How can you better upskill a large number of the workforce at scale

Aldona Limani, Docebo, EMEA Market Development Lead, considers how to best upskill workers as new ways of working require new skills

The world is changing and evolving at an alarming rate, and that was before COVID-19 swept the entire globe into simultaneous action. Companies are pivoting in ways that were unimaginable in January, nevermind when some of these businesses were first founded. Whether you work in technology, healthcare or education, everyone is changing the way they work. While challenging, I would argue that overall this is having a positive impact on workplace learning and development. 

It’s up for debate but as more of us are now getting accustomed to working from home full-time, businesses need to be agile and adapt their training programmes and mechanisms for employees. As we tackle Zoom calls, quickly adopt Microsoft Teams for the first time, or work to move all our in-person instructor lead training online using Docebo, it’s mission-critical that staff understand all the tools at their disposal, and know when and how to use them best. Technology has helped many of us transition during these testing times, and learning technology is critical to ensuring revenue isn’t lost, skills are retained and new training is available for all staff.

Some companies, such as those in retail and hospitality, have been able to build business and structure resourcing based on years of seasonal demands such as Black Friday or Christmas Party seasons. But no company in the world was prepared to potentially furlough or retrain its entire workforce. Whether companies are evolving or responding to change, you need the tools to onboard, reskill or reallocate staff at pace and often at scale. In the short-term, it may be the difference between staying afloat and not. In the long-term, having a highly-skilled workforce in the right areas will put you above the competition and ahead of the curve. 

Learning technologies like Docebo has helped Newcross Healthcare react to the Coronavirus pandemic very quickly. With over 8,500 staff spread across the UK, the healthcare staff provider needed to ensure all its staff had the correct knowledge and level of guidance so they and their patients remained safe. Working in such a highly regulated sector means the business needs to adhere to policy, regulation and ruling. They also need to regularly update Care Commissioning Groups, regulatory bodies, care homes, residential homes and supported living environments. Having one central location where all information is stored, updated and regulated means teams can easily access information to share with stakeholders. 

Brompton Bicycles have previously been able to offer in-person product support through its stores, as well as through its partner retailers across the world. With their existing learning platform, the Brompton Academy, the team have been able to upskill and train their 1,500-strong staff and partners across 48 countries and 11 different languages, to ensure they can still deliver the level of service virtually. Although mobility has decreased globally, cycling remains a key way to exercise and to travel for essential reasons and Brompton has needed to act quickly to ensure they still deliver a high quality service. 

We’re still in a global fight, adjusting to remote-working, not seeing our colleagues everyday and not being able to travel freely. If Coronavirus were to lead to greater numbers of society working from home, then this will have a huge impact on how enterprise training is delivered. Learning management systems are one component that can help connect people, just as Zoom, Slack and others have enabled greater online collaboration over the last couple of months. The aforementioned programmes prove that we’re used to multiple tools and that learning technology can help join them up by ensuring all staff are fully skilled in how to use tools efficiently and at scale.