Decrease of operational efficiency, productivity and quality of service, lower customer satisfaction and retention – all of these are the symptoms of employee disengagement. If you notice them in your organization, this article is a must-read for you.
We all love to hire new employees because they come up with new, fresh ideas and bring energy and passion to the workplace. But in a year or so, things change dramatically. Inspiration dries up along with innovative ideas, and employees continue to do their job in autopilot mode, which leads to possible withdrawals.
Disengagement – a new corporate disease
According to Gallup, almost 70% of Americans are actively disengaged in their work. This lack of engagement and motivation costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars annually.
It is widely accepted that a workforce’s productivity, engagement, quality and consistency of work are key factors contributing to an organization’s success. Engagement is the second talent challenge after leadership issues, as mentioned by HR managers across the U.S.
Why does it happen?
People feel disengaged at work when they can’t influence the results, don’t get feedback from management and don’t have the tools they need for personal and career growth. In order to address this issue, organizations are replacing traditional personnel development and performance management approaches with innovative solutions.
Because of this, building a culture rich in recognition can boost performance and minimize turnover. To fix this, put your resources into learning, provide employees with advanced learning technology and content, and encourage their growth.
Why eLearning?
eLearning has proven time and time again to be the most effective way to bring employee engagement back to your office. Here are a few reasons you should consider more eLearning options for your employees:
- eLearning helps employees succeed in their job and feel better about what they do. People apply new knowledge, which leads to better performance and higher motivation.
- eLearning can be easily built into the company’s routine, so that it creates a natural knowledge management culture and motivates employees to produce, share, acquire and retain knowledge.
- eLearning eliminates travel and instructor costs involved in traditional instructor-led training, along with dozens of hours spent on face-to-face trainings. Typically, the time a person must spend being trained is reduced by about 40% using eLearning.
- The ability to learn at anytime from anywhere gives employees additional freedom of choice, which is highly valued by the Millennials.
Implement eLearning in three steps
Step 1: Set up the learning process
- Choose and acquire a learning management system which is easy to install and convenient to use.
- Divide your staff into few groups with similar functions and competences (I recommend using the Eduson’s Guide to Skills and Competences) and create a list of course topics you need to possess in a corporate e-library.
Step 2: Integrate learning into business
- Make an initial assessment (you can use a free Competences Map) in order to identify skill and knowledge gaps the staff members might have.
- Assign courses according to the results of assessment, and continue doing so as the employees encounter new challenges in their job.
Step 3: Control and assess
- Encourage learner’s activity: Create leaderboards, award employees with certificates, badges and medals to motivate your employees!
- Let the staff members feel valued, apply their knowledge and influence the executive’s decisions. Collect employee feedback and implement the best ideas. World leaders have long been benefiting from employees empowerment: e.g. it was an employee at 3M who came up with the idea of Post-It Notes.
Apply these simple measures in order to create a unique learning culture at your company which, in turn, will impact employee engagement and results in boosting productivity.
