Trends in Digital Employee Development 2023
Interactive content and a personalized offer: The success of digital employee development lies in its quality.
Digital workforce development continues to gain momentum as it promises solutions to a whole range of challenges in companies. These mainly include:
Finding and retaining employees.
Employees expect an attractive, and as personalized as possible, further education offering. Such an offering contributes to the employer brand, because an attractive training offering is considered a plus point when deciding on an employer.
Qualification
At the same time, it is important to qualify employees so that they can perform their tasks efficiently and with creativity. The focus is therefore on further training opportunities on industry developments, best practices and soft skills such as self-management, communication and leadership (link to the e-trainings)
Advantages of digital employee development
Cost efficiency is the most prominent advantage of digital workforce development, but not the only one:
Digital learning offerings can be tailored to the needs of companies, departments, and even individual employees.
The offerings can be used flexibly in terms of time—an invaluable advantage in times of hybrid collaboration.
Many employees can be trained at the same time and still learn at their own pace. This flexibility also contributes to the motivation of the learners.
Usually, digital training offerings are embedded in a set of measures, such as mentoring, coaching or blended learning. Central to this is that companies create a culture of continuous learning and embed it in a modern work environment.
Individualization as a success factor
Many experts agree that personalizing digital further training offerings to individual employees is the key success factor. An example of this is LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2022: Continuing education as a success factor.
Digital continuing education offerings allow for an unprecedented level of individualization: Supervisors can monitor learners' progress, coordinate next steps, and provide targeted assistance.
The overall analysis of the learning outcomes of all employees is also exciting. Managers can record the needs and preferences of their employees much more precisely than before. Additionally, they can identify areas where they should improve their offerings if the learning outcomes fall short of expectations.
Under no circumstances, however, should learning and training plans be designed over the heads of the employees. "The key to successful workforce development is cultivating key relationships, having a voice in strategic decisions, and investing in the right resources—as well as in yourself" (LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2022: Success Factor Continuing Education).
Digital employee development: The quality of the offering counts
Those days when digital offerings for employee development were new and, for that reason alone, aroused curiosity, are gone. The essential quality factors include:
Interactive and attractive content
The content should be exciting and, above all, interactive, as with the use of augmented reality. If learners are assigned a consumer-only role, attention and engagement will rapidly decline.
Human interaction
Some learners appreciate the direct, shared learning and personal contact with lecturers and colleagues, as well as the opportunity to develop content together and exchange experiences. Digital continuing education offerings must offer creative solutions for this need.
Technology
Slow internet connections, outdated software or compatibility issues: Technology can be a problem and hinder efficient learning. All participants should have access to the same technical capabilities, which is not always possible. Participants should also be given the necessary time to familiarize themselves with the user interface of an offering.
Digital employee development on the rise
In 2020, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated in an interview with the Financial Times: "Digital workforce development has been growing for years." Since then, the development has even accelerated. Digital workforce development is on the rise. Gartner, for example, predicts this in their report: "2023 Market Trends: Digital Advancement."
Modern, digital personnel development can also make an important contribution to the training of digital skills.
More than ever, companies are relying on digital employee development to ensure their business success. The best way to get your employees on board is with an interactive learning program. In addition, you should always focus on quality. In a nutshell, this means:
