If your organization is experiencing a massive surge in top talent quitting, ‘The Great Resignation’ is at your doorstep. This growing movement—where people are exiting their roles in droves—is causing quite a stir in global companies. So, what’s causing it? And, how can your L&D teams help? Find out how to turn your eLearning program into the ultimate tool for your recruiters.
Providing valuable training when it’s needed most can help you keep your top talent while also attracting new people. How, though, can you deliver this training as quickly as it’s needed without it losing its impact? This gets especially tricky when you consider that the very recruitment crisis you’re trying to solve might’ve also left your L&D team understaffed and in the weeds.
Read on to find out what ‘The Great Resignation’ is and how you can overcome its effects with the right eLearning program.
What is ‘The Great Resignation’ and what’s causing it?
In both the U.S. and abroad, we’re seeing a massive shift in employee retention rates. Based on information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 million Americans left their jobs in July 2021 alone. This trend isn’t slowing down, either. According to a research study, the highest increase in resignation rates—with an average increase of more than 20% between 2020 and 2021—was among employees between the ages of 30 and 45 years old. This is definitely a shift as we’ve historically seen higher resignation rates among younger generations.
Why is this? Well, it’s partly because younger workers haven’t built up the cash reserves to take a risk in the middle of a pandemic. Those in the 20 to 25 age range are less likely to resign with greater financial uncertainty looming and lower demand for entry-level workers. On the other hand, as many employers grapple with a new-to-them world of remote work and training, they’ve found it easier to fill pre-trained, mid-career roles when in-person training isn’t an option.
One source suggests that workers have more confidence to quit their jobs (even amid high churn in the labor market) and take on more attractive opportunities. With the current labor market favoring employees, people also feel that they have stronger bargaining opportunities than in the past.
Whatever the reasons, training has a huge role to play in the fightback against the great resignation. In fact, a culture of learning can be reason enough to make people stay. When workers are given learning opportunities, they’re more engaged and three times more likely to intend to remain with the company two years into the future—according to LinkedIn’s 2021 Workplace Learning Report.
Keep going to find out the 3 ways eLearning can help you retain your staff—and attract new talent.
1. Bridge the gap with personalization
Helping learners stay engaged while working remotely has been difficult. But, personalization can actually increase engagement. It’s important that your learning programs aren’t one-size-fits-all. Learners should have content and courses that are tailored to their individual needs and skills goals. When you invest in the right tools and strategies to create personalized eLearning journeys, you can deliver targeted learning across the workforce. This includes managers who might need additional training in how to spot burnout or performance issues before they bubble over. Or, it could be an entry-level worker who wants to advance in the company and needs to upskill themselves.
Whether you’re training a distributed team with staff across multiple continents, or a small team that works from the same office—being able to author learning content that meets each learners’ needs is key.
Creating eLearning courses for a global workforce? See how to localize it:
'11 localization ideas for global eLearning that go beyond translation 🔗’2. Connect performance goals with learning
One of the goals of learning is to improve employee performance. That’s why it's important to include upskilling and/or reskilling into the process when setting new performance goals. When learning content is relevant and can be tied to a positive outcome, learners are more likely to engage.
Need to get people excited about learning new skills? It’ll require managers to become evangelists for ongoing development. They need to explain why employees should invest time in continuing education and make it measurable for the learner. While this might seem like a simple task, it can be difficult to make sure that learning activities are directly related to the work that needs to get done.
For example, if an employee is tasked with increasing revenue by 20% in one year, but they've never worked in sales before, you'll need to figure out how training will help them meet their goal. This process may take some time and effort on your end but making the connection between performance goals and learning is essential. That way, both managers and workers know what's expected of them.
See how one of our customers is using the tool to create accessible, multi-language content for a global audience:
‘How an electronics corporation globalized, modernized, and simplified eLearning production’3. Create a culture of learning in your organization
Reviewing your training and improving it can make staff feel more valued. It also helps them see the opportunities for learning and growth in their role—a key driver for employee happiness.
Now isn’t the time to wait on offering these opportunities, either. Your focus should be on quick wins through the use of rapid eLearning, as well as refreshing or recycling any outdated eLearning content. Your learning content should account, first and foremost, for the needs of the new workforce. This includes multi-device, multi-language, and flexible learning content that provides a personalized learning experience.
Creating a culture of learning in your organization can be challenging. But, it’s worth it—the right eLearning program can foster an environment that encourages employees to take advantage of the resources available to them. You can start embracing this behavior by:
- Including a strong onboarding program within the first 90 days for new hires
- Setting up lunch-and-learns with rotating topics and ‘featured’ subject matter experts (SMEs) from around the business
- Offering employees time off during the day so they can attend online courses or webinars geared toward upskilling and reskilling
The team that learns together stays together
Employees who learn and grow with their company are more likely to stay. If your workers love the purpose of their work, they'll be more satisfied and stay with you longer. Of course, if they can’t find that purpose at your organization, they’ll seek it elsewhere. Giving people new opportunities to engage with learning can also help them identify other roles they’d be good at. Plus, employee happiness is the best tool in retaining and attracting top talent—even in the most uncertain times.
