Virtual learning is becoming an increasingly popular tool for businesses, and offers new opportunities to reduce the cost of your operations and boost employee skills and mental health.
Research has found that retention rates of online courses are up to 60% higher than face-to-face learning, and require 40-60% less employee time than learning in a traditional classroom setting.
If you want to know how your business can take advantage of virtual learning, here’s everything you need to know.
Improving productivity
Including virtual learning in your business model will help you improve the way you train and support your company’s workforce.
The growing number of targeted courses available online means you can tailor personal development programmes to address your team’s specific interests and skill gaps. Taking advantage of the wide range of bite sized learning courses online will give you the freedom to identify and focus on tightly defined objectives for your staff to work on.
Offering a targeted employee development programme will also attract new talent to your business and help retain people, as it demonstrates a commitment to their wellbeing and progression.
Boosting mental health
Offering virtual-learning also supports mental health.
A sense of community and belonging is valuable both inside and out of the workplace, which is why business owners should look for virtual learning providers who offer live and interactive courses.
Enrolling your staff on live and interactive online learning platforms helps mitigate the feelings of isolation felt by so many as remote working becomes an increasingly popular business model.
The variety of courses online will also provide a range of learning opportunities which suit different people’s pace and learning style, allowing them to train and upskill in an environment where they feel the most comfortable.
~Business Game Changer Special Promotion~
Reducing costs
A virtual approach to employee development offers huge cost benefits for business owners, allowing you to invest more in other parts of the organisation.
Traditional training methods often require staff to travel away from the office to corporate events, which can carry a significant price tag, especially if you have a large workforce. Corporate training events also restrict the flexibility of your schedule, as they may not run when you need that particular learning.
Transitioning to a virtual learning model allows staff to access incredible talent from across the globe and to train remotely, eliminating the expenses of time and travel to different venues. Reducing your business’s spend on travel will also reduce your company’s environmental impact, demonstrating a commitment to improving the sustainability of your operation.
How to implement virtual-learning in your business
If you want to incorporate virtual-learning in your operations, spend time looking for a provider, or range of providers, that suit your needs.
It’s important to find a supplier that is reliable, and offers the expertise, courses and features you’re looking for. This means finding a robust platform with strong data protection protocols in place that allow you to meet the objectives you set for your business and your employees.
Once you’ve found a suitable partner, have open conversations with your employees to identify how they want to develop so you can find a suitable course on which to enrol them. This could be during their annual appraisal process or during monthly meetings.
I’d strongly advise that you do your research and speak to other business owners for recommendations. But most importantly, look after your team! Ensure they have a personalised development plan with training – any investment in their skills and development will repay you multiple times.
By Johnathan Reynolds, CEO of Learned.Live
About Johnathan Reynolds
Johnathan is the founder and CEO of Learned.Live, the UK’s first online learning platform to offer live and interactive teaching. Their growing list of courses connects curious people with teachers, coaches and instructors with a range of skills or expertise
