L&D | How is learning set to change post-COVID?

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, organisations have had to re-think their strategies and come up with new ways of working as employees across the UK move to homeworking.

As technology becomes a central fixture due to the increased use of conference calls and instant messaging platforms, HR departments have had to look at how workforces are able to use these new functions remotely.

This included taking a look at how employers could still maintain and support learning and development (L&D) while staff were working at home. As statistics have previously suggested that L&D is of particular importance to staff, for example research published in the 2018 Workplace Learning Report found that 94% of employees say that they would stay at a company longer if their employer invested in their career development, placing an increased emphasis on L&D during the current pandemic is vital to keep staff engaged.

According to Mary Edmunds, Head of Human Resources for Europe at Hines, the international real estate firm noticed an increase in L&D during March and April 2020 as teams got to grips with new technology. “Our training and development spiked in March and April while our teams learned how to use technology. Colleagues used their downtime or former commuting time to learn more about a specific tool or topic,” she explained.