How has workplace learning changed since the pandemic?
Hana Dickinson
There's no denying that the advent of Covid-19 has transformed our working lives in many ways. At the start of 2021, about half the UK labour market worked from home, and the most commonly expected work pattern post-Covid is two days a week from home. (1)
Yet what about workplace learning? Are we now using new tools to facilitate our thirst for knowledge whilst working remotely and has the pandemic forever changed our ability to learn?
These were just some of the fascinating discussion points featured in a new study published in Raconteur in The Times. You can view the full infographic on the transformation of workplace learning here
or read on to discover some of the key takeaways.
Employees preferred choice of learning pre-pandemic
How do your employees prefer to learn: With others, alone, online? According to research, before the introduction of social distancing and lockdowns, the majority of employees (64%) favoured learning either face-to-face in a classroom with a group or one-on-one, compared to 13% who preferred online learning.
The rise of digital learning
Even before the pandemic forced workforces online, the demand for digital learning was increasing. Over the past two to three years, mobile device-based learning increased 70%, and both AR & VR (augmented reality and virtual reality) learning and online learning increased by 64%.
At the start of the pandemic, the demand grew further with 82% of senior business stakeholders and 71% of end users reporting a higher demand for digital learning.
Digital transformation in 2020
Despite the increase in demand for digital learning, a large majority of businesses (65%) said that their current learning platform was not seen as fit for modern workplaces.
Just 15% of companies had completed the digital transformation of their learning capabilities in 2020, with 76% reporting that their transformation was a work in progress.
The most popular eLearning courses
Although the statistics suggest more work is needed on digital transformation, the overwhelming majority of learners described their learning experience as either 'very good' (43%) or 'good' (52%).
The most popular eLearning course categories were:
• Workplace health and safety training (77.8%)
• Business compliance (45.9%)
• HR compliance (43.6%)
• Soft skills (21.5%)
• Other (5.4%)
As people development specialists, we'd love to discuss your current workplace learning needs, so please get in touch.
References
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