How COVID-19 Is Shifting the Corporate Approach to Education and Training

COVID-19 has incited major changes to the global workforce as tens of millions of workers have adopted remote working in a matter of weeks. It’s also widely accepted that the pandemic will bring repercussions to working conditions that will stay long after a vaccine is discovered. Curious to know what the changes may be? It starts with education.

For many, remote working has primarily been a nice perk offered by some of the larger multinationals, often restricted to once a week or extreme weather conditions. Now employers who have been averse to remote working are starting to embrace it. Studies have shown that productivity is in fact increasing in many industries, including reduced absenteeism, and companies are saving money on the high costs associated with office leasing and travel. Employees are experiencing similar benefits, with more flexibility and an improved work-life balance reported for many.

Local and international governments are starting to support and even encourage working from home in an attempt to reduce the possibility of future pandemics, peak-hour traffic jams, and overcrowded public transportation.

Organizations have acted quickly to shift their budgets, goals, and priorities to adjust to the changing times. Employee training programs and virtual meeting tools such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or WebEx, have become commonplace for meetings across global organizations.

Learning and development teams are solicited more than ever. How can you make sure you’re not missing the beat on employee education? For organizations who still don’t have an elearning strategy, it’s time to get started. For those who had resources implemented prior COVID-19, it’s time to review and update them. Thankfully, we are here to help you navigate the world of HR modules, product training, and informational videos.  

Incorporate microlearning strategies, provide your remote workers with an extensive library of materials that they can access at their own convenience, and adapt to their new daily schedules. Completing these training initiatives should require no more than 20 minutes of their time, allowing employees to return to their tasks afterward.

Employee training videos have grown in popularity as well. Brief detailed videos accompanied by quizzes and interactive elements can save your organization time and money while enhancing employee knowledge retention and making the learning process more fun.

One of the freedoms remote workers particularly enjoy is being able to access materials across multiple devices; for example, connecting from their laptop or checking emails on a cell phone or tablet that is compatible with mobile apps and internet browsers. It’s true that accessibility is key to a successful elearning strategy.

Cybersecurity training is in high demand—hackers are having a field day with the millions of VPN connections to company servers taking place due to the quarantine. And all organizations, large and small, are providing employees with even the most basic COVID-19 awareness trainings, in the form of an elearning module or informational video like the one TransPerfect created last month.

With many analysts forecasting challenging economic times due to COVID-19, it is critical for businesses to adapt and innovate. Sales and product trainings are more important (and more viewed) than ever as sales forces are stationary due to travel restrictions. Onboarding, often delivered on-the-job and face-to-face, needs to be entirely delivered via elearning.

It is without a doubt that the “new normal” is increasing our dependency on training performance and tools. It is time for training divisions to shine and demonstrate the value of elearning and its power in tackling present day challenges. Elearning and online training is no longer in second place.