HR professionals are typically overstretched and overworked – could e-learning be the solution to some of the time-consuming ‘necessary evils’ of business operations?
In
HRD magazine’s 2014 Global HR Survey, identifying risks and ensuring compliance was listed as the second biggest strategic priority facing HRDs.
Many respondents cited a lack of time and resources as a key concern in this area.
For Chris Erickson, senior trainer at MicroWay, the reluctance to embrace anything related to compliance comes down to the sheer time and effort required to implement and maintain effective systems to present the relevant content and courses to employees, while also ensuring it is traceable for auditing and reporting purposes.
Saving you time
Finding a suitable time to complete any form of training can be challenging, particularly for some roles or where there are large numbers of staff involved.
However, there is a component of most induction training that could be completed at home by new starters prior to day one. E-learning allows this to occur.
With a link to the content in an email and with the right systems in place, individuals progress through the content, while a collation of their quiz/survey/test results can be used to reinforce and confirm understanding of the content.
“In many ways it’s a far more efficient and effective way than providing simple documents,” Erickson said.
Importantly, e-learning is an easy way to connect with younger employees who have an inherent desire to interact using mobile technologies – especially in BYOD environments.
Because e-learning content is based on modern web technologies, it also allows for the integration of links to external resources – including social tools. For example, Erickson noted that using YouTube to host and serve streaming videos used in courses is a common and effective way to educate employees.
He also outlined some key benefits of e-learning:
- E-learning, unlike traditional methods, is available 24/7.
- It is self-paced, allowing employees to operate at their optimum speed.
- Automatic record-keeping reduces the burden of maintaining records and auditing.
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