Organisations are evaluating their main goal for work-based learning. They are continuing to cultivate a learning culture environment because they understand the importance of their employees upskilling and that the relationship between learning and work is evolving. But they are now asking the hard questions about what the aim of their work-based learning is and how they can best achieve the results that are most beneficial to the employee and the company.

Hear Maarten van Beek, HR Director for Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg at ING, a recent guest on the Digital HR Leaders podcast, speaks about the future of learning and the shift from a learn, work, retire approach to careers, to a model of lifelong learning:

How will the approach to corporate learning change?

Many companies are taking note that formal learning is costly and not as effective as other approaches to upskilling employees such as on-demand digital learning. True, there is still a need for formal, corporate learning, but according to Charles Jennings on the Digital HR Leaders podcast, discussing how to build a learning strategy

“A huge amount of time, effort and money are actually poured into skills, frameworks, and mapping those formal classes and courses, yet the return for learning away from work, it's usually actually quite poor”.

Source: Degreed How the Workforce Learns

So, to achieve better results, companies are doing two things: focusing on culture and personalisation. They are encouraging a positive learning culture. Companies that promote work-based learning see performance improvement with employees, have teams that are more agile, find their departments have quicker adaptability and see a growth in business.

And they are shifting their approach to individual-focused work-based learning. Corporate learning will be viewed more as a learning journey for the employee instead of just checking off subjects on a list. The learning will focus more on the skill specific to the employee’s role and need.

How will shared learning be used in work-based learning?

It has been found that employees learn far more from their peers and supervisors than from formal learning. Because of this, there will be new trends for how work-based learning will support group learning. Charles Jennings says, “We learn from others, as you say. And I can't think of anyone I know who hasn't found, you know, when they joined, took a new role or joined a new organisation, found someone who really knows the ropes and who was really a top performer. You will learn more from conversations and building networks than almost anything else.”

Some trends that more companies will explore:

Social onboarding – that differs from traditional formal onboarding in the sense that new hires would be partnered with a group of their peers who would show them the workings of the company and the job.
Mentorship programs – which encourages a senior employee to take a newer employee under their wing and coach them. They would meet on a regularly scheduled basis. The junior employee would feel free to talk with the senior employee about anything that is going on with their job and the senior employee would give advice.

How will hybrid work environments impact corporate learning?

The shift away from formal learning will became more of a necessity since many employees no longer report to the office or workstation on a regular basis. Companies are realising they need to make learning more accessible to the individual. To do this, they are improving access to personal learning through self-selected online eLearning resources.

Companies are benefitting from repurposing material they have created in the past and offering the material in the means that best suits the individual. Taking into consideration the type of learner an employee is, the company can offer a range of material in the form of audio, video, reading or visual content.

But there is the awareness of potential e-learning burnout for employees. Companies are understanding that employees can’t be asked to block out large segments of their work schedule to learn, all while keeping their productivity up. To counter this, corporations are implementing microlearning where education is broken up into smaller bitesize segments and infused into an employee’s day so there are no feelings of being overwhelmed or frazzled.

How are digital learning trends evolving the learning experience?

Not only does modern technology support hybrid workers, but it also supports the notion that people develop knowledge through hands-on experience. Companies will offer more online, digital learning that is focusing on learning in the moment. Employees will be able to access information instantly without the hassle of a long search. Furthermore:

There will be more use of learning platforms that support online eLearning courses and make upskilling easier and quicker to achieve. This will include in-app experiences that support the employee through the process by providing FAQs and updates.
VR will find a place as well, creating a more engaging experience for the employee and improving their learning curve.
Knowledge sharing software will become better implemented, allowing employees to exchange internal content with other co-workers on a platform accessible to anyone in the company.

And the implementation of in-app learning is projected to grow. Training teams can create learning on software applications that is more engaging and interactive. This will cut down time and money by delivering information on-demand for employees

Data and analytics will be applied more

To determine the future of their learning programs, companies are finding data collection and analytics a valuable resource when evaluating their corporate learning programs. And now in the digital age, data is even easier to collect.

Data can be collected and analysed to determine what skills employees in particular job roles or departments would need to improve performance. Companies can also take information they collected from employees to create the best training flow that addresses the individual’s or group’s need. The information collected is useful in monitoring the progress of employees and can also provide guidance for the employees.

For the first time ever, companies can receive real time employee feedback. Employee surveys can be applied to learning courses where employees are encouraged to provide constructive criticism about their learning experience with a particular tool or software.

And as many companies are realising, data also helps determine what is not working. With the information collected, companies can determine the success of their learning program and make educated decisions to keep it as it is, change the program, or cut out a particular learning segment that is failing.

David Green recently spoke with Peter Manniche Riber, Head of Digital Learning and Analytics at Novo Nordisk, on the Digital HR Leaders podcast. Peter shares his advice for organisations getting started with collecting data to improve learning analytics:

“When you start collecting data, it is a great idea to start with a foundation of what you actually can get and then build on that going forward. Instead of tackling something, that probably will take you 18 months to get, in the beginning and then don't get anywhere on all the other things.”

Listen to the full episode with Peter as he dives into this advice in much more specific detail and check out this short clip from the episode where he focuses specifically on measuring the business impact of learning.

The Key Takeaway

Corporate learning will continue to morph and advance into a process that benefits the company and the individual alike. Advancements in technology that were developed form data collected and analysed will only continue to grow and become more sophisticated. Employees will benefit from a more centralised approached that will focus more on what skills are most important to master to be productive in their jobs. Companies are projected to see better results with their investments as they embrace hybrid work and provide a variety of means to upskill their employees.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ian Bailie is the Managing Director of myHRfuture.com and Insight222 Learning. He is also an advisor and consultant for start-ups focused on HR technology and People Analytics, including Adepto, Worklytics and CognitionX. In his previous role as the Senior Director of People Planning, Analytics and Tools at Cisco Systems, he was responsible for delivering the tools and insights to enable and transform the planning, attraction and management of talent across the organisation globally. Ian is passionate about HR technology and analytics and how to use both to transform the employee experience and prepare companies for the Future of Work.

What is the Future of Corporate Learning in 2022?