Corporate Training Trends: What to Expect in 2021

It is safe to say that the world of L&D is continuously changing. News trends and training methods are developed all the time. However, this year experts agree that the impact of Covid19 has sped up the rate of change and digital transformation significantly. Organizations in nearly every industry have had to make drastic changes to keep up with the current market. As 2021 quickly approaches many organizations are wondering what to expect next. In this article we will share with you some the top corporate training trends experts expect to see in 2021.

HR Playing a Huge Role in Business and Learning Strategy

One of the largest changes we can expect to see in 2021 is a shift in the role of L&D teams. We expect to see L&D professionals moving into a more strategic business role. With more training programs moving in a digital direction, it is now easier to track learner patterns and behaviors. Learning and development professionals can use this information to help business leaders develop learning solutions that are aligned with an organizations business goals.

Corporate training programs that are designed with business outcomes in mind tend to be more effective than one size fits all training courses. Modern L&D teams are in the perfect position to help their organizations determine which strategies and learning activities will be the most effective.

Increased Demand for Distance Economy Skills

One huge reality that management and training corporations are trying to help businesses with today is the dramatic shift towards an economy of employees who work from home. Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom recently shared with Stanford University News that work from home employees now account for more than two thirds of the current U.S. economic activity.

What is more interesting is that most organizations do not plan to return to their pre-Covid19 in office business models. Bloom conducted a survey and found that organizations plan to increase the number of days employees work from home in the future. The survey suggests that many organizations post Covid19 plans use a model where employees would work in office between 1-3 days a week (1).

The increase of employees who are now working from home has created a new set of challenges. One of the top challenges is helping employees learn the skills they need to work effectively in the distance economy. Some of the most common skills employees are needing to learn are advanced soft skills and more technical skills such as how to use new software or systems that have been put in place. You can also expect to see an increased need for data literacy skills.

Reskilling

The future of work is dynamic. Industries are constantly changing to keep up with current trends, events, and advances in tech. The skills needed for different jobs are also shifting rapidly. Research by Gartner suggests that the number of skills needed for a single job is annually increasing by 10%. They have also found that 1 in 3 of the skills needed will be obsolete in less than 5 years (2).

Unfortunately, this means that many employees are currently learning the wrong the skills. One of the most effective ways organizations can tackle this problem aside from working with L&D to determine what employees need to learn, is reskilling. Recent research has shown that dynamic approach of reskilling has been far more effective than other training approaches. In fact employees who go through reskilling apply 75% of the new skills they learn (2).

With the numerous change’s businesses have made in the last year and with more changes expected to come reskilling is likely to become a popular approach for employee training in 2021.

A Shift in Corporate Training Software

In recent years there has been a huge push for an increased focus on learning experiences. High quality experiences keep learners engaged, improve knowledge retention and boost training ROI. Engaging learners has become even more important this last year as many employees are now working remotely. This has led many organizations to look for new learning software to engage learners. You can expect to see many organizations begin to adopt learning experience platforms to enable recent training trends such as self-directed learning.

Final Note

This year digital learning solutions will become even more popular than before. The demand for high quality learning experiences will continue to grow. L&D professionals will become essential in developing business strategies that close skills gaps and drive growth. Learn more about what the learning landscape will begin to look like as the pandemic dust settles and watch the Webinar replay The L&D Vision for 2021.