How are Top Fortune 500 companies using eLearning to boost productivity?
41.7% of the most profitable companies in the world, listed in the Fortune 500, are currently using eLearning tools for online training. Such solutions are helpful for training new employees and at the same time help to make ongoing employee education both affordable and effective. Using an innovative corporate eLearning solution makes employees better equipped to generate higher profits and maximize efficiency.
A Forbes article states that many professionals think of training as something distracting or often a waste of time. US businesses spend more than $60 billion a year in employee development, yet many executives question its return on investment. On the other hand, research shows that one of the key sources of competitive advantage is your entire corporate learning strategy.
Nowadays, the evolving corporate world calls for a more digitalized way of learning and many Fortune 500 companies are already adopting these modern learning solutions, due to their accessibility, practicality and flexibility. For instance, eLearning solutions such as scenario-based video training, micro learning, gamification etc are taking the lead. Opting for digital learning leads to huge savings in the amount of time and money it takes to train (or retrain) employees. Various Fortune 500 companies are finding that implementing an eLearning strategy can help them reach productivity goals and reap a multitude of other benefits. Here are some of those benefits:
Reduced Distractions
A 2014 survey by Salary.com states that 89 percent of workers admitted to wasting time during the course of their workday. When broken down by age groups, it’s millennial employees aged 18 to 32–who waste the most time; between 91 percent and 95 percent report wasting time at work.
According to Salary.com, 24 percent of respondents blamed the Google search engine for taking their time away from work, followed by Facebook, which represents 23 percent of respondents. Adopting a comprehensive corporate eLearning solution can help to remove this temptation by creating resources for employees to find what they’re seeking quicker. For example, if an employee has a reference library or an informational module to visit, he or she is less likely to be sidetracked on Google or Facebook.
Employees learn more through eLearning
Employees usually think of training sessions as a sleepy boardroom scenario. However, this is not the case if you give employees the opportunity to be trained online from their computer or tablet, on their own schedule. The results are more likely to turn out being impressive.
In fact, the flexibility and efficiency of learning management systems allows employees to get far more from 30 minutes at their desks than an afternoon in a traditional setting. Research has shown that they have the capacity to retain up to 60% more of what they learn, according to The Research Institute of America. This is an effective strategy that could really pay off, according to Saxons Group. The research shows that 65 percent of employees say that increased flexibility would make them more productive at work.
Enthusiasm
Enthusiastic employees leads to productive employees, and eLearning companies as a platform to help build eagerness and engagement among teams. Planning thoughtful, efficient, and entertaining eLearning opportunities send a powerful message to employees that they are valued and someone is willing to invest in them.
In addition, eLearning allows an organization to show an employee exactly how a specific skill is relevant to their work, and how their contributions positively impact large company goals. As a result, this investment is paid back through employees who are willing to go the extra mile and further develop their skills to evolve in their roles. In this way, employees also feel a deeper connection to the organization and are able to see the meaning and relevance of what they do daily. Learn about best elearning companies.
Improved Collaboration
It has been proven that employees are more productive when they work together, but without the tools for collaboration, managers can’t always expect workers to automatically solicit colleague input. Using eLearning as a method to train and share information enables employees to ask questions and feel comfortable working together for a better end product. Previously, traditional corporate training has been done in classes or in isolation, but many Fortune 500 companies are adopting social learning systems to develop learning communities into their training. Being in such communities allow learners to collaborate and share information during their learning experience, breaking the boundaries imposed by previous training. What about top elearning companies?
Fortune companies using eLearning – best elearning companies
- Shell
Shell’s training program involves an online portal, known as Shell Open University. It offers a wide range of practical, commercial and technical learning tools. Employees have unlimited access to online courses, webcasts, e-books, and guides. They evaluate their own knowledge, capabilities, and competency both before and after completing the program.
- Toyota
Toyota Motor Europe has been using eLearning to train over 18,000 motor technicians and engineers since 2005. The company upgraded to the latest version of its LMS in 2013 to provide continuous training without having to be re-certified. The platform offers learning materials for dozens of distributors and hundreds of retail outlets in over 50 countries.
- Paypal
The company has made a huge contribution to reorganize its employee-training programs. They adopted more non-traditional but at the same time more effective learning techniques. For example, PayPal uses social media like Facebook or Twitter’s Periscope. They created private group and invited experts to help employees or teach short classes.
- Booking.com
As the global online travel market continues to grow, Booking.com decided to implement corporate eLearning solutions to help rookies develop their technical skills. Using online tutoring, the company immediately saw an increase in engagement of workers who on average spend 5+ hours learning on the platform.
(Source : Belitsoft Blog)
Conclusion
Various innovative companies and thousands more cases are showing that eLearning provides cost savings, improves staff development, and achieves higher profitability. Using such digital learning solutions allow businesses to stay competitive in today’s fast-moving market landscape. See also – future of corporate e-learning