SKILLS FOR THE NEW ENVIRONMENT
LEARNING: THE NEW PERK THAT OFFERS LASTING AND NEAR-UNIVERSAL VALUE
jobs, and so they go after training in something they think will net better long-term job security. The pandemic added a feature to the mix, however: An existen-
W
tial crisis. Workers who lost their jobs and those who risked their lives and worked double shifts alike started to ask themselves and their loved ones big, deep questions about what they were doing with their “one wild and precious life,” as the writer Mary Oliver put it (in “The Summer Day,” a famous poem that rightly makes the rounds of social media in troubled times). For many, the answer was to learn something new. Other elements tie into this tendency toward lifelong learning:
Millennials crave meaning, boomers crave reinvention, and gen- eration X craves novelty. There are more opportunities to learn in more accessible and creative ways than ever before. Fortunately, this ties in with the increased need to learn on the job: quickly, proactively, and often.
Learning as a perk Many of today’s workers, in fact, regard learning as a sought-after benefit. The Qualtrics 2020 Global Employee Experience Trends survey showed “opportunities for learning and development” came in at the second-most powerful driver of engagement. “My company provides me with the opportunity for learning
and development” was also the No. 1 driver of “intent to stay,” when the question was put another way by Qualtrics. “My man- ager helps me in my career development” was No. 3. Qualtrics also asked workers how well their community was do-
ing at each driver. Sixty percent said their company was doing well at learning and development opportunities—a gap that represents a chance for a competitive advantage for companies that invest in learning. Only half said their managers were good at helping them with career development—another good opening where applying resources could get a good return. In OnShift’s Employee Perspectives survey, senior living workers also mentioned training as something that “would make their job more satisfying.”
28 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE JULY/AUGUST 2021
hen the going gets tough, the tough go to school. It’s what happened during the Great Recession, and it’s been a hallmark of the pandemic crisis as well. The conventional wisdom has it that people’s lives are turned around through losing
Make the connections But as valuable as learning of all kinds can be, workplace learn- ing must be aligned with overall business transformation and ad- dress skills gaps to make a difference, says the McKinsey report, “Building Workforce Skills at Scale to Thrive During and After the COVID-19 Crisis.” Its most recent survey found that organizations that addressed
skills transformation in a “programmatic and large-scale way” yielded between 71 percent and 90 percent positive impact on four key outcomes. The benefits of learning to workers also should be made clear.
The Mercer Global Talent Report stated that “employees need to see that learning new skills leads to career opportunities, tangible rewards, recognition, or promotion, something leading companies are just starting to explore.” Few companies were explicitly connecting such rewards—12
percent, according to the Mercer report. “Companies that link career trajectories and/or compensation to the development of targeted future skills will democratize learning opportunities and create a culture that proactively incentivizes business transforma- tion,” it pointed out.
Scale and formats As with communication, learning appears to go better when a variety of channels, formats, and platforms are used. Success rates didn’t drop under the pandemic’s digital learning emphasis, this and other reports said. But the McKinsey report states that success rate is 50 percent for respondents who cited four or fewer formats offered—and 70 percent for those who offered eight or more. Summing up, to develop a learning plan that’s scalable and
future-facing requires a great communications plan: Employees need to know how learning connects to provider mission as well as to their individual career and life development. And multiple platforms and formats don’t dilute a learning program’s success— they can increase it. While an organization may get plenty of mileage from simply
leveraging workers’ existing desire to learn, putting these additional practices into place could make learning into a powerful tool for recruitment and retention—as well as strongly further provider goals toward better quality of life and care in communities.
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