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Hello everyone, this is Tom Hallett from the Learn Grow Succeed Podcast.
In today’s podcast, I’m going to talking all about the benefits of virtual training. Over the last few years, we’ve seen an increase in companies opting for virtual and online training programmes over traditional classroom-style learning, and of course, virtual platforms have really come into their own in the last few months because of everything that’s been going on with COVID-19.
But, as I said, even before this, virtual training has become an increasingly popular choice for organisations everywhere. Why? There are many reasons that leaders are opting for this method of training now. And today I’m going to be sharing some of the main benefits of virtual training with you.
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So let’s start with something that’s relevant right now – and that’s the accessibility of virtual training for remote workers.
1. Virtual Training is Accessible for Remote Employees
At the beginning of the year, if I’d said to you that we’re living in a digital age, you would probably have agreed to some extent. But the way we’ve seen the world alter out of necessity in just a few short months has propelled the UK into a world that is submerged in digital technology – the country has been running almost 100% virtually for several months now.
And although things will get back to normal – we’ve got to think about the way this pandemic has changed the world. Employers and employees everywhere have reported remote working as an overwhelming success – some recent data I was looking at showed that three-quarters of employees who made the temporary switch to home working due to COVID would like to continue working from home.
With a significant proportion of the workforce highlighting how successful remote working is, employers must now think about what that means for the future of their teams, and their business as a whole.
Never before has it been so essential to provide training and learning platforms for employees who are not physically present in the business, for whatever reason. The barriers that sometimes come with setting up traditional classroom-type training such as practical difficulties, like travel, accommodation, moving employee’s timetables – all of that is no longer a problem with virtual training – it’s on-demand for as and when it’s needed.
And while virtual training is readily accessible to digital employees, this brings me onto my next point, which is – the flexibility of virtual training.
2. Virtual Training is Much More Flexible Than Traditional Training Programmes
The way we work is so different now – virtual training allows employees to learn at their own pace – wherever and whenever they want, and this has been proven time and again to be an effective way of delivering training.
So going forwards – are members of your team going to continue to work from home? If the answer is yes – then virtual training is going to be a part of your business to fit in with this new flexible working style.
Think about traditional training for a moment – it usually takes place over a full, or half-day, or sometimes even a couple of days. It’s big chunks of training delivered in sessions which can run to be hours long.
This type of training is not conducive with the way we work anymore.
Individuals are looking for training that can fit in around their schedule. As I mentioned earlier, more people are working from home and it’s not realistic to expect that all members of the same team will be available on a particular day at a specific time.
Virtual training is much less intrusive into our working days – but because of the way it can be delivered – in smaller modules, this means it can also be much more effective.
3. So, Point no.3 – Virtual Training is More Impactful
And no, this isn’t just a claim made by me – it’s a proven fact.
Let me share some data about virtual training vs classroom-learning – and remember – I’ll link all the data I’ve talked about here in the transcript of this podcast.
The Research Institute of America found that e-learning increases retention rates for new knowledge from anything between 25% – 60%.
Another peer-reviewed study found that online training resulted in superior knowledge acquisition when compared to instructor-led training.
And finally, another study found that a massive 86% of participants found online training to be more engaging than traditional classroom training – and everyone in the world of training knows that engagement is the key to delivering learning that sticks.
Virtual training is more impactful due to the way that it’s delivered in – shorter, more manageable sections – or modules, of learning, are easier to digest for the learner – the science speaks for itself.
Many organisations conduct training programmes and events and then wonder why they don’t see results as they’d hoped. If you continue to carry out the same training over and over again that just isn’t connecting with your employees – it might be time to switch to virtual training – which as you can see, is proven to be more effective.
And finally, sticking with some data, I’d like to talk about the cost-effectiveness of online training.
4. Virtual Training is More Cost-Effective – and Here’s Why
The majority of people who own, or work in a business, and I’m sure most everyone listening to this podcast will agree that time is one of the more precious, and yet elusive commodities that we struggle with during our working day.
I’m sure we can all relate to that feeling of the to-do list that keeps growing rather than shrinking, or getting to the end of another day and thinking ‘where has today gone?’.
Historically, a barrier to training for many organisation has always been the time it takes – to organise and set-up, and then, of course, taking employees away from their jobs to conduct the training. It’s not an easy task, even for smaller organisations.
So here’s that data I promised you! Virtual training requires 40%-60% less time than traditional classroom-style learning. Just think about that for a moment – the time you would spend on training employees can be halved when you go digital.
Time constraints can be a real problem for smaller businesses; they just can’t afford to pause for training so it can get forgotten about. But think about the cost implication for larger organisations – saving 50% of training time will have a significant impact on your overall training costs and reduce the time taken out of the business, which is more important now than ever, I’m sure you’ll agree.
So, there we have it – four reasons as to why the changes brought about by lockdown have meant that virtual training has come into its own recently as well as the evergreen benefits of this type of training which will continue to apply as we return to some semblance of normality.
For more information about our digital training programmes – head to our website, I’ll leave a link in the comments.
Until next time!
About Excel Communications
LEARN, GROW, SUCCEED
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