Among many business processes that suffered at the hands of this pandemic, employee training is probably the most affected one. With physical offices being closed, it is almost impossible for organizations to conduct employee training programms as they did before. Thanks to social distancing norms, in-person training in the traditional classroom setting is completely out of the question. Due to this, many organizations have shifted to e Learning platforms to impart employee training. After all, for many industries, this type of training and certification is nothing new. CPR certification is available online for years now, for example. However, like every other technology, these platforms, too, have certain problems that the corporate world is still struggling to come to terms with. For example, unstable internet connection, senior employees with limited technical knowledge, etc.
While it is impossible to predict exactly what is waiting for us in the future, to give you a little heads up, here is a list of some common employee training challenges that the pandemic might pose.
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A Scattered WorkForce
The biggest challenge that organizations are facing during this pandemic is managing a scattered workforce. The prolonged lock down periods and strict social distancing norms forced all the physical offices to close. This resulted in both employers and employees working from remote locations. While individual employees struggled to set up workspace in their homes, organizations had to overhaul their entire operating system and digitize it completely. For training programs, it meant the cancellation of conferences, workshops and all other forms of classroom training. Thus, organizations now need tools that enable them to connect with their workforce and impart training to employees working from different remote locations simultaneously. While virtual platforms like Zoom might work for group discussions or meetings, they aren’t very effective for training. As a result platforms like LMS, for eg, Performance Pro are expected to see a sudden rise in demand.
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Time Management
Even in the pre-pandemic world, your employees had tight schedules. Remote working has only made it worse. Now they are required to not just fulfil their professional responsibilities but also handle increased personal obligations like vaccinations, taking care of old family members, homeschooling their kids and much more. The situation is much more complicated for married female employees. All of this together can make it really difficult for employees to manage time between attending training sessions and meeting work deadlines. Sudden medical emergencies can also force your employees to skip already scheduled sessions.
The best way to deal with this is to adopt a methodology that offers your trainees unlimited access to the course material and video lessons.
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Motivation To Learn
Keeping employees engaged and motivated was always a tough feat to achieve. With the fear of uncertainty spreading like a wildfire these days, it is expected to become even more difficult. The pain of losing loved ones to this deadly virus along with the fear of catching it themselves can put your employees in deep distress. Owing to such emotional and mental turmoil, it is only natural for your employees to lose their motivation. Thus, organisations need to start paying special attention to the mental health of their employees in the coming future and help them stay level-headed in this difficult time. It is important to keep a check on your employees’ motivation and productivity.
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Technical knowledge of the workforce
While technology has been a part of the corporate world for quite some time now, organisations were never so dependent on it. As the pandemic forced organisations to adopt advanced technical platforms so suddenly, many senior employees failed to adjust to it. The younger generation was quick to learn and develop new skills in this little time. Seniors on the other hand are still struggling to cope up their limited technical knowledge. Thus, in order to implement eLearning platforms effectively, organisations will need to offer additional assistance to these employees.
Conclusion
The pandemic has disrupted the world completely. Unfortunately, with the increasing number of cases and accelerating mortality rate, this year isn’t promising us a smoother ride either. This means that the corporate world needs to buckle and prepare itself to face some more hardships. We hope that this article helps you in understanding the major employee training challenges so that you can develop more resilient programmes for the future.
James is a great tech-geek and loves to write about different upcoming tech at TechyZip. From Android to Windows, James loves to share his experienced knowledge about everything here.
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