Reimagining learning post-pandemic

SINCE the world's first modern office buildings were invented in the 1700s, running a business is synonymous with a workforce centralised within a brick-and-mortar workplace. It has taken a global pandemic to disrupt this time-honoured arrangement, with a virtual workplace and a distributed workforce becoming the new normal for us.

Workplace skill sets are evolving too. Now, more than ever, competencies in digitalising business functions, remote working capabilities and workplace safety management are forming core skills that drive business competitiveness.

It is apparent that organisations will need to invest in learning and development to thrive in a post-Covid-19 world. However, the question remains: How do organisations effectively promote workplace learning, given a distributed workforce in a virtual workspace environment?

Going virtual

The immediate response, of course, lies in virtual learning. At the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL), we have actively kept track of how organisations are driving learning and development through the use of technology. We are especially interested in what the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are doing in Singapore, given that they employ about 65 per cent of our workforce and contribute to around half our country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The recent circuit-breaker posed many challenges to businesses, but some SMEs have done well to adapt. Local security company APRO, for instance, was running customised asynchronous virtual training for all its security personnel before the pandemic. When the pandemic hit, APRO pushed its training agenda further by launching synchronous virtual training sessions with the help of video conferencing tools.

We recently spoke to Li Xiaowen, APRO's deputy managing director, who said that the circuit-breaker provided the organisation with a timely opportunity to engage its employees via training. It was a sharp decision - APRO is emerging from the circuit breaker in a stronger position, having leveraged the time to equip its employees with more competitive skill sets in a fast-changing work landscape.

Automobile retailer Motor Image and moving company Shalom Movers are two other SME examples. Like APRO, Motor Image capitalised on the lull in business to upskill its people. Using a combination of video-conferencing tools, messaging applications and a learning management system, the company effectively migrated from in-person training to blended learning and development models during this period.

Shalom Movers even tapped external resources to advance employee training, building on its own in-house training initiatives.

In a conversation with IAL, Gideon Lam, the company's chief executive, said that, in addition to developing learning content for contactless training and launching staff development initiatives through chatbots and animated videos, the company enrolled its employees in online modules for business administration as well as for supply chain and logistics courses in other institutes.

Different learning channels support employees' development more holistically, and we are heartened to see SMEs stepping up to deliver value for employees amid the pandemic.

IAL is stepping up too as we upskill learning and development professionals in this new normal. We launched an e-learning series focused on equipping adult educators with competencies to design and deliver remote learning. Certificate courses have also been moved online, covering the end-to-end process from learning delivery to the assessment stage.

However, migrating content and learning delivery online is merely an immediate solution. The impact of the pandemic will be prolonged. It is therefore critical that companies strategise their virtual learning and development solutions for the long road ahead.

Strategising learning

In drawing up a long-term blueprint, there are some key actions that companies could take:

Two areas of concern in any long-term plan are digital skills and competencies, as well as cyber security. In the shift from a physical to virtual workspace, organisations need to support their employees as they embrace digital technology at work. Such competencies are wide-ranging, from on-boarding skills for virtual training and remote-working to skills for remote management and learning delivery.

Some companies are quick to come to this realisation during the circuit-breaker. Fast-food chains Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut recognised the imperative to invest in both technology and its employees' development.

Human resources head Irene Tay related the importance of helping employees embrace new digital skills in tandem with providing technological tools. To this end, the fast-food company launched virtual training to help employees adapt to remote working and manage their stress.

Remote working also entails a heightened risk of cyber crime, given that a distributed workforce operates through personal - and often less secure - networks and equipment. Companies must thus train their people in this area. APRO, for instance, observed a surge in phishing attacks during the pandemic and responded quickly with virtual training specific to cyber security for its employees.

Authentic learning in a virtual workplace

A fundamental challenge yet remains in achieving authentic learning: a significant portion of workplace learning actually takes place informally.

In a physical workplace, we exchange valuable knowledge and gain problem-solving experience through daily interactions. On-the-job training, usually informal, enables employees to learn and apply skills within the real-world context. Such learning is often facilitated by an effortless sense of community fostered within the office environment.

This type of informal learning cannot be easily codified into formal training programmes. Not only do we have to design solutions to capture informal learning virtually, we also need to create a sense of community for a distributed workforce.

Existing technology offers us some solutions: collaboration and facilitation tools enable teamwork, messaging apps facilitate employee interaction and informal exchange of expertise, and learning gamification through customised apps can help personnel train in simulated work environments.

As a next step, companies should look into establishing dedicated teams and systems to document the exchange of workplace knowledge during informal and virtual interactions.

Although the human need for physical interaction may still steer us back to the office building after this pandemic, it is clear that the new normal has overtaken traditional in-person training. In past years, IAL has been driving the development of learning innovation and technologies in adult education. We will continue stepping up to help enterprises implement innovative training models in an increasingly virtual workplace, triggered by Covid-19.

Now is the time to reimagine learning and development for the future. We can begin by creating engaging and meaningful work experiences for your employees in virtual work environments.