Even if the economic situation of companies improves, L&D departments still can't afford to spend their resources inefficiently. On the contrary, the pressure to achieve maximum return on investment in employee training continues to rise. So what should you invest in?
According to the British website Training Journal, 2016 will be a year of bite-sized employee training which will take part "on the fly". Training opportunities will have to be more flexible to meet the time schedules of employees. The rapid development of technology will also promote so-called gamification, or involving gaming elements in order to make learning more fun. The strongest trends in employee training should include the following five.
Individual approach
Training programs need to adapt to the increasingly faster pace of information consumption. They will also be more flexible to better reflect the learning styles of individual employees. Training tailored to the needs of specific employees will allow employees not only to choose their learning platforms, but also the individual content and pace of learning.
Mobile learning
More and more people work remotely or on different sites. Training programs will therefore be increasingly available on mobile devices. Employees will be able to learn when and where it suits them best.
High-quality content worldwide
Thanks to the internet we can learn from the outstanding talents in their fields regardless of where in the world they work. The learning method is no longer primarily reading text form. It can be seen on videos and in interactive formats. Companies will want to use this content more and more to train their employees.
Gamification
Striving for a greater involvement of employee fun during trainings will be evident not only in e-learning, but also in traditional courses with live instructors. Training programs will increasingly be built on the principles of understanding human behavior, motivation and engagement.
Language learning
Knowledge of languages has been one of the most important areas of employee training for a long time. If companies want to be competitive in the global marketplace, their people must be able to make themselves understood in the world. Especially salespeople, but also other specialists, will therefore undergo intensive language education.
Do you agree with these trends? What development in the field of employee education do you think we can expect in 2016?
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