How Learning and Development Influences the Workforce

Learning and development can have a major influence on the performance of a workforce.

Implementing a good L&D strategy can help with employee engagement, motivation and employee retention whilst also ensuring employees have the necessary skills to work in a competitive environment. Providing employees with a platform to build and develop skills is something that is becoming more important in the workplace with both personal and professional development becoming important with new employees.

Digital shift

In an ever-growing technological workplace, the ease and simplicity of L&D has become a major factor in the provision of it. Rather than providing traditional training methods such as workshops and on the job training, the use of technology has shifted towards providing online and distant learning platforms. Online learning platforms are a great place to supply learning materials and tasks and the ease of access to the internet makes these available nearly all the time. These small tasks can often be completed in the employee’s own time, ensuring their work does not suffer and the quality of these free resources is also very high, with the difference between free and paid resources reducing daily.

These new technologies and new methods of delivering L&D has had a major impact on the performance of employees in the companies. Providing employees with the freedom to undergo their own development can increase their motivation and overall performance in the workplace with a sense of challenge and satisfaction as well as combating their weaknesses and lesser practiced skills.

L&D has shifted towards microlearning which is a way of learning new content in small chunks around the employee’s schedule. This can provide the employee with more freedom with their learning and can allow them to not disrupt large portions of their day when needed. Online learning platforms are a great place to supply these learning materials and the ease of access to the internet makes these a beneficial source of resources.

So…just how important is L&D?

In a competitive market L&D can be a clear differentiator for prospective employees. For new employees, development is becoming more and more important when looking for jobs. This is because they want accessible training to refine and grow their skills set to further help develop themselves as a focus on their career becomes more important. Providing this can help retain employees due to more motivation and success in their roles as well as a feeling of investment in them.

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Written by Anay Patel. References taken from:

• HR Trend Institute

• 20/20 Project Management

• Thehrdirector.com

• Etsplc.com