While education industries have always known the value of L&D, it has taken the corporate world a little longer to catch up, often seeing it as a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than a competitive differentiator. As time goes on and business challenges become more complex, however, more and more corporations are seeing the value in a robust learning and development program, not only for their employees but for the overall health of their business. Below are four critical ways that L&D can future-proof your business and give it the competitive edge for 2022 and beyond.
Employee retention has become a hot topic in the past few years, exacerbated by the pandemic and the infamous ‘great resignation’ which saw countless workers shift their career choices entirely to other opportunities. This has resulted in numerous companies losing their best talent and frantically scouring for quick fixes. With a learning and development program in place, however, some of these losses could be avoided. Not only could employers gauge motivation and engagement in order to get a sense of the disenchantment well ahead of the exodus, but it could also form the basis of an upskilling program. Of course, this doesn’t only retain your best talent but can attract more too.
Helping employees grow and develop in their role is critical in keeping them interested, because if you don’t invest in their futures, someone else invariably will.
Progress rarely waits for anyone—which is all too true in business. With technology rapidly advancing to new heights and employee skills gaps becoming all the more common, the need to ensure your company moves with the times is essential to success. With an L&D program in place, you can ensure that your employees are moving in tandem with this progress, expanding their skills and ensuring you aren’t left behind.
Remote working is nothing new and yet with the pandemic came mainstream adoption. Not only has this provided huge swathes of employees with the work-life balance they’ve always hoped for, but it’s provided businesses with a much easier means to open their doors to new markets and opportunities. Remote work, of course, isn’t something organizations can simply pick up and run with, which is why a solid learning and development program to smooth the transition is critical to its success.
“According to Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 85% of cyber-attacks involve a human element. This scale of human error is having a detrimental impact on corporate security, with 43% of workers admitting to making an error that compromised the digital security of their company.” – TechRadar
We’ve all heard the horror stories about employee compliance breaches that ended with their company taking a major financial loss. Or the data handling misstep that could have easily been avoided. Despite the very real risks involved, many organizations leave compliance and security training too late and fail to monitor how up-to-date their employees are with current policies. With a robust learning and development program, however, employers can not only ensure employees know what’s expected but also track their progress and engagement levels, limiting risk for the business as a whole.
Learning and development is the cornerstone of a healthy business. From retaining your talent and making sure they feel invested in, to ensuring compliance policies are followed, L&D is integral to keeping your company moving forward.
Of course, without proper assessments, how can you know what kind of impact your training is having? Are your employees on target? Are engagement levels with your learning and development program good? How has L&D impacted your bottom line compared to last year? With robust assessments, employers can document L&D progress before, during and after training, ensuring that they have a full understanding and insight into their employees’ progress and engagement.
At Questionmark, we help businesses make more informed decisions with assessments that work in tandem with learning and development. For secure, reliable, defensible, and inclusive assessments, visit Questionmark.
Questionmark provides a secure enterprise-grade assessment platform and professional services to leading organisations around the world, delivered with care and unequalled expertise. Its full-service online assessment tool and professional services help customers to improve their performance and meet their compliance requirements.