Key Benefits of Online Learning for Employees and Businesses

One of the key elements of increasing employee engagement and satisfaction in the workplace is giving staff members the opportunity to grow and develop. People need to be continually learning, and see that they have the opportunity to move up the career ladder and try new things. As HR managers, it is important to encourage your workforce to learn new skills, keep up on the latest trends, develop leadership abilities, and more.

Happily, one of the great things to come out of the rise in technology over recent years is that online learning is easier than ever and can be very helpful for both workers and businesses. Read on for some reasons why you should be setting up online training programs or encouraging workers to enroll in online courses today.

Cost Savings

One of the key benefits of online learning, to be had for both employees and businesses, is cost savings. For individuals, it is now possible to complete degrees online rather than needing to be on campus. This means, for instance, that people wanting to progress through the company and become top leaders and managers can enroll in accredited online MBA programs that they complete while they’re still in their job. As a result, they don’t have to worry about lost income.

In addition, employees studying online don’t have to front the financial costs of moving away to attend university, or cover the various costs (such as travel expenses, campus fees, parking charges, accommodation costs, and the like) that come with being on campus.

For businesses, there are also cost savings involved in presenting training and other learning programs online. For instance, if you have teams situated in different locations, you don’t have to pay for trainers or guest speakers to travel to each location to deliver the information. Instead, the one online program can be utilized by all workers. This can add up to significant savings, particularly if you have employees located around the country or even the world.

As well, if you want to use the best teachers possible for the learning programs, you won’t have to pay for them to travel to your employees, and for the various flight, accommodation, meal, and other expenses that are a part of this. Instead, they can film their classes or speeches from their own location.

Flexibility, Convenience, and Time Savings

Another key plus about online learning is that it is so much more flexible and convenient than in-person study. For example, if employees want to learn new skills or build up their knowledge in a new area, they don’t have to take time out of their work to do so, or try to find sitters for their children while they leave the house at night to attend on-campus lectures.

Instead, with online learning, they can complete their classes at any time of the day or night from the comfort of their homes, whenever it fits around their schedule. If they only have 15 or 20 minutes available one night to study, they can just do that, rather than having to try and find at least a couple of hours to attend on-campus lectures.

For businesses, online learning is helpful for similar reasons. During a busy week, if training needs to get pushed back because workers are on deadline, it can be – there is no guest speaker or trainer waiting around to do a talk and then leave. As well, rather than needing to get a whole group of people together at the one time, which often isn’t convenient, employees can simply complete training whenever they have the time during their work day.

Online learning is also much more immediate, which is very convenient. Training can begin with just a few clicks of a button, so you don’t need to worry about wasting time on getting workers to another location to learn.

In addition, most online learning programs can be customized, which is incredibly handy for organizations. You’re not locked in to set training, but can instead tweak lessons according to different offices, workers, cultures, and other factors. Online lessons are more scalable than in-person ones, and can be kept up to date and relevant more easily too.

More Effective Learning

Lastly, online learning also tends to be much more effective for both students and organizations, and a better investment as a result. When studying online, people can learn at their own pace, rather than being rushed to keep up with tutors or classmates. If some information is missed or just not clear, it’s easy for students to simply replay videos or re-read details. This can be done as often as they need, and means that retention is typically much higher.

As well, when learning in-person, people can struggle to digest information thoroughly because of distractions around them or not being able to see or hear properly. Online though, these issues just aren’t a factor. People can put earphones in to study, learn when they’re feeling most energized and better able to concentrate, and stop to look up unfamiliar terms or other information as required without worry they’ll miss something.