What’s next for learning in 2022?

The health crisis has had a major impact on every business. For some, it has resulted in considerable challenges. For others, new opportunities have arisen, thanks to the rapid move towards digitalisation.

The learning and development sector belongs to the latter category. This is reflected in Cegos’s latest International Barometer Survey – a survey of HR directors and employees across 6 countries, in which we analyse the latest learning trends and appetite for new types of training.

Download our white paper on the survey results here

This year’s research reflects major shifts in attitudes towards learning. There is also an urgent need to reskill in a world of uncertainty.

Three headline issues were prevalent throughout the survey:

1. Professional training has adapted well to the challenges of the health crisis

Despite budget cuts and the challenges of working from home, many organisations continued to train their workforce. Indeed, Since March 2020, 93% of HRDs say they adjusted their online training offer to continue training their teams.

Unsurprisingly, much of this training was delivered virtually, with 50% saying they have adjusted their learning programs for online delivery. For now, virtual classes are the strongly favoured method, as reported by 79% of HRDs.

And it’s not just training methods that have changed. The most popular training subjects over the last year were on topics related specifically to operational challenges during the pandemic. For instance, the top training topic was ‘how to work from home efficiently’, as reported by 62% of respondents.

According to the survey, the trend towards more online learning will not subside after the pandemic. Rather, remote learning will continue to form a large part of the training model, now that most users are familiar with this style of learning.

2. Organisations struggle when training their workforce to keep pace with transformation

According to HRDs, 45% of jobs in their organisation are at risk of skills obsolescence in the next three years. This is a major concern for both employers and employees, with companies now taking steps to upskill and reskill their workforce.

Strategic workforce planning remains at the heart of HR challenges. HRDs state that in the next five years, their organisation will be confronted with job creation (57%), the emergence of new professions (55%), the disappearance of certain professions (33%), and job cuts (24%). HR will thus have to respond to a dual problem: making significant changes to the organisation (staff cuts, job losses), and finding the right people for the new jobs.

The key to addressing these challenges is in training people to develop their soft skills, along with their digital proficiency. Communication skills are now seen as priority, especially in the use of digital. 55% of respondents agree.

Interestingly, 78% of HRDs note that operational departments are increasingly involved in team training activities. This means the learning and development brief is now being taken on by departments outside the traditional remit of HR.

3. Employees are keen to upskill in the face of ongoing transformation

Workplace transformations have made employees keenly aware of the need to remain relevant. As such, skills training is high valued among employees, to the extent they are willing to be the drivers of their personal development.

According to the survey, 76% of employees say they would be willing to attend a course in their own time. Similarly, 55% of employees say they would be willing to finance part of the cost of their training themselves.

Employees in the survey are keen to ensure training is relevant to their jobs. 49% of employees say that preference should be given to training provided in the actual working environment and involve some form of workplace application.

Overall, employees remain satisfied with the quality and balance of training they receive. They give the training a score an average of 7.4/10. HRDs give their employees a score of 7.5/10.

Download our white paper on the survey results here

“Like any major crisis, the pandemic holds its share of opportunities,” says Benoit Felix, CEO of the Cegos Group. “It has enabled organisations to develop their offerings, to accelerate the digitalisation of their solutions and to roll out new formats on a large scale that are rapidly adopted by learners.

“Companies have not abandoned their training efforts, quite the contrary. And the employees show a real desire to learn. Skills development is a strategic lever, as the crisis has shown, and there is no longer any doubt about it!”

You can read much more on the latest learning trends in our white paper: Transformations, Skills and Learning. Download it here.

Cegos help you implement learning programs in tune with the latest trends and developments. We work both locally and globally. Click here to find out more and get in touch.