As the 2018/19 financial years draws to a close, there’s one thing all employers are concerned about: employee churn. A survey conducted last year found that over half of Australia’s managers expect staff turnover to increase in the future.
Though these managers report having measures in place to limit staff turnover, it’s vitally important to note that 53% of those surveyed don’t offer any training or development programs. In today’s workplace climate, that’s akin to shooting yourself in the foot.
To all organisations, the workforce is the biggest asset and key to achieving business goals. It’s critical to prepare your teams to perform in a highly competitive environment, and an effective learning and development program is essential to this end.
Learning and development trends provide a good indication of where the training industry is heading in Australia. It is mainly about personalisation, ongoing support and making the most of today’s emerging technologies. Through such solutions, employees will get the incentives and social interactions they need to actively engage and be productive in their jobs.
High-Tech Training
While high-tech innovations continue to emerge, so does the opportunity to create better corporate training programs and delivery methods. For the past few years, technology has provided many opportunities to make better learning and development programs for corporate employees, mainly through eLearning solutions.
The eLearning market has been estimated to approach $180 billion in 2018. It’s essential to adopt the trends prevailing in the learning and development sector to upgrade your training program, make your business more attractive and reduce employee churn.
Employee Engagement and Personalised Training
A 2018 survey found that 32% of leaders consider employee engagement and productivity a primary concern. This was an increase of 3% from the year before.
Personalised training is vital in the modern workplace and a brilliant way to deliver tailored modules to employees and keep them enthused about their work and your business. It is essential to train each employee specifically in the areas where they need improvement.
Such training has proven to be more effective than the traditional training format. This is because custom-made training:
- emphasises an employee’s particular needs
- provides more engagement
- offers personalized feedback
Netflix Generation Training
Millennials have different expectations towards learning. They grew up with mobile phones, laptops and social media, and expect this technology to be available in the workplace. The Netflix generation is looking for content where and when they want it, rather than adjusting their schedules to suit based on a published class schedule.
They are more interested in accessible training solutions where they can tap into training and information when they need it. For example, scenario-based video training, simulation etc.
They expect learning to be decision-driven so that new information can be quickly translated into action. In procurement and supply chain the Academy of Procurement e-Learning represents a great example of comprehensive e-learning platform.
Beating Time-Poor Excuses with Multi-Platform Training
Based on a 2018 study by LinkedIn, the biggest challenge for talent development is getting employees to make time for learning. In fact, staff would agree that they don’t have the time to take away from their primary jobs to get the training. Hence, delivering your training on multiple platforms is a good idea. For instance, classroom, mobile and on-demand training can help eliminate time issues for busy employees.
Employee Development Attracts the Best Talent
Historically, Australia has lagged globally when it comes to talent retention, and it’s not getting easier. By the close of this financial year 1.8 million Australian workers are likely to have sought new jobs. Retirement and other benefits provided by organisations are not enough nowadays.
As Andrej Kovacevic writes in InsideHR, ‘businesses are turning to bigger investments in professional development and training programs…to address difficulties in acquiring the types of specific skills they need’.
Surveys suggest that employees are more likely to join a company that provides the opportunity for professional growth. Millennials are career-driven and always looking for ways to improve their skills and knowledge.
Hence, valuable and innovative training solutions can work as a means to draw in and retain the best talents within a company, and reduce employee churn. Besides, through skill development, employees will become more productive and more engaged in their jobs.
Develop Competencies Leadership from Within
It is important for business leaders to always keep in mind organizational goals. To maintain progress within the company, management must target employees who can take over future leadership roles by
- Immediately begin training leadership development, communication and problem-solving skills
- HR targeting job candidates with leadership potential in all their talent acquisition efforts
- Management developing future leaders and managers as soon as new employees enter the door
- Providing mentors
- Helping employees build professional networks.
In fact, improving your leadership development program helps you build teams that are agile and capable of evolving with the times.
Increase the Gamification of Training
Gamification is surging in popularity around the world. It’s being used at the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation and Science to encourage more collaboration and motivation among the staff.
Gamification is simply a process of building a progressive reward system into training that imitates modern video games. For instance, badges, points, leader boards and community involvement makes the online training experience a fun one even for the most bored learner.
It’s interesting and innovative and encourages employees to complete their training and apply what they are learning to their daily tasks.
Artificial Intelligence Can Stop Employee Churn
Artificial Intelligence is a major part of the e-learning trend because it helps increase human capacity by reducing the need for physical presence.
Its ability for fast data analysis and decision making in learning are features which makes it a good training tool. For example, employees can choose the time of study that is best suited to their needs, have an in-depth view on subjects, and use complex scenarios to test their understanding on topics rather than using simple ‘yes or no’ answers.
In fact, artificial intelligence has already been a game-changer in 2019 and will continue to be a force for positive change in the workplace in the future.
