FM CAREERS - TRAINING
FEBRUARY 2022 57
Hybrid working’ was a phrase
that entered the popular
lexicon in 2021, but it
certainly isn’t one that will be leaving
us anytime soon. The number of days
worked from home has increased
fivefold on pre-pandemic levels, with
many employees and businesses
favouring a hybrid workplace.
There is a myriad of reasons for this
shi , with the ongoing uncertainties
around the COVID-19 pandemic being
an obvious, yet perhaps sometimes
overstated one. The pandemic was what
initially propelled us to work remotely,
but the appeal of blended working is
what has kept it thriving. Employees are
requesting a work life that fits around
their personal life – increased demands
for flexibility were the most commonly
cited issue to have occurred within
organisations in the past 18 months by
HR leaders.
At the same time, hybrid working is
not always an easy ride. Employees have
less direct face-to-face contact with their
colleagues and managers and upskilling
in a digital world can be more complex.
At the start of a new year, now is the
perfect time to reassess learning and
development programmes for the hybrid
world and set sta… up for success in 2022.
A YEAR DEFINED BY CHANGE
The developments we have seen to
the world of work in 2021 have been
astronomical. In the space of 12 short
months, we’ve moved from viewing
remote working as a temporary stopgap,
to implementing it into our long-term
strategies. Alongside this we have
seen the Great Resignation, with many
people not only changing job roles, but
sometimes even changing career paths
entirely.
Despite these great transformations
in the world of work, learning and
development programmes have in many
instances not been adapted in line with
the times. Almost three quarters (73
per cent) of learning and development
professionals have employees who
are disappointed with the training and
development made available to them,
in a year when employees need access
to high quality support more than ever,
to deal with the rapid changes in their
professional lives. Employers have
now had ample time to digest these
transformations, meaning that now is the
time to implement strategies that accept
change and adapt development plans
accordingly.
INVESTING IN PEOPLE THROUGH
UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMMES
A vast majority (92 per cent) of leaders
expect their budget for employee
training and development to increase in
2022. This is positive news for employees
and leaders alike, as an increased
resource pool means that many more
opportunities are open to companies
to support their employees. Leaders
must take this opportunity to reassess
their existing plans, accounting for new
needs that have arisen due to the rapidly
changing world of work, and planning for
a new and improved o… er.
However, this process may not be
as easy as it seems. The learning and
development programmes currently on
o… er in many organisations have not
seen radical transformation since their
conception, rather minor tweaks in the
content o… ered in accordance with new
trends and requirements. At present,
it is not only changes to content or
delivery methods that are required, but
a complete overhaul in how employees
are supported by their employer.
Personalisation should be the main
force driving the revamp of learning
and development programmes. Hybrid
working, the great resignation, and
demands for flexibility all share one thing
in common: the way they impact people
di… ers vastly from person to person.
Individual circumstances define how we
work more than ever before, and people
development programmes should be
adapted to account for that. Right now,
such programmes do not reflect this
reality, with less than half (39 per cent) of
learning and development experiences
currently adapted to the individual. For
organisations to build truly e… ective
strategies, personalisation must be high
on the priorities for 2022.
BUILDING A DIGITAL STRATEGY
FROM THE GROUND UP
For personalisation of people
development programmes to be truly
e… ective, leaders should be leveraging
the latest in digital technologies to
support their mission. For almost two
years now we have been relying on
approaches that use technology to
imitate the physical o… ice, as much in
learning and development as in daily
business operations. Now that we have
said goodbye to fully present working
for good, we must too say goodbye to
digitally adapted approaches to work
and hello to digitally native strategies.
As learning and development
programmes become increasingly
personalised, companies should take
take the opportunity to revise the
technology they are using to implement
them. Our research found that two thirds
(67 per cent) of leaders are still relying on
e-learning platforms for their training and
development o… ers, which largely imitate
the physical classroom and encourage
passive information consumption. Now
that the latest developments in AI and
AR are coming to the world of business,
it is time that HR leaders implement
these technologies to create a more
interactive, personalised platform for
learning and development. Building a
strategy that combines personalisation
and immersive technologies in perfect
harmony is the most e… ective way to
start the new year strong and invest in
your people’s success.
PERSONAL TOUCH Personalisation should be the main driving force in the revamp of
learning and development programmes, says Juliane Sterzl, SVP
EMEA at CoachHub