Dive Brief:
- A majority of leaders in the training industry are confident there will be no job losses in the industry in the near future, according to a report from Mimeo. Specifically, the State of Learning and Development report says that 73% of learning and development professionals believe no training roles will disappear during the next five years.
- The report also asked L&D professionals about their strategic plans. Of those surveyed, 29% said they will adopt new microlearning opportunities for staff during the next two years; 10% will add virtual reality training to their learning offerings.
- In other findings, the report shows that only about half of respondents said they use a learning management system.
Dive Insight:
As the skills gap continues to pressure businesses, the need to retrain and upskill employees may continue to grow. In a recent study, 67% of employees said they needed more training to keep current with market needs, yet only 40% said their employers provided the opportunity to do so.
And despite an uptick in hiring, employers are increasingly looking to upskill internal candidates who already understand the company's culture and goals. The provision of continuous learning not only addresses technical needs, but also can improve employee engagement and retention. Many companies, like Walmart, are capitalizing on their internal staff to prepare future needs, especially when it comes to management team members.
The report's findings regarding microlearning and VR echo what others have said: short bursts of interactive training, on demand, provide learning that resonates and sticks with employees. Timing training to address need is proving cost-effective, as well, as employees struggle to fit training into their day-to-day priorities. And the trend toward virtual reality use, in particular, is taking hold in a wealth of industries, from trucking to fast food. As the workplace continues to evolve, training needs and modalities will likely follow suit.
