Evolving employee expectations, the rapid adoption of new technologies and growing cybersecurity compliance challenges are just some of the key components that shape today’s working world. In the past few years alone, we’ve seen a significant transformation of the workplace landscape with the shift to remote and hybrid working, the increasing use of AI tools and a demand for more meaningful development opportunities.
Amid the whirlwind of workplace transformations, L&D teams are entrusted with tackling the mammoth task of addressing the latest challenges brought about by the rapid change we’ve seen in recent years.
So, what are some of these challenges and how can L&D teams solve them? Keep reading to find out as we run through five key challenges L&D teams are navigating in 2024.
1. Measuring and delivering a strong ROI
The purse strings have been tightened for many business functions in 2024 and for L&D departments across all sectors, this has meant challenges around delivering a strong ROI with fewer resources and budget constraints.
It costs around one-half to two times an employee’s annual salary to replace them so one of the best ways to strengthen the ROI of L&D is to successfully boost employee retention through training and career development opportunities.
In 2024, employees want meaningful career development opportunities, with 21% of workers citing inadequate career development as their reason for quitting. L&D teams can use e-learning tools such as a learning management system (LMS) to create career development programmes designed to support individual employees in achieving their career goals and training objectives.
What’s more, when using an LMS to support L&D, features such as LMS reporting, and analytics can be used to easily measure the ROI of training and development activities. By creating reports that provide insights into areas such as engagement levels and knowledge retention, L&D teams can easily measure training ROI.
Looking for more ROI insights? Find out how to determine the ROI of your e-learning platform by downloading our free guide today.
2. Delivering a tailored learning experience
Whether delivering career development opportunities or core training courses, 2024 employees expect an element of personalisation in their L&D activities. Gone are the days of the ‘one size fits all approach’. Personalised learning is now the gold standard of L&D, tailored to address the unique needs of each employee by encapsulating key factors such as career goals, skills gaps, learning styles, and much more.
However, to successfully deliver a personalised learning experience that doesn’t require hours of manual admin from an already overstretched department, L&D teams must use the right tools for the job. An LMS such as our Totara Learn solution, boasts features such as personalised learning pathways, hierarchies, curated content and learner profiles, all of which make it easy for L&D teams to seamlessly build personalised learning into the core training strategy.
Find out more about delivering a personalised learning experience by reading our blog.
3. Delivering L&D opportunities to busy employees
A survey found that 61% of respondents say lack of time is an obstacle to L&D. Despite being a core business function, L&D can often get pushed to the bottom of the to-do list for busy workforces, with some viewing it as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a necessity.
To address this, L&D teams can use their LMS to create flexible learning opportunities that can easily be built into busy schedules. By simply using an LMS that provides on-demand learning opportunities, employees can access training materials when it best suits them. What’s more, with an LMS that offers mobile learning functionality, employees can also complete L&D activities anywhere by using a mobile device, making it easier for them to engage in learning opportunities while on the go.
Over the past few years, microlearning has been a key trend in the e-learning sphere, so if you haven’t incorporated this learning style into your core L&D yet, now is the time. Microlessons are focused pieces of L&D content that can be consumed in under fifteen minutes, allowing employees to complete learning with minimal disruption to their working day.
Find out everything you need to know about microlearning by reading our ultimate guide.
4. Nailing the onboarding process
The onboarding process can be ‘make or break’ when it comes to preventing employee churn, with over a fifth of new hires claiming their onboarding made them question their choice of jobs. It’s also a crucial opportunity to strengthen the ROI of an employee by ensuring that they are equipped with all the core skills and competencies required to perform their role effectively. Despite this, only half of all new hires said they felt productive and capable of doing their jobs.
To ensure that onboarding programmes set new starters up for success right from day one, L&D teams can use an LMS that can help scale and automate induction training activities, identify knowledge gaps, monitor training activities with comprehensive reporting, and engage new starters with dynamic and interactive training content.
Find out why a Hubken solution is the best choice for onboarding new employees by visiting our dedicated use case page here.
5. Adapting to change
As we mentioned at the start of this blog, the past several years have seen a rapid transformation of the working world, meaning that one of the biggest challenges facing L&D teams in 2024 and beyond is simply being able to keep up with this evolving landscape.
L&D teams today need to be agile and responsive, staying on top of the latest requirements, expectations and emerging trends. For example, the emergence of AI has resulted in a demand for AI training courses and reskilling programmes that provide job security and agility to employees concerned with how new technologies will affect their job roles in the future.
To keep up with the demand for emerging skills, L&D teams need to use e-learning platforms and tools that allow them to quickly deploy new content and training materials that address the latest training requirements. With e-learning technology such as an LMS, L&D teams are better positioned to align training and development programmes with evolving demands and business objectives.
Does your current LMS help you tackle key L&D challenges?
If your LMS doesn’t offer the functionality and flexibility required to successfully tackle today’s L&D challenges, perhaps it’s time to explore your options. Visit our platform pages to discover our powerful solutions, capable of solving even the most complex L&D challenges. Or schedule a call with one of our LMS experts if you’re ready to maximise your L&D outcomes with a Hubken solution today.
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