Mainframe platforms sit at the core of the world’s financial, government, healthcare, and retail infrastructure. They’re stable by design. But the ecosystem around them evolves constantly: new security threats, modernization toolchains, DevOps practices for z/OS, hybrid cloud integration patterns, and waves of retirements that shift institutional knowledge. In that environment, a simple, measurable target of 40 hours of professional development per person per year becomes more than a number. It’s a strategic benchmark that helps leaders operationalize workforce readiness, de-risk transformation, and future-proof critical operations.

Setting a Learning Baseline

IBM offers perhaps the best-known proof point. Its THINK40 program sets a clear expectation that every employee completes a minimum of 40 hours of training and professional development annually. IBM’s learning and development program success has led to an increase in retention and engagement. The learning initiatives also have led to financial benefits for the company. According to Chief Learning Officer, a skills development initiative, which cost $700,000, led to $32 million in cost savings and avoidance.

Independent research from MIT Sloan’s Institute for Work and Employment Research found that the average and median annual learning time actually exceeded this floor — 77 hours and 52 hours, respectively — in 2019. MIT Sloan also highlights the enterprise scale of IBM’s “Your Learning” platform — millions of visits that make learning habitual across the company. This combination of a quantifiable benchmark and an at-scale learning system is instructive for any mainframe organization.

Why does “40” matter? First, it’s concrete. Managers can budget for it; teams can plan around it; auditors can see it. Second, it’s sufficiently substantive to move the needle on skill depth without overwhelming delivery schedules. Third, the target nudges learning from ad hoc to continuous, a crucial shift for mainframe environments where small, consistent skill upgrades have outsized operational payoffs. MIT Sloan found IBM’s experience underscores this: codifying a baseline expectation drives participation and keeps skills data flowing into human resources and workforce-planning systems.

Develop a Learning Culture Throughout the Enterprise

The business case is broader than a single company. A large body of research connects learning culture with organizational performance. Deloitte’s analysis found that organizations with strong learning cultures are more innovative, more productive, and more profitable, with markedly higher engagement and retention. ATD, in partnership with Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), similarly reports that top-performing companies are far more likely to have extensive learning cultures where employees routinely share knowledge. For mainframe leaders balancing resiliency, modernization, and cost control, those correlations translate into fewer incidents, faster change velocity, and better cross-team collaboration.

Setting the benchmark is only half the equation; logistics and cost determine whether you can hit it at scale. That’s where on-demand e-learning is not just helpful — it’s essential. Peer-reviewed and industry studies show that e-learning can reduce training time by 40% to 60% compared to classroom instruction, and blended models have delivered double-digit cost reductions without sacrificing outcomes. Ernst & Young, for example, cut training costs by 35% using an 80/20 web-to-classroom blend while improving consistency. For globally distributed mainframe teams — often spread across time zones and operating on 24/7 service level agreements — self-paced courses eliminate travel, venue fees, and downtime while letting learners pick up precisely the skills they need, when they need them.

Critically, scale matters in mainframe skilling. A handful of ad hoc workshops will not prepare a workforce for continuous change in z/OS, security, databases, and tooling pipelines. Organizations need a massive, continually updated library of mainframe-specific content — spanning fundamentals for new entrants and deep specializations for veterans (e.g., performance tuning, SMF analytics, JES2/JES3 operations, CICS/IMS modernization, and hybrid cloud integration). IBM’s internal “Your Learning” data shows that when a large catalog is paired with personalized pathways and a clear target number of hours, engagement is sustained across the year rather than compressed into last-minute sprints. The lesson: breadth plus accessibility fuels consistent uptake.

Tie Education Benchmarks to Improved Outcomes

Of course, hours alone don’t guarantee impact. The 40-hour benchmark works when it’s tethered to outcomes and reinforced by culture:

• Tie learning to real work. Use operational metrics — mean time to repair (MTTR), change success rate, security audit findings, batch throughput — as the north star for program design. Deloitte’s research emphasizes that when learning is embedded in work systems and aligned to business outcomes, organizations realize the strongest gains.
• Use structured role pathways. Map curricula to roles (e.g., z/OS system programmer, security administrator, performance analyst, application developer) and proficiency levels. MIT Sloan’s case study of IBM describes how learning records feed talent systems, enabling better career planning and staffing decisions. Replicating that loop in mainframe shops helps managers see skill coverage and close gaps before they turn into incidents.
• Utilize IBM digital credentials. IBM digital credentials provide the motivation that drives a culture of self-directed learning . These benchmark skills across the mainframe workforce and increase worker satisfaction and workforce retention, as well as attract mainframe talent to your organization.
• Blend formats intelligently. Reserve synchronous time for labs, code reviews, or architecture decisions; let e-learning cover foundational knowledge and refreshers. The literature shows blended models maximize both effectiveness and efficiency at enterprise scale.
• Measure and iterate. Track completion, assessment performance, and on-the-job outcomes. ATD’s research on learning cultures highlights that high performers align learning goals with business performance measures; mainframe leaders should do the same, linking 40-hour attainment to operational key performance indicators (KPIs).

Leaders Must Champion Workforce-Scale Learning

Leadership behaviors are the multiplier. When executives and first-line managers protect time for learning, recognize achievements, and model curiosity, participation becomes the norm rather than the exception. Former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty captured the spirit succinctly: “Growth and comfort do not coexist.” Mainframe teams that stretch into new tools, methods, and cross-disciplinary collaboration — backed by time and resources — build the resilience their platforms demand.

Finally, the 40-hour benchmark is a floor, not a ceiling. In fast-moving areas like mainframe security, observability, and AI-assisted operations, learning demand can spike with regulatory changes or technology releases. IBM’s learning averages exceed the 40-hour floor and illustrate a healthy dynamic: once the infrastructure and culture are in place, people learn more because it’s easier, more relevant, and visibly valued. The point is not to chase a number; it’s to use the number to institutionalize momentum.

The takeaway for mainframe leaders: make 40 hours of annual professional development a non-negotiable, enterprise-wide commitment; invest in a broad, on-demand mainframe e-learning library to make those hours feasible across shifts and time zones; architect role-based pathways and tie them to operational outcomes; and cultivate a learning culture from the top down. Do that, and you’ll harden today’s reliability while building tomorrow’s capacity to change — exactly what “futureproofing” means on the mainframe.

Darren Surch is one of only 28 people ever honored as a Lifetime IBM Champion by IBM and one of just two Lifetime IBM Champions for IBM Z. The IBM Champions program is an elite global community of over 1,400 external experts across all IBM technologies, celebrated for their thought leadership, exceptional expertise, and significant contributions to the IBM technical community. Darren has been named an Open Mainframe Project Ambassador by The Linux Foundation and plays an active role in the Mainframe Skills Council. As a prominent speaker and thought leader, he is widely recognized for his insights on mainframe workforce training and digital credentialing. As CEO of Interskill Learning, Darren leads one of the most influential organizations in mainframe workforce training. Interskill delivers over a million hours of mainframe training annually and is responsible for powering more than 80% of all IBM digital badges awarded for mainframe education.