First published on Monday, May 22, 2023
Last updated on Monday, May 29, 2023
A crucial part of what's important to the modern workforce is training and career development. There's a big shift in how they want to be rewarded and the importance of company values and learning.
Today's worker wants more than just competitive pay from their employers.
Incorporating e-learning into your company can be essential to upskilling employees, especially as we face a global talent shortage.
If you're wondering why e-learning, in particular, it's because it has a significant leg-up over traditional learning methods.
E-learning is much more accessible and can be tailored to different learning styles, making it a more inclusive option than traditional learning methods.
For businesses looking to provide coaching and development to employees, digital learning material is now the most cost-effective option. It’s also the preferred method for employees, which makes them much more engaged with the idea of learning.
With e-learning, employees can take charge of their learning experience. Letting them decide what they want to learn, when they want to learn, and how they want to learn. It also allows organisations to provide a diverse range of learning resources and opportunities suited to staff needs and preferences. So, you can see for yourself how developing your workers increases their value to your business.
My tips for empowering employees through e-learning
- Start with key areas of focus and provide access to technical and soft skills that are relevant to all employees regardless of role, length of service or seniority. This means choosing topics that employees care about.
Employees want to learn skills that also help them outside the work environment, like time management or leadership skills. Or training that shows them that their company aligns with their own values like equality and diversity, sustainability, and environmental responsibility.
- Use a system where there's motivation to complete the courses.
BrightLearn helps you motivate staff to stay on top of their skills development with free digital certificates when they complete a course, and employers can also use this to track their progress. Your learning modules should also be concise, making them easier to digest and complete.
- Continuously improve your e-learning courses by gathering feedback on your teams’ learning experiences.
It can be as simple as learning their preferred content style and adapting courses to suit their preferences, so it's more engaging and maximises learning outcomes.
These approaches create consistency but also help you as an employer to overcome any challenges or resistance you face from employees when introducing training and e-learning to your organisation. You can learn more about how to promote training courses for your employees here.
The potential challenges you could face with e-learning
As with all things, e-learning does come with challenges.
Even introducing new technologies can create tension not only for those who are less tech-savvy, but it can also raise concerns about certain positions becoming irrelevant in the future.
You can overcome these challenges by being open with employees about your business goals and why new technologies are critical to helping them grow. Being able to join that journey and be involved in the implementation alleviates any tension, re-focusses attention, and allows employees to be open to learning new skills at the same time.
Other ways to address challenges or resistance to e-learning include:
- Emphasise how e-learning helps employees’ personal growth and upskills them for senior roles.
- Embrace learning and development openly and create a continuous learning culture so it's more familiar for employees.
- Showcase other staff members' experiences and share their feedback from the learning process.
- Provide tangible rewards so employees feel more encouraged to take part in e-learning initiatives.
How AI and other advanced technologies will contribute to shaping the future of e-learning
AI is a hot topic in every industry right now.
And we can expect these technologies to play a notable role in shaping the future of e-learning. They'll likely help improve personalised learning by analysing each learner's behaviour, preferences, and performance to create customised learning paths.
Integrating AI with e-learning makes your business more accessible as well. For example, AI can transcribe audio, describe images, or convert text to speech to make sure that e-learning programmes are inclusive and accessible to all employees.
Looking to the future of a more engaged, skilled workforce
With every advanced technology and e-learning benefit we’ve discussed, the future of HR and employee development looks more digital, personalised, and engaging.
Engaged employees are more likely to stay involved, loyal, and productive, so there's a lot for HR leaders and employers to gain.
Make sure to integrate employee e-learning today; it's definitely a decision that will yield substantial benefits for your business. At BrightHR, we’re constantly evolving our comprehensive offering of e-learning courses on BrightLearn. Learn more about BrightLearn now!