COVID-19 has transformed how businesses operate globally and more specifically, has changed the way that employees improve their knowledge in the workplace. According to a recent report by Fosway 94% of learning and development professionals report having to change their learning and development strategy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is to do with what they do to improve staff knowledge in the workplace and how they do it. A lot of learning and development professionals may have noticed that what used to work to embed knowledge may not work now. This is mainly due to the fact that a lot of external factors have now made a significant impact on the way that employees improve their knowledge. These have included; lack of face to face interaction, being overly busy with extra demands because of the pandemic, having to integrate learning with daily activities, not being at a fixed location every day and being overly stressed.

This article will outline the most popular and effective methods to improve employee knowledge and methods that the majority of learning and development professionals have adopted post COVID-19. We will explain why they have been the most successful and which strategy may be best to implement in your workplace post-pandemic.

What factors have transformed how employee’s boost their knowledge?

Risks from outside visitors and face to face interactions

The most obvious factor which has changed the way that employees strengthen their knowledge is the fact that everyone now has to practice social distancing and limit the risks which come with face to face interactions. Because of this, many companies have chosen to limit or stop external trainers from holding events in their workplace. In fact, 50% of organisations have reduced their expenditure on external trainers and events according to Fosway’s recent report. Instead, companies have opted for more digital learning for a safe and effective way to boost employee knowledge.

Having more work to deal with

COVID-19 has been a steep learning curve for everyone. In the workplace, it has required employees to manage new events and situations which may never have arisen before. Employees have had to learn new policies and procedures and quickly adapt to new ways of working. Because of this sudden upheaval, it has been difficult for staff to find the time to learn. This is why managers have been increasingly interested in video, curated content and mobile and microlearning. These methods of learning allow staff to digest information in the quickest and easiest way possible making them a go to option for those employees that are crunched for time. More traditional methods of learning such as off-the-shelf courses and blended learning have seen a steady decline since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Needing employees to improve their knowledge daily

Throughout the pandemic, most organisations were recognising the crucial need for employees to top up their knowledge daily. Having one training class per month or year just doesn’t cut it anymore. Employees need to be clued up on the latest compliance updates, new procedures or customer service best practice. However, getting employees to learn daily is easier said than done. The knowledge improvement method needs to be quick, easy and engaging. This is why learning experience platforms have been rated the highest for being most supportive during the pandemic.

Learning experience platforms are amazing at improving employee knowledge because they provide a highly engaging experience. They provide targeted content for the employee, displaying which learning would be most useful for them, along with recommended learning. In the experience, employees can improve their knowledge through different methods such as; podcasts, microlearning, short-form content, long-form content, articles and how-tos. Because the content is so targeted it means employees don’t waste time trawling through content which isn’t relevant to them.

Having to integrate learning with daily activities

Improving employee knowledge should no longer be seen as a stand-alone task. In fact, 84% of organisations think it is crucial to integrate digital learning into corporate collaboration platforms such as Slack or Trello. By including learning tasks to boost knowledge into these productivity platforms, it ensures that they are seen as fundamentally important as other daily activities. It stops learning from being seen as a standalone activity and instead positions learning as a crucial part of daily operations.

How can video, curated content and mobile and microlearning benefit my employees?

Video to strengthen employee knowledge post pandemic

Video compared to classroom training is incredibly cheap and it does the same job. Best of all, your employees can watch the videos at times which suit them best. This could be on their lunch break, on their commute or when they have a quiet moment at work. Videos work better to improve employee knowledge because they can be broken down into smaller bite-sized chunks which are better for memory retention. If your employee sits through a day’s worth of classroom training they retain less than half of the information presented after the first hour. With video, you can split these into 20-minute pieces of content making them much more likely to be engaged with and much more likely to be remembered.

Another key factor to note is that learners love video. This is why YouTube videos are viewed 4 billion times every day and Vimeo videos are viewed 715 million times every month. People find them more interesting and it also gives them more control over their learning. They can pause videos, write notes and explore what they want in more detail without having to fall behind what the trainer is saying.

Curated content to strengthen employee knowledge post-pandemic

Content creation requires the learning manager to research and create their own content from scratch. Curated content is amazing for knowledge boosting because it allows you to find specific pieces of content that you know are going to be helpful for your employees. It means your employees only see the information which is relevant to them.

Curated content is so beneficial today because it is targeted, quick and easy. You can filter through social media posts, videos, vlogs, blogs, ebooks and articles to find the best content to help your employees improve their knowledge. Once you have found the best pieces of information you can incorporate these into your own learning module or playlist. They allow you to provide short bursts of learning to your employees which they can engage with daily. For example, on day one you can instruct them to read an article snippet, day two you can ask them to watch a short video and on day three you can guide them to a relevant podcast.

Mobile and microlearning to strengthen employee knowledge post-pandemic

Mobile learning is rapidly being adopted by organisations because it allows employees to learn from anywhere and at any time that they want, making it one of the most flexible learning methods out there. This means if your staff have to self isolate, work from home or at a different location, they will always have access to your learning content.

Mobile learning is also more cost-effective. Almost every employee owns their own smart device meaning there are little costs to implement a mobile learning strategy. All you need is the platform to deliver the content that you want. Employees use mobile and smart devices every second of every day outside of work so it makes sense to include your knowledge boosting strategy on mobiles too.

Microlearning has been popular throughout the COVID-19 pandemic because it helps employees embed knowledge in a very short space of time. Microlearning modules take as little as 1-5 minutes long, making them the best solutions for employees that are overly busy.

Microlearning also tops traditional learning methods because it makes training more digestible. During the pandemic, the last thing your employees wanted was an overwhelming amount of learning to get through. Microlearning leverages the impact of tiny learning activities to boost overall knowledge and memory retention.

Do you need help implementing a mobile or microlearning strategy? Are you struggling to see how you can use curated content or video on your current learning solution? Get in touch and one of our friendly team will be more than happy to help.

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