Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of employees say they want to learn new skills or retrain, especially if it helps them remain employable or qualify for new positions.
Sixty-one percent also said they specifically look for career development opportunities when considering job offers.
By creating a culture of continuous learning at their companies, employers can attract more talented individuals and have an easier time retaining their existing staff.
The benefits of a continuous learning culture, as well as the advantages of incorporating software as a service or SaaS solutions into a company’s learning culture, are explained below.
Benefits of a continuous learning culture
A company culture committed to continuous learning offers benefits for everyone involved, from executives to interns. The following are some of the most significant advantages businesses can enjoy when they commit to employee development:
- Fill skills gaps more efficiently: It’s easier to upskill and reskill existing employees rather than hiring new ones or looking for contractors.
- Gain a competitive advantage: When employers focus on continually training employees and helping them develop new skills, the entire company gains an edge over others in its industry.
- Increased employee engagement and enthusiasm: Based on the statistics mentioned above, it’s clear that employees want to learn and grow within their careers. When employers prioritize a continuous learning culture, they will likely see improvements in their employees’ engagement and enthusiasm on the job.
Many companies also see increased productivity and overall performance when they invest in creating a continuous learning culture. The better-trained employees are, the easier it is to do their jobs, complete tasks on time, and get more done.
Challenges with creating a culture of continuous learning
A continuous learning culture sounds excellent to most employers. However, it’s more complicated than many people initially think to create this kind of culture and maintain it.
Here are a few challenges they might encounter when they start prioritizing ongoing employee learning:
Buy-in from executives and leaders
Sometimes, executives or others in leadership roles are hesitant about investing time and resources into employee development and continuous learning. This hesitation often comes from a need to understand the benefits of a continuous learning culture.
Manager and supervisor involvement
Those in leadership roles understand the benefits of continuous learning and are fine with their employees engaging in additional training. However, they might assume that they don’t need to participate themselves, either when it comes to training employees or completing their own training courses.
Employee adoption
The majority of employees say they want to participate in continuous learning and training opportunities. However, there might be a disparity between employees who are interested and those who actually participate in and complete the training available to them.
The lack of adoption may have to do with employees feeling that they don’t have time to complete additional tasks or not knowing where to find resources for continuing education.
How SaaS can help employers overcome these challenges
One of the best ways to overcome challenges is to utilize software as a service or SaaS solutions designed for employee training and development.
Many employee training software and learning management software solutions exist that allow employers to create training modules or choose from pre-made courses geared toward employee needs and interests.
The following are some specific ways that SaaS products can help employers overcome the challenges of creating a culture of continuous learning.
Easy access
SaaS solutions are excellent options for creating a culture of continuous learning and ensuring employees always have access to training resources.
With SaaS products, employees can learn at their own pace and refer to their learning materials anywhere — even on their tablets or phones.
Increased engagement
These solutions also tend to be more engaging than traditional lectures or webinars, which can be time-consuming and difficult for employees to attend or complete. SaaS solutions often cater to multiple learning styles with videos, interactive modules, written resources, quizzes, and more.
Reviews and case studies
Many SaaS companies — including those that sell employee training and learning resources — feature reviews, testimonials, and case studies on their website explaining the benefits of the products or how people have used them previously.
When it comes to the issue of executive buy-in or management involvement, these reviews and cast studies can be beneficial. Understanding how different SaaS products work and the benefits other companies have seen from using them may convince other employers to take the plunge and try them out.
Best practices for using SaaS for continuous learning
For employers that are thinking about using SaaS solutions for continuous learning, these best practices can help them implement products more effectively and see the best results from their efforts.
Choose the right SaaS products
The first step is to look for SaaS products that cater to employees’ specific interests, needs, and goals.
Many of the top SaaS startups and larger companies offer information on their websites explaining what kinds of businesses they typically work with and how their products can be used.
It’s also helpful to look at factors like pricing, ease of use, device compatibility, and user review.
Gain higher-up involvement first
Before making a final decision and introducing a SaaS solution, it helps to get buy-in from executives and other leaders. If they support the use of a particular product, it’ll be easier to incorporate it into the company culture and genuinely make continuous learning a company value.
Give employees time to learn and experiment
Make sure employees have ample time to experiment with the new learning tools and use them to develop new skills. If employees are so bogged down that they don’t have room for continuous learning, what’s the point?
Celebrate milestones
It’s also helpful for managers and other leaders to track and celebrate employee milestones.
When someone completes a module or finishes a program, they should be shouted out and rewarded for their efforts. Celebrating milestones also motivates other employees to follow suit.
