When shelter in place began and companies had to quickly figure out how to shift everything online, business leaders faced obstacles in equipping their employees to work remotely—while still keeping them engaged and challenged through ongoing learning opportunities.
A year later, there’s evidence that online training during the pandemic wasn’t just passable; it was better than in-person learning.
New data from NovoEd shows the impact of remote work on learning and development (L&D), based on a survey of 150 companies reporting $1 billion to $3 billion in annual revenue. The report uncovered L&D leaders’ thoughts on how remote training was better, where it struggled, and the benefits of online learning.
3 Key Findings About Online Training
1. Employee Training Has Improved
More than half (54%) of L&D leaders reported that while workers have been remote during the COVID pandemic, the quality of their employee training has improved. The vast majority—nearly 80%—maintained that online training produced superior outcomes to in-person training.
2. Online L&D Is Here to Stay
The study found that online training provides more learning opportunities for employees. As a result, 80% of L&D leaders expect most corporate training to remain online even after the pandemic has ended. Nearly 90% believe that the move from traditional in-person training to digital delivery will make learning opportunities available to more employees.
3. Employee Collaboration During Training Is Critical
An area for improvement with online training is collaboration between workers. Sixty-two percent of respondents found collaboration to be more challenging when training is online only, while 95% agree that staff collaboration must remain a priority during training.
Discover a better way to recruit remote talent
Founded in 2007, FlexJobs is the most experienced remote & hybrid hiring platform.
- Unlimited job posts
- Low, flat membership fee
- Access top-level remote advice
- Unlimited resume searches
- Reach the right candidates
- And so much more!
Todd Moran, Chief Learning Officer at NovoEd, shared the following insights with FlexJobs on what the findings suggest for business leaders as they plan for continued remote work, a hybrid setup, or a return to the office.
How Companies Trained Employees During the Pandemic
Moran points out that a universal constant for enterprise organizations during the pandemic was the suspension of all in-person learning. He notes that the approaches that organizations used to address their ongoing training needs took various forms.
“Some organizations took a ‘wait and see’ approach with the pushing of standalone e-learning modules in a purely self-service format in anticipation of a return to an in-person modality,” Moran says. “Others tried to address the needs of their ubiquitous remote employee populations with cobbled-together solutions of internal virtual meeting tools, chat applications, and document repositories.”
The most prescient of companies made big bets on new, immersive digital technologies to shift entire programs, initiatives, and experiences online across their broad learning portfolios.
What Companies Have Learned
One of the biggest learnings that emerged over the past year, Moran says, was the proven reality of how much more flexible and expansive the reach of immersive digital training experiences can be on the accessibility and engagement fronts. This allows companies to address broad, diverse workforces that work in remote and often geographically dispersed settings.
“Additionally, those organizations that tried to solve via partial, disjointed models relied heavily on Zoom or Microsoft Teams,” Moran says. “They rapidly discovered the reality of ‘Zoom fatigue’ and the ever-diminishing returns of virtual meeting-centric solutions for training along with the non-viability of this as a sustained, long-term approach.”
Lastly, Moran notes that L&D practitioners and business leaders whose organizations established new models for online training powered by immersive, collaborative technologies reaped massive benefits from online training, including:
- True knowledge acquisition
- Skill development
- Capability-building across employee populations.
“The critical enabling factors of these technologies provided spaced learning over time, practice, and application for real-world work scenarios and continuous feedback from peers, managers, and mentors,” Moran explains.
What Will Post-Pandemic Training Look Like?
First and foremost, Moran stresses that it is vitally important for organizations to recognize that the remote nature of workforces will continue at a much higher distribution relative to in-office populations than it did pre-pandemic.
“The need for L&D, human resources, talent, and business leaders in a training context to support hybrid workforces spanning remote and in-office personnel is real and significant, and it will persist moving forward,” he says.
In addition, if training professionals are afforded the opportunity to reach their employees with in-person learning events as 2021 unfolds, Moran believes they would be wise to rethink the greater use of blended learning models.
“The power and impact of core tenets of the online modality like situated learning, iterative application, and team-based social and collaborative practices can be leveraged with far greater results than merely a forced—and candidly, unrealistic—return to pure in-person delivery,” Moran concludes.
Looking Ahead
With more companies choosing remote or hybrid work models, figuring out how to provide ongoing online training for workers is essential for both employee retention and long-term business success.
Need some help figure out your organization’s path forward? As a remote work leader since 2007, FlexJobs works with companies of every size to provide support and advice for businesses that want to integrate remote work. For expert guidance, reach out today!
Talk to a Remote Work Expert >>>
Don't forget to share this article with colleagues!
