Continuing education

If companies want to remain successful, they must provide their employees with meaningful learning opportunities. In-company training is the universal key to the doors of the future.

Ora et labora. Pray and work. Originating as a principle of the Benedictine monks in the late Middle Ages, this aphorism became a winged word that is still known today. However, the saying is used rather jokingly in the non-monastic context today. Times have changed radically: The monastic tradition has largely disappeared, industrialization and digitalization have turned the world upside down. In view of the current state of our economy and society, the dictum should now be: Disce et labora. Learn and work. A maxim that companies in particular must follow if they want to be successful today. In-company training is something like the universal key that opens the doors to the future. Or to put it less metaphorically: Continuing education offers valuable opportunities for both employees and companies. Before we get specific about these opportunities, let’s look at what exactly is meant by the term.

In-company continuing education” includes continuing education measures that take place in the context of a company and are initiated by the company. It is about building up or expanding the qualifications of employees. For this purpose, both technical and interdisciplinary knowledge is imparted. This further and additional qualification of employees is particularly important in times of progress and change. If companies want to stay on the economic ball, they have to invest in in-company training. The goals of in-company training:

• Employees should acquire new professional and personal skills that they can implement in their day-to-day work.
• Employees should stay up to date and work with the latest technology/science. Especially in areas such as healthcare, this is central to being able to offer the best performance at all times.
• Company training measures should support the transfer of knowledge within the company. Employees not only learn within the framework of the specific training program, but also from each other by transferring the acquired knowledge to the company.
• Continuing education programs are designed to strengthen employee loyalty to the company. In-company training is therefore also an employer branding measure.

So much for the general goals of corporate training. However, companies can expand this list as much as they like by tying their training measures to corporate goals and tailoring them specifically to those goals. To ensure that further training measures do not just remain good ideas on paper, but actually work, companies must establish a learning culture within the company. Learning must become a matter of course for employees – the keyword here is learner engagement. Only when continuing education is understood as something positive and not as a necessary evil can it develop its full potential. Speaking of potential …

Used correctly and done well, in-company training becomes a win-win situation for both sides. Both the learners themselves and the companies benefit. Continuing vocational training offers the following concrete opportunities:

• Strengthening resilience: Ongoing training measures make employees and companies better equipped to deal with change processes and crises. People who are used to constantly learning new things are more adaptable and open-minded.
• Increased productivity: Companies that invest in targeted training are more productive – by a whopping 16%. This was the conclusion of a study by the Chamber of Labor.
• Increasing quality: If employees are trained accurately, this has a positive effect on the quality of the products or services offered, which can be sold or explained better.
• Strengthening the learning image: If learning becomes a matter of course through continuous training, this increases acceptance for all potential learning measures and makes it easier to establish new learning opportunities.
• Increasing motivation and satisfaction: If companies align the learning offer with the needs of their learners, this increases motivation and satisfaction in the long term. Employees feel valued and taken seriously.
• Strengthening the employer brand: As mentioned above, targeted training is also an employer branding measure. If employees feel that their needs are being addressed, they will be more positive about their employer and will communicate this sentiment to the outside world.

In principle, in-company training can function quite analogously. Companies assign experienced employees or bring in external trainers to train the workforce at a specific time and place. This variant of in-house training eats up time and – not a little – money. We think so: It can be done better – with the help of e-learning. We would even go so far as to say: e-learning is made for corporate training. There are several reasons for this: Continuing education in the digital space is much more flexible. Employees can learn at any time and from any location, even via smartphone or tablet ( mobile learning ). In addition, motivational factors can be addressed in a more targeted manner. Challenges, time limits, rewards, and a compelling story make learners more engaged and focused with learning content. Through the use of interactive multimedia elements, the motivation is additionally increased. While learners often remain in a passive role during classroom training, they become active participants in e-learning-based training.

Would you like to know more about the topic or how you can establish continuing education in your company?