9 Essential Workforce Training Approaches for Companies to Consider in 2024

Organizations need to continually invest in workforce training and development to meet skills demands and keep up with evolving technologies. High-quality workforce training can also save organizations money in the long run. According to the Josh Bersin Company, hiring external candidates can cost companies six times more than building internal skills. Rather than recruiting new hires with the skills your company needs, you can invest in your current staff with training programs that keep your organization competitive.

Beyond the financial benefits, investing in training your employees demonstrates your trust, confidence, and commitment to your organization's future and your interest in business growth along with their people. It incentivizes people not only to stay in your company, but also to bring new perspectives, innovate, and keep inspiring others as part of the culture.

Ensuring your training investment is successful involves staying abreast of workforce learning trends. Employees want to improve their skills, earn industry certifications, and grow in their careers. They’re also pressed for time and juggling many competing priorities. Successful learning outcomes depend on your organization’s ability to offer a modern, flexible training experience that builds employee skills while meeting their needs. This blog post details  nine approaches to employee training and development that companies must consider to stay competitive in 2024.

1) Continuous Learning Culture

According to the LinkedIn 2023 Workforce Learning Report, “seeking better opportunities to learn and grow in their careers” is currently among the top five reasons for employees to leave their jobs. Interestingly, the report also notes that 93% of organizations are worried about employee retention. Companies need to adopt and embrace a continuous learning culture to address these concerns.

As technologies advance, job roles and functions will inevitably evolve, and learning is the best way for employees (and your organization) to be prepared. An emphasis on continuous learning prepares your workforce to potentially move into roles that don’t yet exist at your company. To support ongoing skills development, integrate learning opportunities into practical workflows can help employees get used to learning in new ways that support their development while preparing them for their future career tasks.

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2) Goal-Focused Personalized Learning Paths

While organizations must provide blanket compliance and regulatory courses for their employees, learning paths tailored to an individual’s career goals should be the new normal in professional development. Whether your employees want to climb the corporate ladder or specialize in their current roles, each person’s professional goals—and the skills they want to acquire or improve—are different.

In the coming years, organizations will increasingly integrate adaptive learning technologies to help individuals hone the workforce skills necessary to achieve their professional goals. These technologies are designed to suggest relevant courses and learning materials based on learners’ roles or previously completed courses.

The emphasis on workforce skills is also good for organizations. According to research from Deloitte, organizations that adopt skills-based approaches are 63% more likely to achieve positive outcomes and 98% more likely to retain high-performing employees compared to other businesses. Personalizing employee learning lets individuals gain the skills they want while positively impacting your business.

3) Microlearning

It’s a common misconception that microlearning is about taking a large chunk of information and condensing it into a shorter course. Instead, microlearning is an instructional design strategy meant to teach short, standalone concepts that employees can apply to their jobs right away. These kinds of courses are intended to teach meaningful, often actionable skills quickly—usually within 10 to 20 minutes.

Microlearning is already common in workplace learning, and the approach is widely integrated into existing training and credentialing programs. This bite-sized learning content can lead to acquiring more marketable skills or professional certifications for employees, preparing them for future workforce demands.

4) Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Employee Training

According to research from the World Economic Forum, 85% of companies plan to increase adoption of frontier technologies between now and 2028. Although artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t new, it’s a frontier technology because it has recently become accessible to most organizations. AI-driven tools allow companies to streamline training processes for instructors and employees. Learners can also get the specific skills training needed for further career growth with personalized course recommendations powered by AI. Additionally, companies and instructors will use AI tools to:

• Develop lesson plans and structures
• Generate prompts for written responses
• Write multiple-choice questions
• Evaluate assessments
• Provide employees with timely feedback
• Identify at-risk learners
• Suggest relevant learning content

AI-powered chatbots will likely increase in popularity among employees and instructors. These chatbots can provide instant support for learners seeking additional materials or specific content within a course. Similarly, chatbots help instructors solve common problems by quickly finding specific information or answering administrative questions.

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5) Social Learning

While employees want flexibility and personalization in their professional development, interaction and socialization are essential to deepen their learning. Face-to-face learning environments inherently encourage interaction among employees, but in-person professional development isn’t a feasible option for every organization (or every employee). Luckily, collaborative learning is still possible in hybrid and remote environments.

Interactive discussion boards and peer-to-peer activities simulate in-person environments, increasing employee exposure to social learning. Synchronous webinars and training also allow staff to interact with one another in real time. Integrating social assessments and activities in digital environments offers employees the opportunity to deepen their knowledge while maintaining some flexibility in their training. For example, employees can access discussion boards asynchronously at their convenience. This lets them interact with others in the training course without disrupting their workflows.

6) Accessibility and Inclusivity

It’s essential for organizations to offer inclusive training programs that consider employees’ varying needs. For example, face-to-face or synchronous online training sessions scheduled at 10 o’clock in the morning aren’t inclusive for employees who work afternoon or overnight hours. For these employees to attend, they’d have to make special arrangements to be at the training site or log on to a computer outside of their normal working hours. A more inclusive approach would be to offer training sessions during each regular shift so everyone has the same opportunity to attend without making special arrangements. Alternatively, asynchronous training courses also give employees the flexibility to participate in the learning at their convenience.

Organizations also need to make course content accessible to all learners. Posting an informational video or audio file allows learners to listen to the content while commuting or enjoying their lunch. It can also be a great option for employees with vision difficulties who might not benefit from written content. However, written versions of the content must still be made available for employees who are hard of hearing or struggle to absorb auditory information. Planning for each and every single situation might not be feasible, but your organization has a duty to make its training content accessible and inclusive for all employees.

7) Data-Driven Decision-Making

Learning analytics continues to help organizations make data-driven decisions about their training programs. Insights into employees’ progress and engagement levels help learning and development (L&D) teams optimize instructional strategies and enhance learner success. Employee data gathered from the corporate learning management system (LMS) can also be used to discover which skills courses are most popular among employees and where potential skills gaps exist.

Another key benefit of learning analytics is the ability to identify at-risk learners. Suppose the performance and engagement data indicates that some employees are struggling with a particular set of skills or aren’t engaging much with the course. In that case, instructors can intervene quickly and offer the support those learners need to find success. L&D teams can also use these metrics to assess the effectiveness of their course design and make adjustments when necessary.

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8) Human-Centered Design

Just as accessibility and inclusivity are essential, the user experience should be a priority in course design. Your employees’ work might be completed on multiple devices, and professional development training isn’t any different. Your workforce might start a course on a desktop computer in an office setting and finish the training module on their smartphone while they ride the bus home. A seamless transition between devices helps avoid learner frustration and minimizes learning distractions. Additionally, clunky course design can make it more difficult for trainers to assess progress, provide feedback, upload materials, and more.

L&D departments must include end-users in the course design process to understand how the learners and instructors interact with the content. Once instructional designers receive feedback about what does and doesn’t work for users, they can make improvements. This cycle of requesting and receiving feedback for course improvement should be continuous. This way, L&D teams can ensure that employee training experiences are the best they can be for everyone.

9) Remote and Hybrid Professional Development Models

2024 will see remote and hybrid training models continue to grow in prevalence and sophistication. Hybrid models combine traditional face-to-face instruction with online learning activities. With the hybrid model, employees benefit from the combination of synchronous, in-person meetings and asynchronous online activities. They get the flexibility of asynchronous learning that doesn’t interrupt their workflows while also benefiting from collaborative discussions and hands-on activities.

Organizations can also integrate synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences in fully remote environments. Video conferencing tools make it possible for instructors to host live discussions and interactive webinars. Learners can also work collaboratively with peers through live chats and video conferencing. Asynchronous content like videos and discussion boards can be viewed and completed independently at employees’ convenience.

Stay Ahead of Training Trends to Remain Competitive

As previously mentioned, employees who don’t feel like they’re able to learn and grow at an organization are likely to look for another job. Embracing professional development approaches like microlearning and human-centered design, as well as making content more inclusive and accessible, helps employees improve their skills and feel empowered to grow in their careers. Organizations that don’t keep up with their employees’ training needs and demands will risk losing talent. That said, adapting training programs to these needs helps companies retain top talent while improving the skills that already exist in their workforce.