Google announced this week that it plans to make around $100,000 worth of tech training available to any US business that wants it.
The move will remove one of the major barriers – the price – that deters businesses from providing the level of training employees of almost all businesses require in 2022.
With cyber-threats becoming ever more frequent, investing in staff training and arming them with tools like antivirus software and password managers has never been more important to business success and safety.
Google’s Grant to US Tech Companies
Google has revealed it will be able to pay for digital training courses for up to 500 employees at any US business.
The courses available cover a wide variety of subjects and disciplines, and employees would be able to upskill themselves in areas such as digital marketing, design, IT Support, and data analysis.
The pledge is part of Google’s Certificates program, already a popular way for businesses in the US and beyond to ensure their staff teams are equipped to meet the demands of the contemporary, heavily digital working world.
According to Google, the average salary for entry-level roles across certificate fields at present is $63,600.
What is Google’s Certificates Program?
Google defines its Career Certificates program as a collection of “flexible online training programs designed to earn job-ready skills in high-growth, high-demand career fields such as IT Support, Project Management, Data Analytics, and UX Design.”
The program was initially launched back in 2018, and is supposed to be a way for workers to boost their resumes by learning core digital skills and mastering popular programs – at a speed that suits them.
Google says around 70,000 people in the US have gained a google certificate and around 205,000 people across the globe now have one. The courses – which usually take less than 6 months to finish – are available for under $40 per person through Coursera.org.
According to the tech giant, three-quarters of Google’s program graduates “report an improvement in their career within 6 months of certificate completion”.
Training is Only one Half of the Puzzle
Training staff in a discipline – say data protection and security, for example – and then not providing them with adequate software to carry out what they’ve been taught effectively renders training pointless.
You could have the best-trained staff in the world but still, if you’re not making the relevant tools available, it’ll be a wasted investment.
This is particularly important in the context of cybersecurity – both training and software are vital in protecting your business from attacks, and one without the other is a recipe for disaster. There’s no point, for instance, in installing a new state-of-the-art antivirus program if your employees don’t know how to use it.
Whatever your companies plan for investing in and upskilling your employees, be sure to check out Google’s Career Certificates program – and now there’s more funding available for US businesses, there’s no real catch.
