The sudden onset of the COVID19 pandemic led to a worldwide lockdown and everyone had to follow through with the safety measures without much time to prepare. Social distancing became the new norm – forcing schools, colleges, and universities to stop conducting sessions. The crisis affected the global economy too as a lot of businesses and companies suffered losses and had to shut down completely.
In many sectors, companies have resumed work and shifted to remote working practices to ensure employee safety. Although working remotely is not possible in every sector or for every department within a company. In this situation, the biggest challenge for most companies has been to find a resourceful way of utilizing the downtime of all such employees.
Learning is an ongoing process. Employees from all departments always need training to keep themselves updated about alternative digital learning strategies to ensure that their knowledge is at par with the current industry standards. To encourage employees to upskill is a great way to make the most of the current situation. Here’s why COVID19 period is the best time to train your employees:
- Safety:
As companies are learning to cope with digital first future, a lot of new training strategies are also likely to be embraced for a smoother transition. It has become highly impossible for companies to conduct any kind of in-person sessions due to the health risks of gathering too many people in a room. Everything has to be done 100% virtually.
Considering the fact that telecommuting is here to stay, online training for new skills is the easiest way to keep employees productive at the moment without risking their health. They can easily undergo training from the safety of their home whilst making the most of their time.
- Flexibility:
Since everything is available online, employees can access training content at any time regardless of their location. All they need is a device and a steady internet connection. This gives employees full control over the learning process.
The flexibility of learning at their own pace without having to rely on a trainer makes the process very comfortable and ensures a higher rate of information retention. This also saves them from the trouble of travelling or even dressing up for a training session. When learning online, employees can easily manage the training along with their other responsibilities.
- Cost effective:
Once the eLearning course has been created, it can be reused for multiple employees from different departments and even for newly hired employees without spending anything. It also eradicates the need to reserve or rent training rooms as needed for traditional training courses.
This saves a lot of time and effort for the employers and the employees. Employees and trainers save money they would have spent travelling to the training location. The company saves money that would have been required to hire a trainer. So training employees during COVID19 period becomes affordable and highly cost effective.
- Measure of capacity:
Since most training sessions involve quizzes to evaluate an employee’s learning progress, it provides a good way of understanding which employees are making effective use of the training. The results can help employees know what topics require more focus so they can work harder on understanding and improving in those areas.
Additionally, once employers know who the top performers are, you can gain clarity about the knowledge retaining capacity of their employees. It also sheds light on who needs more support so other members of the team can be asked to help them.
- Boosts Productivity:
Upskilling from time to time is highly essential for all employees to contribute to achieving the goals of their company and keep ahead of competitor companies. When they are engaged in learning something new, employees feel motivated and happier about their personal growth.
It also boosts positivity and enhances team collaboration when employees learn from each other and help each other. This leads to better group performances from team members in the future which is highly beneficial for employers.
- Foundation for the future:
According to recently published research, it was found that nearly two-thirds of employees are willing to quit their job due to a lack of career development with their current employer. When companies offer remote teams with opportunities to learn, it provides employees a chance to reduce skill gaps which boosts their morale. They turn into confident team members which increases their chances of staying in their jobs longer.
As the situation improves and companies resume their operations, this confidence is what will prove helpful and make it easier for employees to power through any upcoming challenges. Since the foundations have been laid through training courses, employers will be able to face their competitors with the help of a more knowledgeable workforce. This is the biggest return on investment that training your employees during Covid will have.
Conclusion:
Eventually, situations are going to change and the world will slowly inch towards normalcy. But till then companies need to adapt to these changes to survive and thrive. In such a situation, it can be a challenge to remain positive and stay engaged. But it’s essential to take steps and continue investing in the right strategies to better the future. During uncertain times, employees are a company’s biggest resource. So investing in their training is the best thing to do in this COVID19 period.
Author bio-
Riya garg is a content marketing specialist at ribcon . She has a background in content marketing, storytelling and journalism. Riya’s editorial focus blends employee training and creative strategy with topics like employee performance management system, kaizen training, total productive maintenance , lean manufacturing.
