As Post-Pandemic Training Goes Online, Both Learners & Employers are Losing in the Global Attention Crisis

How innovative companies are disrupting Learning & Development despite waning engagement & the distractions of work-from-home

According to the Pew Research Center, in 2015, Millennials became the largest generation in the U.S. labor force representing more than one-in-three American workers (about 53.5 million).

Additionally, in a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, they ranked "Opportunities for career progression" and "Excellent training & development programs" as the first and third MOST important factors respectively when choosing which company to work for.

And quite notably, when asked to pick their single most important work benefit, "Training & Development" was number one, ahead of more traditional items such as flexible working hours, cash bonuses and even healthcare.

The bottom line is that effective and engaging Learning & Development (L&D) is now THE single most important factor when attracting, retaining and growing your workforce.

But it's not enough just to offer any old training...

Gamification has entered the chat

According to Simplilearn.com, thanks to the pandemic, a full 86% of all L&D offered today is now completely online – either Zoom or on video. 

However, the problem with that is that studies have shown that the effectiveness of most online training is very low. (It's still mostly "talking head" style virtual classroom experiences that are demotivating, unappealing and dull.) 

In fact, according to a recent study by Harvard University, engagement and completion rates for online training & development is as low as 3.13%!

This means the vast majority of employees just aren't engaging with and completing the training material being offered to them by most companies. And it goes without saying that employees can’t learn, grow & develop if they don’t actually finish the training.

Today's new generation of learners are demanding a different kind of experience – one that's significantly more engaging – more like a game or social media than a traditional classroom. 

And when it's not provided?

They have no problem going elsewhere in search of better and more effective opportunities to grow & advance.

Unfortunately though, most organizations are still hanging onto old tools and approaches and haven't adapted to this new reality. (See: SCORM)

As a result, they regularly fail to see a return on the hefty investments they make into curriculum development, technology and employee time away from work, and worse – their staff turnover rate is high and they lose great people as fast as they find them.

• Susan P. joined a nationally-known accounting firm on the strength of her career advancement potential, and she dreamt of progressively working upward in the organization.
  
  However, the reality turned out to be different. She found the L&D content so boring that it was hard for her to stay engaged. She never completed the course and never received the benefit of the new skills: the advancement she desired, and ended up leaving the company.
• Aaliyah B. is head of Learning & Development for a top regional manufacturing company, but she couldn't get more than 5% of employees to finish the training content that she and her team worked so hard to source, develop and provide.
  
  As a result, employee satisfaction was low, new skills weren't being built fast enough and they were regularly losing great people.

If this situation is familiar to you, then the solution you're looking for is simply to learn from the companies that have already solved the problem.

Consumer technology, and app & game companies spend many millions of dollars & hundreds of thousands of man hours each year split-testing exactly how to create strong engagement through their user experience design.

They've found that there now exists a strong consumer preference and even an expectation of  a more gamified experience, including things like points, badges, leaderboards, celebrations & animations, sound effects, rewards, recognition, validation, community and social networking.

However, most companies don’t have the resources to apply that kind of thinking to their Learning & Development offerings to make sure employees remain engaged. 

What's more, many L&D curriculum and content designers view concepts such as points, badges and leaderboards as "afterthoughts", or "nice-to-have" features. Or worse, not necessary at all, mistakenly believing that the curriculum is the only important consideration.

But in today's world it turns out that these "afterthoughts" actually have more of an impact on who sees (and completes) the training content than any other factors, which is why new "best-of-breed" Learning & Development platforms (like Engagify) are hard at work developing tools to help you engage more online learners while supporting high participation, positive employee outcomes while guaranteeing skill & knowledge retention.

Which Outcome Do You Want for Your L&D Investment?

A Psychological Look Into Why Points Work For Engagement

Many people don’t have "intrinsic" motivation, which is the internal drive that pushes us to take action. So it's a challenge for them to engage with (and complete) training content. But (as silly as it sounds) when you add things like points and reward learners for taking action, they become a LOT more motivated.

As Murray Gray, founder of Engagify said, “The more points learners earn, the more 'ownership' they feel. And the more a learner feels ownership, the more likely they'll keep taking the action. It's a virtuous cycle that builds over time."

There's a hidden, flipside benefit too: the more perceived "ownership" learners feel, the less likely it is they'll abandon the course. Nobody wants to walk away from something they’ve earned or accumulated through hard work.

Points can come in all shapes and sizes too, from digital acknowledgements to credits to other courses, to even real-world goods and services, all of which fosters a higher level of engagement, building the effectiveness of your L&D content while appealing to a broader range of employee preferences.

"During a demo, when I hit the button to earn some experience points and it played one of the celebrations, I could not believe the expressions of joy I saw on their faces." – Richard Broome, MBA Educator.

Why Community Is Imperative

Most L&D is done alone, in isolation, which makes us feel alone and unmotivated.

Today's best platforms turn this experience on its head and allow learners to communicate, support and even compete with each other when appropriate, which all amplifies their engagement and the effectiveness of the training itself.

From message boards within a course that allow you to connect with your teachers, mentors, coaches and fellow students, to leaderboards that show where you are in the standings, and exactly what action you need to take to move up and improve your performance, to fun achievement badges & bling you're proud of that you can show to friends and teammates.

All of these innovative ideas drive empowerment, excitement & engagement among learners, as they upskill in the process and keep moving forward at work and in their career. 

Ready. Set. Learn.

Not only has the world of Learning & Development changed dramatically over the past few years, but so have the expectations of the learners themselves. And the organizations that don't understand and meet those needs will be left behind.

But there IS good news: new, best-of-breed companies are stepping in to solve the problem for you.

Companies such as Engagify have been built specifically with employee engagement and Learning & Development effectiveness in mind, and simply switching L&D platforms will do more for your employee engagement, productivity & happiness than anything else you can do.

A gamified learning environment can take your training content and humanize it with shared experiences, social learning, social belonging, inclusivity, community, and a little fun.

As this article shows, more and more learning leaders are turning to these immersive, interactive types of experiences through gamification, simulations, hybrid learning and virtual/augmented reality as the top ranked technologies. 

So - are you ready to level up your learning, unlock the motivation and engagement of your employees and benefit from higher learner satisfaction and improved learning outcomes?

Game on.