How E-Learning Can Help Your Company Differentiate Itself in This Talent Market
Did you know that offering career advancement opportunities can reduce employee turnover by 94 percent? Or that employees are 30 percent more engaged when they have access to professional development?
These statistics alone make the argument for why your company should invest in professional development. But you can’t tie up all of your team’s time in training sessions. Sure, your employees will learn something valuable, but they probably won’t appreciate how their tasks keep piling up with each new session you send them to.
When it comes to professional development, there’s a fine line between “valued perk that attracts and retains top and talent” and “just another task on your employees’ plates.” A good way to stay on the right side of the line is to make e-learning a core component of your professional development programs. Digital training options tend to be more accessible, convenient, and customizable than traditional, instructor-led training sessions.
Do Employees Care About E-Learning?
The short answer is yes. Technology has completely transformed candidates’ expectations for your company — not to mention the large-scale shift to remote work we’ve witnessed over the last year. Incorporating e-learning into your professional development opportunities allows you to offer training opportunities that meet the needs of today’s employees.
E-learning is:
• Easily accessible: Let’s say an employee starts a multimodule course in the morning, but by lunch, their afternoon is jam-packed with meetings. They can simply pause and resume the training when it’s most convenient for them to do so.
• Interactive and engaging:What’s more interesting: listening to a person deliver a lecture on office policies for an hour straight or learning about those policies through multiple scenarios and interactive challenges? For most people, the answer is the latter.
• Remote-friendly: When you pivoted to working from home, was there a scramble to transition instructor-led training sessions to Zoom? With e-learning courses, you can provide a cohesive experience regardless of employee location.
Today’s candidates are seeking businesses that value their individuality and accommodate their needs. A robust array of professional development opportunities shows job seekers you’re invested in their careers. Plus, the fact that professional development is digital and accessible from anywhere will show employees you’re thinking about their unique situations.
But e-learning isn’t a magic bullet. You can’t just incorporate any old content into your library and call it a day. Your digital training opportunities need to be relevant and engaging if you want them to resonate with employees.
Tips on Creating E-Learning Courses That Stand Out
If you want professional development opportunities that attract top talent to your company, you’ll need more than a handful of prerecorded PowerPoint presentations. Use the following tips to create e-learning courses that differentiate your company from the competition:
• Cut the fluff: While you might find the history of your company interesting, your employees can easily find that information with a quick Google search. Remove unnecessary details from courses. Stick to content that is actionable and valuable for the learner. In today’s busy world, employees will appreciate that you only use their time for what matters!
• Usemicrolearning: “Microlearning ” refers to shorter courses that focus on a single specific topic, such as tips for setting strong passwords for new company accounts. These courses can be used to supplement existing training or to drill down into a particular skill. They’re a great way to provide employees with opportunities to pursue their own professional development goals.
• Make your courses always available:Maintain an online library so that employees can access trainings and get a quick refresher whenever they please.
• Switch up your formatting to keep things interesting: You can boost engagement with your courses by using creative formatting elements sliders, dials, and audio. For example, a course about documentation can be elevated with a labeling exercise where employees need to match the parts of a document with the proper names.
When in doubt, put yourself in your current and prospective employees’ shoes. What sort of things would make a training session stand out to you? What kinds of e-learning courses would you be likely to pursue on your own?
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E-learning offers a way to create professional development opportunities that are accessible, interactive, and appealing to the digital- and remote-first mindsets of today’s employees. Follow these tips, and you can create digital learning opportunities that really differentiate you from your competitors in the talent market.
Amy Morrisey is the president of Artisan E-Learning and serves as sales and marketing Manager.