Vital to attracting top talent, inspiring productivity, reinforcing company values and keeping teams abreast of changing legislation and industry policy, learning and development (L&D) strategies in the modern world of work have evolved to become an essential part of an employer brand.

Previously used to bring large teams together for a common purpose, the landscape of training has changed dramatically due to the nature of the pandemic, and the subsequent, long-term changes that now look set to become permanent fixtures within employment.

In a recent study of 50 of the UK’s biggest employers, figures revealed the majority (86 per cent) are embracing a long-term mixture of home and office working, with bosses actively encouraging staff to work from home two to three days a week.

As hybrid working looks set to become the norm, attention amongst HR teams is inevitably turning to how learning, development and training must be adapted to meet the needs of a much more flexibly-minded workforce, using formats and tools that are sure to engage and motivate them rather than becoming a drain on precious homeworking hours. And for those forced to work remotely, with little access to the same facilities as office-based workers, how can training be delivered to ensure they’re armed with the knowledge and guidance required to remain safe and efficient on site?

The future’s mobile
Companies are always eager to ensure they’re making continuous improvements to what they offer when it comes to learning and development and, equally, their processes and services. Importantly, companies should remember who is receiving it and ensure what they’re delivering is catered to the recipient’s preferences in terms of how they consume the information, where and when. The pandemic has emphasised the need for tailored training solutions even further.

In a report from 2016, more than 59 per cent of millennials said having opportunities to learn and grow was extremely important to them when deciding whether to apply for a job. That’s essential to know now, because by 2025, 50 per cent of all workers will be millennials and as such, companies should be assessing today how they’ll begin to create training that’s suitable for tomorrow.

Other new data can lead us in the right direction. Figures show that more than 19 per cent of millennials are smartphone-only users; they’re no longer using desktops or laptops for online shopping, socialising – or professional development. In just a couple of years’ time, this figure will have significantly increased.

Many businesses are starting to realise this and are reformatting their existing training materials – whether paper based, in PowerPoint presentations or locked up in employee management systems – and reformatting them to be optimised for mobile.

To effectively achieve this usually requires partnering with a specialist in mobile-first engagement platforms to create an interface that benefits both employer and employee alike. A branded dashboard can, for example, share prompts with workers on when their training must be completed and be tailored to suit their learning style. This level of automation benefits HR teams, granting them greater efficiencies with clear visibility of their entire workforce’s training schedule available at the touch of a button. They can also be adapted to demonstrate to customers that internal training modules achieve certain compliance levels, which verify them as fit for working on site, and integrate with other clients’ auditing and compliance systems to bring all necessary data together.

The material presented to users doesn’t always have to be in the form of a CPD module or workshop, either; it could, instead, be induction training, or consist of sharing new regulatory information or safety updates to ensure teams adhere to changing policies and procedures.

People’s lives are on the go; increased homeworking and the changing nature of work because of Covid-19 has brought an end to the regimented 9-5 experience employees were previously used to. Training must now be adapted to accommodate that, providing users with bitesize options that can be consumed whenever and wherever it suits them, acting as a true benefit to their lives, while remaining equally as advantageous to their employer.

Managing contractor and remote workforces
Budgets are tighter than ever. While redundancies surged earlier in the year, many businesses are now turning to contractor workforces to fill the huge cutbacks they’ve made internally. Bringing in new teams on a project basis to meet spikes in demand brings with it additional challenges – first and foremost ensuring those entering site are able to meet a company’s contractual requirements when it comes to health, safety and regulatory training.

Meanwhile, businesses which rely on disparate workforces, working from sites located around the country, often struggle to gain a handle on where their teams are up to when it comes to training, and struggle to present this in an easy-to-understand manner to clients who require it.In the face of this, businesses often turn to various software packages and systems which compile data on all contracted individuals into one simple report.

While many systems exist to facilitate this, many are cumbersome to use, others don’t provide any depth of details and the majority aren’t agile enough to be updated in real-time. That simply isn’t sufficient to support the needs of a forever-changed approach to meeting fluctuating demand.

Learning and development is no longer a tick-boxing exercise; it’s a basic level of care that organisations and businesses should be providing to their people. The challenge is delivering it in such a way that suits workforces that have never been more varied in their approaches to training. Have faith, though; you know what they need to learn, you simply need to utilise partnerships with experts who know how and when they are most likely to benefit from learning. Together, those elements will create a programme of development that’s sure to succeed.