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However, ethics training is important in order to prevent all of us from taking steroids and bribing judges and fixing elections and basically making the world impossible to live in.  But that doesn’t mean it has to be boring.  So here are three simple questions to help you decide if that gift you just got is really a gift or a bribe.  Happiness, engage!

Is the gift standard for your industry?  

Vendors will often take potential clients out to dinner, companies will often fly prospective employees to on-site interviews, and nobody thinks twice about that.  If the thing you’re being offered is normal for your industry, there’s a good chance it’s OK.  After all, if everybody else jumped off the bridge, you probably would too!

Is the ‘Gift’ absurdly exotic?  

The problem with the above question is that some ‘standard’ gifts are so expensive that it’s virtually impossible to trust the person giving it to you.  Pretty much all of us can be bought, which is why Fear Factor was such a popular show.  So remember, kids – if anyone offers to bioengineer a Tyrannosaurus Rex of your very own, don’t get in the car. 

Is the ‘gift’ attached to an expectation of particular behavior or actions on your part?  

And here’s the real question.  The others are pretty obvious; a free dinner is normal, and a free speedboat is probably suspect – which is unfortunate, by the way, because I could totally use a new speedboat to replace the speedboat I don’t currently own.  But gifts that are attached to an expectation that you perform a certain action are almost certainly unethical.  The question I wanted to put here was, “Does the gift feel like a bribe?”  But then I thought that I wouldn’t feel bribed if I were driving my new speedboat, so I came up with a better one. 

I hope that wasn’t too horribly painful.  And basically all this boils down to is:  if you’re going to accept a bribe, make sure it’s big enough that you can live comfortably on it after you get caught and fired.  So if you’re expecting me to accept a free trip to Vegas for the weekend to streamline the process of getting your latest experimental medication approved, you can just keep on walking.  If, however, you’re bringing me a suitcase filled with $247 million in non-sequential bills, I’ll probably at least hear you out.

And then say no, of course.  Prison is not as much fun as it looks on TV – and a lot harder to break out of, too.

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“At OpenSesame, we believe elearning provides the most efficient path to educate your workforce, especially during this unprecedented time when many employees work remotely,” said Don Spear, OpenSesame CEO. “For companies who have furloughed workers or have employees working from home, online training can keep employees productive during their leave as well as develop their skills until business operations resume after this crisis ends.”

With more than 10 million learners already signed up for access to its coronavirus preparedness and remote working courses, OpenSesame expands its free offer to include over 100 curated elearning courses. Through 15 June 2020, any organization can gain free access to additional professional development courses for its employees who are working from home or furloughed.

For more information and free access to the courses, visit go.opensesame.com/wfh-offer.

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What is Reskilling?

Reskilling refers to the process of learning new skills so someone can do a different job, or training people to do a different job.  Upskilling, reskilling, retraining, and even new-skilling are used interchangeably for the process. Training these workers requires teaching technical skills along with creativity, interpersonal skills, adaptability and the capacity to continue learning.

Organizations leading the way

• Amazon: Fulfillment-center employees can go through a 16-week certification program in classrooms located inside Amazon warehouses and, if the retailer hires them as data technicians, their wages will rise from an average $15 an hour to $30.
• AT&T: 180,000 employees so far have participated in its Future Ready program. Workers can assess their skills, then pursue short-term badges, nanodegrees taking up to a year to complete, or master’s degrees in fields like computer science and data science offered in partnership with institutions such as the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Notre Dame. 

These companies are only the tip of the iceberg. 87% of executives are noticing significant gaps in the skills of their workers due to COVID-19 and the advancement of automation and digitization. The Harvard Business Review even posits that this shift will require adding a new role to the c-suite: a chief skills and learning officer (CSLO) in the same way that the role of chief technology officer became commonplace over the past two decades. 

Want to learn more about how you can reskill your workforce? View our resources, or connect with one of our experts for a personalized, guided demo that will show you how easy it is to incorporate all of OpenSesame’s innovative tools and features into your training experience. With courses offered in multiple languages, and available on multiple devices OpenSesame helps companies like yours develop the world’s most developed and admired global workforces.

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You naturally want to choose the training software that offers maximum advantages to your workers participating in the training and to the organization as a whole.

Regardless of which eLearning software you choose, each of them offers a plethora of benefits, especially for mid-sized businesses that have a limited budget for employee L&D initiatives. 

We’ve compiled the top 7 benefits that an online training software can offer to your employees and the organization. Knowing these benefits will help you determine whether or not you should invest in training software.

1. Reduced Costs

Online training software considerably reduces the cost of conventional training methodologies, such as class-based training. You no longer need a physical space for training, either in your office or having to rent a space externally. This saves you from the cost of setting up the necessary infrastructure. 

Since employees can attend training sessions in the comfort of their home or workplace, it also cuts down the expenses of commuting, hotel reservations, food, and other traveling costs.

Here’s another cost-saving aspect: All your training content is already uploaded in the online training software. This means you (or your employees) don’t have to buy learning materials, books, and other resources that conventional training methods often need.

2. Flexible and on-demand learning 

When your employees travel to attend any training program or you hire an instructor to come onsite, you strongly depend on other people’s schedules. 

But, by using an online training software, you offer a more flexible and on-demand training. It allows you to schedule training in groups so that it’s more convenient for your company as a whole. Plus, your employees also enjoy the flexibility to individually choose their training times as per their convenience and work schedules.

This is especially effective if you have a remote and physically dispersed workforce. Each employee can attend training according to his/her availability and learning pace, without worrying about different time zones.

3. Better engagement and retention

Online training software is more effective as compared to the class-based training program. This is because your employees have to retain the information they learn in a classroom setting. But, with online training software, the information is always at their fingertips. 

They can easily retain the information as they go through the learning material. And, they also have the option to access the content later on, whenever needed. Plus, as an online training software offers self-paced learning, they can consume as much content as they want and take a break whenever they feel burnt out.

4. Suitable for full-time employees

One of the main reasons full-time employees find it challenging to focus on learning is the lack of time. Often, training sessions are scheduled during work hours and are very rigid, making it difficult for all employees to actively participate. 

An online training software helps learners access content whenever they have the time to do so. It could be during normal work hours, during the downtimes in the day, or in the evenings.

Also, as your employees aren’t compelled to complete training in one sitting, they can opt to take the sessions in time increments that work well with the rest of their schedule and workload.

5. Removes nervousness among learners

Traditional training methods put workers together in a face-to-face setting. An online training software removes this face-to-face interaction. This is advantageous to learners who are generally shy or feel awkward around others. 

Online learning creates an environment where trainees are almost anonymous. So, they can freely ask questions or share comments online without the fear of being judged by a class full of people.

6. Reporting and analytics

When implementing an employee training program, the biggest concern many medium-sized organizations have is regarding the measurement of their ROI.

How do you ensure that your employee training initiatives are successful? And, how do you justify your investment in online training software? 

This is where the analytics and reporting feature of eLearning software steps in. It helps you monitor the progress of your employees in real-time so that you know how effective your training program is. Also, you can identify any knowledge gaps that may exist in your business. 

Depending on which industry you work in, your company may be required to fulfill certain compliance requirements. Online training software offers robust reporting in the industry-compliant format so that you are inspection-ready 24/7.

7. Improved onboarding process 

Having a successful onboarding process is key to employee satisfaction and retention. An online training software helps you simplify your employee onboarding process by leveraging technology. 

You only have to create and upload training content once into your training tool. And, your new hires can access them at any time. Plus, you can recycle some of your old content to upgrade your training. There’s no need to create a course from scratch or dedicate a mentor to train every new employee. 

Key Takeaway

When it comes to elevating your employee training program, medium-sized businesses will find several different online training software available commercially. This is how you can determine if it’s the right tool for what you’re trying to accomplish with the training and development of your workers.

Ehsan Memari is a blogger for SkyPrep, a provider of leading online training software for organizations to train employees’ partners and customers. Ehsan is a regular contributor to blog posts related to knowledge sharing, L&D, and eLearning.

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First, what is Human Capital Management (HCM)? 

HCM is a hire to retire system that helps a business organize and manage an overall workforce, including areas such as: 

• • Workforce management (performance management and time management) 
  • Workforce optimization (workforce planning and professional development) 
  • Talent management (recruiting, on-boarding, retention and benefits) 

Where does training fit in HCM?

A learning management system (LMS) is an essential component of an integrated HCM suite. Effective organizations leverage their training investment to enhance each of the HCM core components:

1. 1. Performance management: training supports the skills all employees needs to improve their performance and time management
   2. Retention and recruitment: training helps with retention or recruitment as an added benefit to the employee value proposition for a company
   3. Onboarding: with proper training, human resources departments are able to accelerate on-boarding and ramp up of new employees 
   4. Talent development: reskilling or upskilling employees ensure they can better contribute to the company’s future 

To what extent does training improve the employee lifecycle?

With expertly curated training for each area of the HCM suite, an organization is able to achieve four critical outcomes:

1. 1. Reduce the time to hire. While this may come as no surprise, according to the Brandon Hall Group, your greatest challenge is attracting and keeping talent. 71% of the time spent on human resource teams are attracting talent. By using the elements of Data Science and making AI a top priority in attracting talent, you’ll be alongside the 24% of organizations doing the same over the next 24 months. 
   2. Enhance performance. Companies that effectively link learning to outcomes see 57% increase in compliance rates and 36% increase in individual and overall organizational performance.
   3. Cultivate talent. Companies that effectively link learning to outcomes see 31% of skill gaps closed and internal promotions go up. 
   4. Transform traditional learning. 60% of challenges to achieving learning outcomes happen due to lack of alignment between learning and outcomes. Design programs with content experts to best meet strategic objectives. 

As you can see, training complements an HCM strategy and content is core to a training strategy. OpenSesame’s curated elearning programs help organizations transform traditional training into modern learning that is lean, social, and personalized. Training integrated with an HCM suite maximizes talent and drives performance throughout every employee’s lifecycle. 

Effective learning and development is critical for talent management strategies. With OpenSesame, your HCM suite will be supercharged to get your employees engaged and thriving with the latest courses in compliance, time management, and professional development. 

Contact OpenSesame today to see how we can help you engage your employees with the latest courses in performance management, succession planning, and professional development.

(Click image to enlarge)

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Except not always.  In fact, a recent article suggests that 20% of new employees either quit or are terminally disenchanted after only 45 days on the job.  

Sometimes it’s all them.  Sometimes a chronically lazy and incompetent person can trick you all the way into getting hired; it’s happened to all of us.  But it’s also possible that some of your failed hires would have actually done a bang-up job if they’d been given the right opportunities.  So if you’re wondering what you might do better to increase the likelihood that your new hires turn out to be the kind of employees you want them to be, here are a few questions you should ask yourself:

Are We Giving Our New Employees Only the Most Thankless Assignments? 

We all know new employees are hired specifically to do the things we don’t want to do anymore.  But if all of the work you’re assigning to your new employees is menial and monotonous, it won’t take long for them to lose whatever enthusiasm they had coming into the position.  

Are You Providing Sufficient Training? 

Learning takes time, and time is money.  Unfortunately, that means a lot of us tend to focus on how much money we’re wasting by allowing people to learn things.  I haven’t actually checked recently, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t offering degrees in Payroll Processing and Oil Drilling and Account Executive-ing at any of your local universities.  And what about sending them to an upcoming conference? Yes, we all know that they might get drunk at one of the vendor-sponsored parties, but they might also see your industry as an exciting one they want to become a bigger part of.    

Are You Inadvertently Forcing Them to Showcase Their Ignorance? 

Almost by definition, new employees don’t know as much as your more experienced team members.  So make sure you’re not accidentally expecting them to immediately perform at the same level as everyone else.  One innovative solution I’ve heard to make new employees feel confident and excited is to provide them an opportunity to present on a topic they know a lot about; it shows your older employees that your new hires actually do know something useful, and it shows your new hires that you appreciate their knowledge and experience.  

When you factor in training time and other costs, each new employee you hire actually costs twice as much as the salary you pay them.  You’re more than welcome to spend all that extra money on a never-ending stream of new, permanently disengaged employees. But personally, I’d rather have a boat.

For more information on how to engage new employees check out available courses from The Jeff Havens Company in the OpenSesame course catalog.

About the Author: Jeff Havens is a speaker, author, and business growth expert who has spoken to over 1,000 companies and associations across the Americas and Asia. The mission of his training company, The Jeff Havens Company, is to provide serious solutions in a seriously funny way through their video-based courses that tackle everything from industrial safety to corporate ethics to customer service, and all of them are as entertaining as they are educational. Jeff is a contributing writer to Fast Company, Entrepreneur, BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal; and has been featured on CNBC and Fox Business. For more information, email info@jeffhavens.com, or visit JeffHavens.com.

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Professional exams are needed for everyone who wants to further their career and boost credentials. But how important PMP and CAPM are, really?

Having these certifications shows your high skills and knowledge,  it means that you can manage your projects, you are goal-oriented and motivated person.

So let’s take a closer look at them in this article to help you make an informed decision.

What are CAMP and PMP?

Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)

The first certification in our comparison is an entry level one. It was specifically designed for those who wish to start their career in project management and has a great value for aspiring project managers.

The CAMP process requires the candidates to provide information about their professional experience and pass an online examination.

Minimum Qualifications for CAPM:

The certification requires all candidates to provide High School Diploma (or Secondary Diploma) and at least 1,500 hours of experience on a project team.

If a candidate cannot provide the document or has no prior experience working in project management, he or she needs to attend formal training. If the trainee logs in at least 23 hours, the certification allows qualifying for the exam.

Other requirements include:

• Time allowed: 3 hours

• Question type: multiple choice

• Number of scored questions: 135

• Number of unscored questions: 15

The exam is split into a number of project management areas, including:

CAPM certification is valid for five years. After this time, upgrade is available.

Project Management Professional (PMP)

PMP is an advanced certification that only be acquired by professional who have at least 3 years of experience in project management and a completed bachelor’s degree. Thus, it is suitable for those professionals who want to advance their credentials.

PMP also allows to enter candidates with educational background related to project management (at least 35 hours), a completed secondary education, and 5 years of experience in the field.

Minimum Qualifications for PMP:

For this certification, candidates have to have more experience (at least 4500 hours of managing or leading projects), and education (at least a Bachelor’s degree). In addition to these requirements, all candidates must attend formal project management training for at least 35 hours (online or classroom).

For those candidates who don’t have a Bachelor’s degree (for example, a High School Diploma), taking the exam is allowed but the experience requirement is increased to 7,500 hours.

Other requirements:

• Time allowed: 4 hours

• Question type: multiple choice

• Number of scored questions: 175

• Number of unscored questions: 25

The PMP exam does not features as many areas as CAPM:

The candidates who pass PMP receive certification valid for three years. During this time, they are required to earn 60 professional development units (PDUs) to be able to qualify for a renewal.

The Difference Between PMP and CAPM

So, this one is obvious now. CAPM certification is designed for beginners in the project management field who wish to start their career there. Typically, they have little or no experience in leading or managing projects.

On the other hand, PMP is suitable for those who have been working in project management for years and have a lot of practical experience. Thus, the requirements for PMP candidates suggest that only active project managers with rich experience qualify.

Advantages of CAPM and PMP

Here are some important advantages of the exams.

• If you’re just beginning your way in project management business, you should definitely consider taking CAPM. It can really highlight your resume and help to stand out among others. The certification demonstrates your commitment to the field and eagerness to learn and become more professionals. The same could be said about PMP as well: it shows that you have an impressive experience and a desire for continuous improvement.

• You can use CAPM as a way to obtain a higher position in the next project because certification is always valued by employers. “I was able to accelerate my career thanks to CAPM,” says Gregg Leonard, a project manager at Awriter. “It really opened my eyes to new possibilities in managing of people, communications, and risks.”

• More value, however, is given to PMP. But don’t be discouraged: on entry levels, CAPM can provide you with a significant advantage over others!

Study Materials

For both exams, only one book is used – The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), Fifth Edition. The Project Management Institute has prepared this guide for all PMP and CAPM candidates, so it is quite comprehensive. People involved in project management highly recommend it for everyone who wishes to be involved in the field. Additionally, OpenSesame offers a variety of courses that count toward Professional Development Units for both PMP and CAPM.

In addition to the literature, exam training is available for candidates. It is also recommended to attend the training to increase the chances for success.

The Bottom Line

To pass CAPM and PMP successfully, you need to do a lot of learning and training. In the end, it’s all worth it because a certification can really accelerate your career!

Lucy Benton is a marketing specialist, business consultant who finds her passion in expressing own thoughts as a blogger, and currently writes for www.assignmenthelper.com.au . She is constantly looking for the ways to improve her skills and expertise. If you’re interested in working with Lucy, you can find her on FaceBook and Twitter.

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Back to the Basics

No matter how proficient you may be in Excel, it is likely that you are still using only a sliver of Excel’s built-in tools. In the Introduction to Excel course offered by Atomic Learning, users are exposed to some of the softer but necessary components of Excel such as organization, formatting, and shortcuts to make formatting more efficient. Whether you are looking to explore how you can make your data beautiful or something as simple as locking documents with a password, this course will bring the basics to you in a full-circle.

Formulas

One of the components of Excel that made it revolutionary, formulas! The hundreds of formulas that excel offers range from basic organization tools like the COUNTIF and SUMIF functions to formulas designed to derive key metrics in statistical analysis. For more complicated formulas, there are courses that will provide users a step-by-step walk through troubleshooting and customization techniques. There are many options for Excel courses focused on formulas, so now it’s up to you to decide what parts of your spreadsheet you would like to automate.

Data Visualization

Now that you have learned how to organize and compute in Excel, let’s tell a story with your data. Charts, graphs, and models can all be used to add a visual component to your data. With specialized courses in Excel Charts, users will be able to find the best ways to display their data could drive more effective decision making. Not only can you optimize the way which your company’s data is presented through courses in Excel Charts, but you can also learn customization techniques so you can coordinate your Excel figures with associated documents in Microsoft Office.

These are only a few of the useful tools that users can learn from Excel Online courses. With 80% of Middle Skill-level jobs requiring Excel literacy, becoming familiar with Excel and the rest of the Microsoft Office suite is a must. Not only will becoming an Excel wiz make you a company asset, but it can also help you earn up to 18% more on average. Whether you are looking to learn the basics, or more advanced, specialized tools, there is a course for you. The OpenSesame course library contains a number of different individual courses and bundles for learning Microsoft Excel.

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Even if these are your employees and you can easily make the course mandatory, you don’t want to do that. You want them to make a conscious decision and take this chance for professional growth. For that purpose, you’ll need to promote the course.

We’ll give you 3 tips that work.

1. Target Your Audience on Social Media

First, you’ll need to identify who your target learner is. You already know the answer to that, but what are they interested in? What pages do they follow on social media? This process involves some surveying, too. The results will help you understand the people you’re crafting the course for.

An active Facebook page for the specific course will be very helpful. Obviously, the learners will be interested to know more about this opportunity. Here, they will find all the information they need, as well as a call to action for enrolling in the course. Use the page to share information about the launch date, schedule, and assignments. Encourage the participants to ask questions and enter discussions on the page.

2. Use a Corporate Messaging Platform

Facebook is nice, but it’s not the most professional communication tool you can count on. If you realize that not all course participants have a profile, you’ll have to think of another platform that connects you all. You can count on Slack; a messaging tool that easily brings all people you need together. You can make a specific channel for the course. Everyone will have access to the discussion and they will see how the rest of the learners are doing.

Mary Gilbert, a marketing expert from BestEssays, explains that peer-to-peer communication is crucial for the success of an online course: “When the learners start discussing the lectures and assignments with each other, you’ll know your course is successful. Trigger discussions, so you’ll get them interested. Ask them to share what they learned and consider their feedback. You need active participation. Otherwise, they will just be bored.”

3. Show Proof of Achieved Results

The promotional process doesn’t end when the first wave of learners get their certificate. You can use the results to continue promoting the course, so the employees who didn’t participate will be encouraged to accept the challenge. The ones who successfully go through your course are the best proof that you’re providing quality and tangible results. Ask them to share feedback and feature it on the social media page. Emphasize the positive experience and invite others to join the fun!

You may develop the best eLearning course on a given topic, but it will still fail to attract the right audience if you don’t promote it. The promotion is the easy part. With a planned approach, you’ll quickly see results.

Brenda Savoie is a content marketer at Essayontime, private English tutor, and desperate dreamer. Writing her first romantic novel. Seeking contentment through mindfulness. Check her blog BestWritingClues Find her on Twitter and Facebook

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Josh Bersin, founder and Principal of Bersin by Deloitte, draws the following observation from this issue:

“We are living longer, jobs are changing faster than ever, and automation is impinging on our work lives more every day. If we can’t look things up, learn quickly, and find a way to develop new skills at work, most of us would prefer to change jobs, rather than stay in a company that doesn’t let us reinvent ourselves over time.”

Learner experience – the experience of a person’s learning interactions – is more important than ever. Not focusing on providing a well-optimized learner experience could impact employee retention, which, in turn, can impact your organization’s overall success.

Here are three ways you can improve your learner experience with learning technology.

1. Accommodate learner needs

Learner needs are constantly evolving. For instance, employees are increasingly becoming more mobile-dependent. An influx of millennials into the workforce means employee knowledge gaps are growing. Similarly, learners face a number of costly distractions at work, and it is believed that the average human attention span has become shorter than that of a goldfish.

Although new technology is partially responsible for the way learner needs have evolved, it can also help to accommodate these needs. Your learning management system should deliver learning content with expedience, efficiency, and effortlessness. This means that it should include features that accommodate mobile learning, microlearning, gamification, offline learning, and so on. If you ignore your learners’ needs within the learner experience, the effectiveness of your L&D programs will suffer.

2. Tailor the learner experience with personalization

A large reason why online corporate training is ineffective is because it’s irrelevant to what learners want (and need) to learn in order to progress in their career or advance their skills in a particular role. Another way to improve the learner experience is to ensure that learning is tailored for each individual learner’s specific skills and competencies.

Fortunately, learning technology allows organizations to leverage learner data to generate insights that can fuel learning personalization. Personalization has proven to be effective – recent data by Brandon Hall Group shows 93% of companies agree that personalized learning helps employees reach their goals more efficiently.

Get started with learning personalization by investing in the right technology, establishing a competency framework, and tagging your learning content so it’s organized for personalization purposes.

3. Don’t underestimate the importance of user experience

User experience (UX) is closely related to learner experience – if UX is the overall experience of a person using a machine (e.g., a computer application), then learner experience is the overall experience of a person and their learning interactions (formal, informal, and experiential).

Brandon Hall Group’s Learning Technology 2017 survey found that 51% of respondents cited a “poor user experience” as a barrier to satisfaction with their learning technology, proving that many organizations understand that their current learning technology simply is not conducive to effective learning.

When it comes to learner experience, great eLearning content is essential, but it’s only the start – invest in learning technology that will allow you to provide a great experience so learners are motivated to learn and more engaged with your training programs.

Did you know that OpenSesame integrates with the Docebo LMS? Start your 14-day free trial today and start improving your learner experience!

About the Author: Victoria Hoffman is a Content Specialist at Docebo. She is a graduate of University of Toronto’s Semiotics & Communication Theory Program and has 5+ years of experience in digital marketing. She enjoys writing and is always looking for a good book recommendation.

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The question is: how have these changes impacted learner needs?

In an infographic entitled ‘Meet the Modern Learner’, Bersin by Deloitte presents a number of statistics that outline how online training is colliding with learners’ jobs, behaviors, habits, and preferences. They come to the conclusion that today’s learner is overwhelmed, distracted, and impatient.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these needs to better understand how learning programs must evolve in order to increase effectiveness.

No time to learn

It’s estimated that workers spend only 1% of the average workweek (37 minutes) on their employers’ training. Similarly, a recent survey found that knowledge workers spend 41% of their time on activities that offer little personal satisfaction.

Employees are clearly overwhelmed in their daily tasks and, as a result, are not placing the necessary emphasis on personal learning and development. They feel that there aren’t enough hours in a day to spend on learning initiatives.

Fortunately, learning technology (like a state-of-the-art learning management system) has opened up a number of capabilities that make corporate training more efficient for learners. For example, microlearning content (which involves producing bite-sized pieces of learning content) can allow learners to quickly and easily consume new information.

Thin patience

According to Statistics Brain, the average human attention span in 2015 was estimated to be 8.25 seconds – that’s shorter than the attention span of a goldfish (which is believed to be 9 seconds). Statistics Brain also reports that the average length watched of a single online video is only 2.7 minutes.

Learners simply don’t have the patience or the attention span necessary to engage with training. This is hugely problematic – lack of engagement can impact knowledge retention and learning motivation.

The more your learners have to sit through irrelevant and unengaging training sessions, the less effective your training will be. Consider introducing a personalized learning strategy to increase relevance. Similarly, centralizing your content in an LMS and will improve its accessibility and allow your learners to access materials at the point-of-need.

Constant distractions

Think about your own workflow at work – odds are, you feel like you’re spending a good chunk of your day checking your email (not to mention those Slack notifications that are driving you off the wall). Well, you’re not crazy – there are numbers to back you up.

Statistics Brain also reports that the average office worker checks their email inbox 30 times in an hour. Similarly, it’s estimated that the average employee is interrupted 56 times per day, which can cost up to two hours of daily productive time. If you do the math, that can add up to over 500 hours over the course of a year – yikes.

Next-gen learning technology should be able to support learning practices such as gamification and personalization which can help to cut through the noise and increase learner motivation and engagement.

Millennial influx

In 2015, millennials officially surpassed Gen Xers as the largest generation in the US labor force. However, 63% of millennials feel that their current employer is not fully developing their leadership skills.

Investing in the development in younger workers is key for increasing employee retention and the ability to hire leadership from within. It’s also key for filling organizational knowledge gaps that form as baby boomers retire. 

Meeting millennial learner needs is, once again, a question of content accessibility. Learning content must be mobile accessible, and access to the expertise of peer mentors should also be encouraged. As such, it’s important that your learning content facilitates social learning.

Meet tomorrow’s leader

The items listed above are just a few ways in which learner needs have evolved over the past few years. As long as technology continues to evolve, learner needs will continue to evolve. It’s important to have people, processes, and tools in place to keep up with these needs so your learners can continue to develop and bring success to your organization.

Learn more about meeting learner needs in Docebo’s free whitepaper, Tapping Into the Power of Personalized Learning.

About the Author: Victoria Hoffman is a Content Specialist at Docebo. She is a graduate of University of Toronto’s Semiotics & Communication Theory Program and has 5+ years of experience in digital marketing. She enjoys writing and is always looking for a good book recommendation.

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