will become more significant: As learning technologies are constantly
evolving and there is a need to ensure a seamless and hassle-free learner experience, we
should expect a significant investment going into learning platforms.

With on-demand learning becoming a norm, the use of AI and machine learning (ML)-
based tools is becoming commonplace, as they aid in rationalizing the training overheads.
Emerging technologies will provide personalized learning experiences and prevent
resources from being wasted on irrelevant efforts.

Increase in diversity, equity and inclusion training: This is a trend predicted by several
organizations, including the Learning Guild in its June 2020 Covid Impact study. Diversity
training was already gaining traction across organizations large and small, especially as
compliance with social and governance initiatives has become a mandate from the
executive suite, board of directors, and investors. L&D teams, if they haven’t already, will
need to figure out the best way to deliver this effectively and with up-to-date best practices.
Diversity training in 2021 needs to go beyond what is or is not appropriate outward
conduct in the workplace and seek to address issues such as unconscious bias as well. 

35
L&D as learning consultants for business partners: In 2021, learning and development will
capitalize on the brighter spotlight that was cast on them in the previous year by finding
ways to act as internal consultants on learning and training needs. By carving out this role
more definitively, L&D have the opportunity to cement their role as important strategic
influencers.

Enabling community learning: The advent of AI/ML in L&D will also lead to a change in
the methodology of group learning, whereby employees will gravitate to learn from each
other and prioritize their learnings. For instance, concepts like flipped classroom, cognitive
apprenticeship (watch me code), co-learn, multi-channel learning will be preferred over
conventional classroom learning for groups.

Bit-size nano learning: This kind of learning will be targeted at imparting the relevant
skills that are aligned with the organization’s key expectations in bite-sized learning units
with just the necessary amount of information to help learners achieve a goal.

It will also enable employees to learn to relearn multiple times, multiple technologies, and
domains, giving them the agility that is much needed to navigate today’s world.
Organizations are also pushing learning to the Edge where it is much more accessible to
the employees, across the different channels, across devices. As businesses leverage
technology for L&D, the concept of bit-size nano-learning is catching momentum.

Focus on Productivity: Now that learning and development have the tools and technology
to engage learners with ever more sophisticated digital experiences, the focus in 2021 will
move towards systems of productivity. 

It’s a trend that will become increasingly central as teams across the organization,
including L&D, deal with budget freezes, cuts, and redundancies. How can L&D do more
with less in circumstances such as these? Learning technology will increasingly focus on
providing solutions to make training teams more digital, agile, and efficient.

No matter what 2021 learning and development trends come your way, the key is for L&D
to stay on their toes and remain adaptable. If there is one lesson we can take from the past
few months into the year ahead, it’s that change is inevitable and often unexpected. It’s up
to us to embrace that change and find the opportunity within it.

36
Major Players in the Industry:

Born to Win An organizations that provides corporate training, personality

Learning development, soft skills training and organisational
transformation services.
Breakthrough An outbound training company that develop high performing
teams who buy into company vision, values and strategy.
Business Salt A sales performance management consulting firm delivering
improved sales outcome through training, business
simulations, outbound simulations, coaching and e-learning.
Centum Learning A learning and skill development company offering solutions
for skills up-gradation, livelihood skilling, skills for schools
and colleges skills assessment.
Corpoway A corporate training and soft skills training company that
provides wide range of skills that organizations need.
Jigsaw Academy An online school of analytics and the pioneers in analytics
training.
Learn Tech A learning design studio that offers services for e-learning
development, training consulting, training programs,
multimedia solutions and technology solutions.
Siksha Training A provider of training and consulting solutions for human
and Development capital development at all levels, across the breadth of
industries.

37
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY

3. Introduction to the Company:

38
d-perennial is based out of Mumbai with a Pan India presence in varied cities, having a
team of 150+ trainers with multilingual competency.

d-perennial is a proprietorship firm started in 2017, catering into Corporate training,

Coaching, Counselling, Content Development, Open Workshops, Talent management,
manpower development, etc. 

Our Core Team includes,

 Dr. Deepti Arora, Director of the company with over two decades of Experience in
the Industry.
 Priyanka Arora, Head of Operations & Marketing who has 13+ years of experience
in the industry and has worked in different HR Roles-Consulting, Recruitment,
Performance management and audit.
 Nupur Rastogi, Content head, with 17+ years of experience in the Industry.

Our Approach and Theme-EVOKE-FACILITATE-EMPOWER

39
 The first theme is Evoke, which means we either bring or recall the knowledge
transfer into one's mind. 

To evoke, we Facilitate the program in such a way, where we engage and

involve participants, bring-in innovative ideas, customize methodologies, to relate
and connect with today's generation participants. 

We Empower our participants with the knowledge transfer and ensure they are

stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their
rights.  Thus, the three themes we work upon is EVOKE-FACILITATE-
EMPOWER perennial stands for lasting forever. We also ensure that they are
better planned, strategist, maximize their potential, higher productivity, greater
effectiveness, etc.

Here, we ensure that the impact of sessions will create a brand in the mindset of trainees.
The constant use of different tools in our training programs, helps delegates' build
a collaborative working environment.   

We at d-perennial strive to be a value based sustainable organization looking to contribute

to society, motivate and engage people with new learning.
Our curriculum empowers companies by maximizing the potential of every single
individual.  We pursue personal behavioural changes to experience greater effectiveness.
The constant use of real examples in our training courses for delegates from their own
working environment ensures collaborative solutions. A great training opportunity can
spark innovation not only in the employee attending the session, but also within their
working team.

40
OUR SERVICES:
01. Training
• Virtual,
• Classroom and
• Outbound trainings, (functional, behavioral and skill domain)

02. Content and Instructional Design

• Content structure based on Adult Learning principles
• Handbooks and Workbooks with visual appeal.

03. Consulting
• Organization Development
• Marketing
• HR

41
04. Assessment and Evaluation
• Pre and Post Training Evaluation
• On the Job Assessment

05. Out Bound Trainings - Out Bound Trainings for enhancing behavioral skills and
competencies, experiential learning and team bonding.

06. Safety Audit

• Risk Assessment
• Safety Training
• Engineering and Design

07. Functional Audit

• Marketing
• Finance
• HR
• Operations
• Corporate events
• Rewards and Recreation
• Motivational speakers
• Conferences
• Seminars

08. Corporate Events

• Rewards and Recreation
• Motivational speakers
• Conferences
• Seminars

42
WHY d-perennial?
• Identify skills gaps within your teams
• Consulting for organizational, managerial challenges
• Develop goal-oriented customized training workshops
• Facilitate learning interventions with experiential learning models
• Devise & implement a follow through plan to foster learning
• Integrating post training assessments to measure training effectiveness
• Blending training elements to suit different learning Styles

Our Methodology:
STEP 01: Training Needs Assessment
Assess the training needs and identify the gaps and challenges.

STEP 02: Training a Plan

Propose a training plan to customize the learning as per organization requirement and
audience profile.

STEP 03: Training Development

Develop training using the instructional strategies and following the Adult learning
principles.

STEP 04: Training Implementation

Decide on an execution model Classroom/Virtual/Outbound or blended and use suitable
learning aids to engage the learners.

43
STEP 05: Training Evaluation
Evaluate the training effectiveness using assessments or the On the Job observation. This
can be further supplemented via coaching and mentoring sessions or post reads, ready
reckoners.

Our Business Vertices:

Automobile, Banking & Finance, Retail Real Estate, Logistics, Manufacturing, Telecom,
Technology, Government and PSU, Petroleum and Gas, Power, Information Technology,
Media, Academics.

Our Capability:
 Served 70+ Clients for different services.
 The core team has collective experience of coaching and training over 20,000 members
 Successfully launched and completed over 500+ training days since inception
 The core team has collective experience of over 40+ domains in the area of Marketing.
Sales, Human Resource, Organization Development, Operations, etc.

Organizations Served:

- Hyundai - Asian Paints

- Suzuki - Mahindra Logistics
- Schindler - ITM Group of Institution
- HP - Panasonic
- Sony - Haier
- Bridgestone - NPCI

44
SWOT ANALYSIS:
SWOT analysis is a business analysis tool that is used for strategic planning. It can be
used at any time to gain insight into the current state of business. It is important for
consulting firms to maintain a read on the market and other factors that may impact
business. 
STRENGTHS:
- Strong Compliance
- Competitive advantage
- Excellent services
- Loyal Customers
- Onsite training facilities
- Ability to deliver compliance in house
WEAKNESSES:
- Workforce strength
- Slow Processes
- Small client list
- Limited Services
- Diversity of learning options
OPPORTUNITIES:
- New emerging industries
- Market development
- Service expansion
- Innovation & technology development
- Employee Development
- Training
THREATS:
- Changing laws
- Culture
- Larger Competitors
- Less demand in certain industries
- Technology
- Resources

45
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4. Research Methodology:

46
Research is a careful enquiry or information and to expand and verify existing knowledge.
According to Clifford woddly, research is defined as the process which includes defining
and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis for suggested solutions, collecting,
organizing and evaluating data, making deductions and reaching conclusions and at last
carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis.

Research methodology refers to the practical “how” of any given piece of research. More
specifically, it’s about how a researcher systematically designs a study to ensure valid and
reliable results that address the research aims and objectives.  The methodology chapter
should justify the design choices, by showing that the chosen methods and techniques are
the best fit for the research aims and objectives, and will provide valid and reliable results. 

Research Design –
Research design is the framework of research methods and techniques chosen by a
researcher. The design allows researchers to hone in on research methods that are suitable
for the subject matter and set up their studies up for success.

The design of a research topic explains the type of research

(experimental, survey, correlational, semi-experimental, review) and also its sub-type
(experimental design, research problem, and descriptive case-study).

The purpose of the study is to understand the impact of covid-19 on clients of d-perennial
i.e., L&D Department of various organizations and how it can ultimately affect our
business.

Scope of the Study:

1. Conduct the study for the clients of d-perennial.

47
2. Include 30 clients at random.

3. Seek individual responses to questionnaires.

4. Collect data from participants.

5. Include open and closed ended questions while seeking data.

6. Protect the privacy of individuals responding to questionnaires.

Primary data -

The primary data required for this project work was collected through questionnaires. This
method consisted of preparing detailed questions covering the impact of covid-19 on
clients of d-perennial. Thereafter it was distributed among via total of 30 personnel of the
organizations (respondents) who were randomly selected. Further, no names were sought
from those filling in this questionnaire so as to obtain their free and Frank opinion as also
to protect their privacy. The format of the questionnaire is attached as annexure to the
report.

Secondary data -

As secondary data is the data which has been collected earlier for other purposes, the
requirement of this type of data with respect to this report was obtained from the
organization itself.

Data collection Tools and Techniques:

48
Data collection methods -

There are four main methods of data collection:

a) Observation

b) Experimentation

c) Survey

d) Direct interview method

The survey method of Data collection selected which is one of the very common and
widely used methods for collection of primary data. We can gather wide range of valuable
information of how exactly covid-19 affected our clients and how greater is its impact on
their organization.

Sample size and method of sampling:

a) universe - the universe for the purpose of this report was finite i.e., clients of d-
perennial.

b) The sampling unit was an individual employed by d-perennial and the sample size was
limited to a total of 30 clients of the company.

c) Method of sampling adopted was simple random sampling method because all the
clients have relatively different situations and experience, thus a sample size of 30 was
considered to be adequate.

d) Tools used -

i. Columns

ii. Bar diagram

iii. Pie charts

49
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

5. Data Analysis and Interpretation:

50
 1. How has COVID-19 impacted L&D’s role within your organization?

- Positive Impact, L&D is viewed as a strategic function

- Moderate Impact, L&D is involved in a few decision making processes
- Negative Impact, L&D’s involvement is low
- No Impact, L&D’s involvement remains the same

Series 1
16

14

12

10

0
Positive Impact Moderate Impact Negative Impact No Impact

Series 1

51
2. Do you provide training sessions for your remote workers to ensure both
productivity and employee engagement in this situation?
- Yes
- No
- We are planning on it.

Sales

Yes No W are planning on it

52
3. How difficult was it for the employees to transition from offline to online training
sessions?
- Very Difficult
- Slightly Difficult
- Neutral
- Easy

Sales

Very Difficult Slightly Difficult Somewhat Difficult Easy

53
4. Are your employees satisfied with the remote learning solutions provided?

- Yes
- No
- Maybe

Sales

Yes No Maybe

54
 5. Which remote work models are you currently exploring in your organization?

- Centralized office + Home office

- Centralized office + Any location
- Fully remote

Series 1

Fully Remote

Centralized office + Any Location

Centralized Office + Home Office

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Series 1

55
6. Which delivery methods do you use for virtual training in your organization?

- Webcasts
- Learning Management System(LMS)
- Virtual classroom
- Whiteboard training
- Blended E-learning

Series 1

Learning Management System

Blended E-learning

Whiteboard Training

Virtual Classroom

Webcasts

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Series 1

56
 7. Which three major implications of the following has L&D faced during the crisis?

- Unprepared for the digital-only approach

- Focus shifted to crucial business operations
- Reduced budgets and changed expectations
- Revamped strategy to fulfil purpose and mission
- Managing/leading remote teams
- Pressure of introducing innovative platforms for training purpose

Column1

Pressure of introducing innovative platforms for training purpose

Managing/leading remote teams

Revamped strategy to fulfil purpose and mission

Reduced budgets and changed expectations

Focus shifted to crucial business operations

Unprepared for the digital-only approach

0 5 10 15 20 25

Column1

57
 8. For organizations that are using Virtual Instructor Led Training programs, have you
been offering it to?

- Employees at all levels of the organization

- Managers and higher level employees
- Specific managers
- Primarily lower level employees
- Leadership/executives only

Series 1
14

12

10

0
Employees at all Managers and high Specific managers Primarily lower level Executives only
levels level employees employees

Series 1

58
9. Does your company have plans to continue its current level of Virtual Instructor Led
Training (VILT) investment should there be a return to the office and in-person
events?

- We are not currently using VILT

- Yes, this will continue to be our main method of training moving forward
- We are likely to use VILT as needed but are not likely to include it in our larger
L&D strategy
- We plan to stop using VILT if there is not a need for remote work any longer
- Unsure

Series 1

Unsure

We plan to stop using VILT if there is not a need for remote work any longe

likely to use VILT as needed but are not likely to include it in our larger L&D strategy

Yes, this will continue to be our main method of training moving forward

Not using VILT

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Series 1

59
10. During the pandemic, have you increased the focus on upskilling and reskilling
change?

- Significant Increase
- Moderate Increase
- No change
- Decrease

Sales

Significant Increase Moderate Increase No change Decrease

60
11.Being an HR, which of the following liquid workforces are you dealing with in your
organization due to pandemic?

- Freelancers
- Consultants
- Contingent workers
- Part-time employees

Sales

Freelancers Consultants Contingent workers Part - time employees

61
12.Are remote training programs as effective as in-person classroom training?

- Less effective
- Equally effective
- More effective

Sales

Less effective Equally effective More effective

62
 13.How strongly are L&D teams supported by the participants undergoing learning
programs?

- No support
- Moderately
- Highly Supportive

Series 1
18

16
16

14

12
11

10

4
3

0
No Support Moderately Highly Supportive

Series 1

63
 14.What is the Impact of COVID-19 on L&D budget?

- Positive Impact, Budgets have increased

- Moderate Impact, Budgets are cut down marginally
- Negative Impact, Budgets are slashed
- No Impact, Budgets remain the same

Series 1
16

14

12

10

0
Positive Impact Moderate Impact Negative Impact No Impact

Series 1

64
 15.As the COVID crisis has shifted the need for digital skills training, which of the
following are you offering to your employees?

- Digital Marketing
- Software Development
- Artificial Intelligence/Data Science
- Cloud computing
- Cyber Security
- Digital Operations

Series 1
Series 1

Digital Operations

Cyber Security

Cloud Computing

Data Science

Software Development

Digital Marketing

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

65
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

6. Conclusion and Suggestions

66
FINDINGS:
Key findings from the survey include -
 • 45% of the respondents said the impact of covid was moderate as L&D is involved in a
fee decision making processes. While 30% of them said there is a positive impact as L&D
is viewed as a strategic function in their organization.

 • 60% of the respondents said that they do provide regular training sessions for their
employees in the current situation.

 • 60% of the respondents said it was difficult for the employees to transition from offline
to online training sessions. While 30% of them said that it was quite easy for them as they
were already familiar with the remote learnings.

 • 50% of the respondents said that their employees are satisfied with the remote learning
solutions provided to them.

 • 60% of the respondents said that they are using Centralized office + Home Office as it's
the convenient option for them.

 • 45% of the respondents said they use Virtual classroom for training, while 20% of them
use the Blended E-learning approach.

 • 75% of the respondents said the major implications faced by L&D during the crisis are -
Unprepared for the digital-only approach, refused budgets and changed expectations, and
to manage and lead the remote teams.

 • Only 20% of the respondents said that they provide VILT programs to the employees at
all levels if the organization, while 45% of them offer VILT programs only to the
managers and higher level employees.

67
 • 40% of the respondents said that they might use VILT as needed but may not include it
in their larger L&D strategy.

 • 40% of the respondents said there is a moderate increase towards the process of
upskilling and reskilling change. While 30% of them reported no change at all.

 • 45% of the respondents said that they are mostly dealing with freelancers due to
pandemic, and 35% of them are dealing with consultants.

 • 50% of the respondents said that the remote training programs are less effective than in-
person classroom trainings.

 • 40% of the respondents said that they are highly supported, while 55% of them said they
are moderately supported by the participants undergoing learning program.

 • 50% of the respondents said that their budgets were cut down marginally, while 35% of
them said there was a negative impact of covid-19 and the budgets were slashed.

 • 30% of the respondents said that they are offering digital marketing trainings for their
employees, while 25% of them opted for cyber security and 22% of them are offering
software development trainings in this need for digital skills training.

SUGGESTIONS:

68
From these findings, it’s clear that the pandemic has increased the importance of, and
demand for, digital skills training. It has made it imperative for companies to find ways to
deliver skills training online.
According to me, the learning leaders must adopt new training techniques to engage virtual
audience, which may include,
- Planning shorter sessions with definite objectives
- Including activities and games to ensure participation
- Set training: Agenda, Platform, Technology
- Providing performance support and resources
And here at our organization, d-perennial, we ensure all of these strategies are
implemented during our training sessions.
L&D has a real chance to create genuine value. Budgets are increasing, especially in the
digital space, and Learning & Development has the support of executives. You might need
to buy an eLearning content library if that's what your people need.
Be realistic around your home workers. For some, it’s tough working from home. This
goes for your L&D team as well as your learners. Look after people’s physical and mental
health as well as their technology needs. Everyone is under a lot of pressure and most have
health, parents, kids and money worries to think of which are chipping away at them each
and every day. So think of this when providing learning solutions for them.
Get creative with what you have. As a part of the process it’s important to step back and
consider all of your design options.

If we've got some face-to-face training that needs to be done in a different way, virtual
classroom might not always be the right way to deliver it. Instead, maybe it's a series of
live sessions that has activities woven through it, small group work, assignments that
happen in the space between, with opportunities to reflect on how it’s working or what
others are doing that is working, and perhaps some curated content that gets posted out.
We also need to make it easier for our learners by getting creative with the infrastructure
of the LMS platform, other content providers, and thinking about the holistic and organic
experience that you can create. Perhaps the best design includes content from your own
organisation, from several vendors blended together, with a sustainment strategy that
wraps around it.

LIMITATIONS:

69
All research studies have limitations and finite scope. Limitations are often imposed by
time and budget constraints. We precisely list the limitations of the study. It describes the
extent to which we believe the limitations degrade the quality of the research.
The limitations specific to this project are as follows:
 Due to constraints of time and sample responsiveness, the sample size is limited.

 As the questionnaire was condensed, certain factors could not be studied in depth.
Nevertheless, the questionnaire did provide relevant data for the study.

 The time allotted for the project was 3 months.

 The data collected is completely restricted to the clients of d-perennial, hence this
analysis cannot be universal.

 The conclusions are drawn after conducting a survey from random 30 clients out of
70+ clients of the organization.

CONCLUSION:

The transition to digital learning is not a simple one, with the COVID-19 pandemic
pushing it into the spotlight. Our study identified several barriers and challenges
experienced by L&D practitioners across each stage of the learning cycle. Some of these
challenges were relatively short term, such as feelings of exposure and vulnerability at

70
switching to online delivery and identifying gaps in capability and/or addressing
confidence needs. Other barriers appear to have further-reaching implications, not least the
ongoing volatility for organisations and the resulting challenge of long-term planning and
evaluation against this backdrop.
On another note, the more personal issue of prioritising and protecting one’s own health
and wellbeing, while adapting to such a new way of working, is not a straightforward one
to solve. However, the research also identified a wide variety of resources that L&D
practitioners can draw upon to mitigate and/or overcome the barriers. These range from
their own inherent resources, such as their strengths, skills, values and personal levels of
resilience, to resources drawn from others – peers within the L&D community, leaders and
clients, as well as broader resources from the organisation itself. Looking ahead, we can
expect an ongoing acceleration in the use of digital learning, albeit with a continued need
and desire to blend this with interventions promoting face-to-face learning and
collaboration.
Learner needs and priorities will continue to evolve, providing great opportunities for L&D
practitioners to step into a bigger space, to enhance their and the organisational offering
and to sharpen their skills in the process. The extraordinary pandemic times have
demonstrated that it is vital to build up one’s bank of resources – in particular, finding
ways to cultivate collaborative relationships and human connectivity as an antidote to the
challenges posed by the digitalised world. Through using these resources, L&D
practitioners will strengthen themselves and one another for the demands that lie ahead,
adding real value to the profession while continuing to thrive personally.
The major constraints to running learning initiatives today are time and money. The
following ingredients create opportunities for HR and L&D to make learning happen,
nonetheless.
- Make all learning fully digital: short, impactful interactive modules that can be
delivered “just-in-time” where they are most needed.
- Run programs at scale. Getting participants in a learning room in much higher
numbers allows for a critical mass of learners to absorb important content and work
to shift their behavior collectively.
- Lean heavily on peer-learning and involve participants in each other’s development
journey.

COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the lives of people at social and economic
levels, and for this reason, business enterprises are forced to come up with new strategies
and policies, in order to deal with this unprecedented situation and to plan ahead. This

71
encompasses a new era of business management. In view of this, the practices of human
resources management including acquisition, training and development, motivation, in
addition to other practices are among the key managerial functions that are likely to evolve
and change. Hence, concerning the qualities of hired people, strategist may have to
reprioritize their concerns.
Going forward, the L&D segment will take on a more integral and strategic role with
deeper alignment with organizational priorities and business operations. Therefore, the
L&D team will play a significant role in driving self-help education programs to enhance
the pace of learning within the team. More importantly, beyond multiple technologies and
domains, the ability to see the interconnected big picture is becoming key where
organizations are increasingly leveraging learning to trigger employees to be on the
lookout for finding innovative solutions to challenges old and new.

Learning experience from the Project:

- New and improved skills and their application
- Teamwork
- Responsibility
- Time management
- Professional communications
- Making connections

72
 - Taking constructive criticism well
- Networking is important

The pandemic has brought on significant change and uncertainty. The impact of covid-19
is large on L&D departments of our clients and they are trying their best to cope with it.
COVID-19 has had an immediate and massive impact on the leadership, learning,
and talent development community. 
Many clients stopped production on all types of work so their instructional designers
could “digitize everything” or “virtualize everything.” It put a lot of pressure on people
who were new to creating virtual learning experiences. 

And on the virtual side, a lot of face-to-face classroom designs were moved to online
platforms without an opportunity to test for engagement, retention, and impact.
That’s certainly not the best way to design virtual training, nor is it the best use of
our learners’ time.

The covid crisis has indirectly affected our organization as L&D budgets were slashed
during the pandemic. As a result, the training sessions we provide to them were
discontinued for a period of time. But as some organizations are now gaining stability, we
got our few clients back and started online training sessions for them.

Today, learning and development departments have the ability to reach employees
at many different points in their workday. With new learning technologies and other
collaboration tools, L&D literally can meet people where they are—inside and
outside the classroom.
But with digital tools becoming more widely available and accessible, the challenge
is not to lose the human element.

And d-perennial ensures to keep the learners engaging, interacting and we create truly
memorable learning experiences for our clients.

Annexure:
Please find attached the Questionnaire circulated for the survey.

How has COVID-19 impacted L&D’s role within your organization?

- Positive Impact, L&D is viewed as a strategic function
- Moderate Impact, L&D is involved in a few decision making processes
- Negative Impact, L&D’s involvement is low
73
 - No Impact, L&D’s involvement remains the same
Do you provide training sessions for your remote workers to ensure both productivity and
employee engagement in this situation?
- Yes
- No
- We are planning on it.
How difficult was it for the employees to transition from offline to online training
sessions?
- Very Difficult
- Slightly Difficult
- Neutral
- Easy
Are your employees satisfied with the remote learning solutions provided?
- Yes
- No
- Maybe
Which remote work models are you currently exploring in your organization?
- Centralized office + Home office
- Centralized office + Any location
- Fully remote
Which delivery methods do you use for virtual training in your organization?
- Webcasts
- Learning Management System(LMS)
- Virtual classroom
- Whiteboard training
- Blended E-learning
Which three major implications of the following has L&D faced during the crisis?
- Unprepared for the digital-only approach
- Focus shifted to crucial business operations
- Reduced budgets and changed expectations
- Revamped strategy to fulfil purpose and mission
- Managing/leading remote teams
- Pressure of introducing innovative platforms for training purpose
74
For organizations that are using Virtual Instructor Led Training programs, have you been
offering it to?
- Employees at all levels of the organization
- Managers and higher level employees
- Specific managers
- Primarily lower level employees
- Leadership/executives only

 Does your company have plans to continue its current level of Virtual Instructor Led
Training (VILT) investment should there be a return to the office and in-person events?
- We are not currently using VILT
- Yes, this will continue to be our main method of training moving forward
- We are likely to use VILT as needed but are not likely to include it in our larger
L&D strategy
- We plan to stop using VILT if there is not a need for remote work any longer
- Unsure

During the pandemic, have you increased the focus on upskilling and reskilling change?
- Significant Increase
- Moderate Increase
- No change
- Decrease
Being an HR, which of the following liquid workforces are you dealing with in your
organization due to pandemic?
- Freelancers
- Consultants
- Contingent workers
- Part-time employees
Are remote training programs as effective as in-person classroom training?
- Less effective
- Equally effective
- More effective
How strongly are L&D teams supported by the participants undergoing learning programs?
- No support
- Moderately
75
 - Highly Supportive
What is the Impact of COVID-19 on L&D budget?
- Positive Impact, Budgets have increased
- Moderate Impact, Budgets are cut down marginally
- Negative Impact, Budgets are slashed
- No Impact, Budgets remain the same
As the COVID crisis has shifted the need for digital skills training, which of the following
are you offering to your employees?
- Digital Marketing
- Software Development
- Artificial Intelligence/Data Science
- Cloud computing
- Cyber Security
- Digital Operations

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Journal:
d-perennial company profile

Websites for reference:

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learning-and-development

76
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%26d+department&rlz=1C1CHZN_enIN955IN955&sxsrf=AOaemvLXREMdOJjX
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77
 Mtd2l6EAEYBzIHCCMQ6gIQJzIHCCMQ6gIQJzIHCCMQ6gIQJzIHCCMQ6gIQJ
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78