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Stay up to date with the latest news, offers and market trends from Heyllo!
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Stay up to date with the latest news, offers and market trends from Heyllo!
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The Prime Minister has announced the delay in the final step of the Government’s coronavirus lockdown-easing roadmap by four weeks. The effect on our clients businesses could be significant, with some referring to a cliff edge of costs.
It is clearly a huge blow for many businesses, particularly those in the retail and hospitality sectors. With government support for business ending or beginning to taper off, you can definitely see why it’s being referred to as a cliff edge! It is now vital that this government support is pushed out commensurately with the lockdown extension. Such things as the need for businesses to start contributing 10% towards furlough costs from 1 July, all the return to work planning and business rates relief tapering off…..all need to be considered amongst the announcement! Although the announcement is not a surprise – it will still be disappointing for our clients in certain sectors, particularly for example, those in hospitality. We’ll be supporting our clients to use this extra time to continue supporting their staff and offering them flexible training opportunities. It is important that the sectors like hospitality can retain the talent required to meet the new timescales, considering all the efforts that have gone into recruitment strategies to date. Together, with our clients, we will help engage with all affected individuals to help them use the next 4 weeks wait positively If we can help you retain your staff across the next 4 weeks get in touch. In the news today was an article quoting a research finding that suggested a third of workers would leave their job if employers do not continue to provide for flexible working beyond the pandemic.
It seems it is becoming more and more apparent that employee sentiment is perfectly clear and employers could be taking risks by not adopting flexible working approaches. So is flexible working the way forward? It’s seems hard for us as employers to adopt either a blanket ‘back to the office’ or ‘only work at home’ stance based on these findings. We risk our employees feeling dissatisfied about the company, and in today’s competitive job market, the cost of this decision in recruitment and retention terms far outweighs the cost of a new flexible approach. It is therefore, really important that we carefully consider how to provide more flexible solutions as pandemic restrictions ease, and use this as an opportunity to change outdated ways of working. In real terms more flexible working in all its forms can help to attract and retain people with the right skills for the job and can lead to more diverse and inclusive workplaces, and it can also be good for wellbeing and productivity. It all sounds too good to be true, right? If you look at alternative research to provide a balanced perspective then you’ll also find information on working from home leading to an “ergonomic timebomb”, due to decreased levels of physical activity. Or that while productivity has improved among those working remotely, employees have been working three hours longer on average per week, leading to concerns of burnout. Therefore, flexible working is not a simple equation to solve, and emphasises that employers must review their whole approach to health and wellbeing as more chose to employ hybrid working policies. It is clear that wellbeing and productivity are two sides of the same coin, and in the same way organisations plan for market changes, if the last 12 months has taught us anything it is that the health of our people is the most valuable asset to help businesses recover and grow. Therefore, flexible approaches to achieving this should be a critical element of any employer’s plans as we re-emerge following a challenging year. What works for one employer, won’t work for another – but if ever a time to try and test new approaches has existed, then this is it! #flexibleworkinghours #flexitime #wellbeing #productivity #growth #policies There is no doubt that the pandemic has seen a rise in digital learning (and working) as employers and their staff have had to adapt to the way the crisis has changed the world of work.
In a recent article I read that was published by CIPD, it was reported that 70 per cent of businesses saw a surge in the use of digital or online programmes over the last year. The main reasons for this increase is readily associated with the restrictions the pandemic imposed, but a lot of the credit should be given to all the training organisations and learning professional that have stepped up and delivered, despite the obvious cuts in both budgets and resource. These efforts have never been more important for employers as they reskill and redeploy their workers and adapt to the changing environment. So what now? How will training in the future look like as we all start to emerge from the restrictions imposed across the last 15 months? Firstly, it is clear that even through a pandemic learning never stops! And the need for learning is greater than ever before, with businesses needing new skills and a fair amount of imagination to face new-world challenges. Only this week we’ve been speaking with a variety of employers who have reported an increased need for mental health training across their leadership teams due to the effects of the pandemic – that didn’t exist or wasn’t as prevalent pre-pandemic. Or a group of employers that require support to upskill their team leaders so they can manage their workforce more remotely using technology solutions – again as a consequence of the pandemic and new ways of working. We truly hope that the digital innovation that has been demonstrated over the past year remains, and it continues to allow individuals and organisations to adjust, shine and emerge successfully on the other side of a turbulent year! If we get this right we will see learning happening more frequently, flexibly and impactfully, whether individuals are at home, in the office or a bit of both. #digitial #online #learning #development #homelearning #l&d #newskills #adapting #reskill #redeploy The new skills and post-16 education Bill launched last week sets out the government’s priorities, including a skills “revolution” that promises to strengthen jobs.
Perhaps the time has come to realise you can't 'level up' by simply offering more training courses (although part of the solution). This has to be accompanied by clear signposting to high-quality careers support for young people that helps them make successful and sustainable progress into real jobs. The question that needs to be addressed should be 'Where are the highly visible places and spaces for careers and job support or advice for young people in England?’ For example, as a recruitment company we have dozens of apprenticeship vacancies that we struggle (like many) to pass onto young people due to this gap in the system. This is exacerbated by the fact that many FE providers or schools will only allow a recruitment company to share the Apprenticeship vacancies with their learners if they are delivering the training directly……this can’t be right? The need for more specialist (and potentially independent) careers advisers and coaches, as part of a system that puts young people's needs first, has never been more needed. If the government is willing to commit in skills investment, then it must recognise the need to complement this with a support system of careers guidance and recruitment services. Only by better connecting young people to jobs and careers will we make the lifetime skills guarantee and personalised guidance work for all. The new skills and post-16 education Bill can be found here https://lnkd.in/eYcufk7 #careers #careercoach #jobs #careersupport #work #learning #recruitment Social distancing has become the norm in many parts of the world, impacting the way that companies operate from day to day. Organisations are regularly being encouraged to devise new plans, which include addressing the need for social distancing, staggered work shifts, downsizing operations, and delivery services. Furthermore, it is being recommended that organisations minimising contact among workers, clients and customers by replacing face-to-face meetings with virtual communications and implementing teleworking where feasible. This has significantly impacted the training and development environment. As training and development professionals scrambled to adapt, we saw the need to address the way that we designed and delivered courses and the way that instructors interact with participants. Instructor-led training (ILT) has been the standard for so long that we saw a need to reskill in order to become proficient with remote meeting and training platforms. Of course, when preparing a virtual training session, a discerning trainer recognises the need to incorporate more interaction: More question-and-answer sessions, more engaging visual aids, more videos, more polls, and more breakout sessions are important ways to stay connected with participants. Effective trainers also keep in mind the need to provide regular breaks and avoid the distraction of being an “apologizer” every time the technology doesn’t cooperate. When instructors apologize up front for their unfamiliarity with the platform they’re using, learners may start watching for mistakes and could miss the substance of the presentation. When ILT isn’t possible, instructors may have to offer more sessions to accommodate the smaller class numbers required for social distancing. They may also have to change the way they position themselves in the classroom. Instructors can no longer approach students with close physical proximity, so they will need to work to be more engaging. Embracing New Technologies Training professionals have typically been at the forefront of embracing new technologies. In a post-COVID-19 workplace, it will be even more important for them to do so. The Training Process Framework organizes training functions and processes into four functional groups: administration, content, delivery and technology. It’s time to focus on technology:
Then, consider your content:
Virtual training should always be direct and to the point to engage learners and keep their attention. Could the next significant event in the evolution of the training industry be the post-pandemic era? The answer remains to be seen, but if so, the effect of this era would be the normalising of remote and virtual training and a renewed focus on the importance of technical aptitude for training professionals. The training and development field is evolving. Adaptation is necessary for our survival. |
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