With all the recent buzz around eLearning in the workplace, it may surprise you that your boss probably doesn’t know as much about it as you do (particularly if there are vast generational differences between colleagues in your office). Elearning is one of the fastest growing tools for global business professionals to hone their skills and stay current with professional competencies. In fact, an increasing number of businesses are turning to eLearning as a primary means of training because of its convenience and proven effectiveness in the workplace.
To the uninitiated, eLearning can seem like an intimidating prospect. With its myriad technical terms and industry jargon, it’s no wonder that some corporate leaders would rather stick with traditional classroom learning to train their employees. But managers who are willing to familiarize themselves with eLearning will soon realize that the potential benefits to their workforce can be endless.
Want your boss to consider introducing eLearning options to your team? How are the seven benefits you’ll want them to know.
- eLearning is a great way to save money. Understandably, employers sometimes have to make cutbacks to save money or adhere to a budget. For this reason, the bottom line benefits of online learning are beyond comparison. By using virtual modules to deliver training, organizations can reduce costs considerably. This means that no matter where the employee lives (or if they are on a business trip), companies can provide cost-effective training anywhere in the world, reducing travel expenses and saving money on classroom instructor fees.
- It lets employees learn at their own pace. When employees can set their own pace for learning, they are more likely to seek out opportunities to learn and better retain what they have been taught during a session. This is because they are learning at their own pace, rather than the pace of the slowest student in the room. According to Marc Rosenberg, PhD., online learning “can take anywhere from 25 to 60 percent less time to convey the same amount of instruction or information as in a classroom.” This is huge considering that by reducing training time, employees are allowed to spend more time doing their jobs.
- You can be confident that learning content will be consistent in quality. One of the major downfalls of classroom learning is the chance of dispersing content of inconsistent quality to your employee base. Even if you book the same instructor, there’s always a possibility they can be affected by not feeling 100%, having a bad day or any number of things. When you give learners access to online content, you can be assured that they will get exactly the same high-quality instruction every other student has.
- Online learning helps organizations reduce their carbon footprint. Many companies are striving to become greener, and the introduction of eLearning can be a great starting point for being more environmentally friendly. A 2005 study by Open University found that on average, universities who use eLearning as a primary training resource consume about 90% less energy and produce 85% less carbon emissions. It’s not a far stretch of the imagination to assume that many of the same benefits hold true for business organizations as well.
With these benefits of in mind, it’s not surprising that more organizations are adopting eLearning and online courses as a supplemental – if not primary – means of training their employee population. Want to learn more about how online intercultural and global business skills training can help your organization? Click the button below to request a CultureWizard demo.
