HR Technology: Real-time data shows a massive shift to remote and mobile employee learning

There’s nothing like an unexpected crisis to force us to re-evaluate our lives. Sue Turk, Managing Director of Cornerstone OnDemand Australia and New Zealand, questions what’s important, how we want to invest our time each day and what future learning could look like.

From a personal perspective, this COVID-19 crisis has allowed me to appreciate the little things in life far more than in the past. Having time to walk in the park with my kids. Watching a movie together. Even the opportunity to be more directly involved in their education.

And, on the work front, we are seeing the emergence of a ‘new normal’. Now many of us have experienced working remotely (perhaps for the first time), how many will want to go back to being in the office five days a week? Of dealing with long commutes, rush hour traffic jams, and the challenges of balancing work life with raising a family?

While we are realising remote work can help us achieve a better work–life balance, it also requires us to possess a specific set of skills to be productive. Collaborating across virtual teams, managing time, dealing with stress, and building rapport are all examples of skills that need to be nurtured and developed over time. And that’s why continuous learning is so critical to surviving today, while thriving tomorrow.

Using learning data to drive decisions

Over 20 years in business, we’ve been collecting learning data from thousands of organisations, and many millions of people. From compliance training, remote working, wellness, professional skills, leadership development, and much more, we’ve been helping people grow and develop, so they can quickly adapt to a changing world.

This means we can see how trends have evolved over time using realtime data, pull vital insights and trends on how people learn, and how this has changed over time. We use these insights to both drive product development decisions, but also to share emerging trends that give rise to new work models.

How many will want to go back to being in the office five days a week?

Let’s look at the numbers from March 2020

In March 2020, our Cornerstone Learning clients saw an average 135 per cent increase in employee logins to the Cornerstone Learning Management System, compared with February 2020. In fact, in March alone, people engaged in a collective 27.5 million hours of learning, across both the corporate and academic sectors.

As you’d expect, we’ve seen a heavy increase in search activity toward mobile learning globally, as organisations adapt to new ways of working. Countries most affected initially by the COVID-19 pandemic saw a heavy increase in mobile and remote learning, including a 100 per cent increase in Spain, Germany and Netherlands, 500 per cent in South Korea, while Japan’s usage skyrocketed seventy-fold.

In March alone, people engaged in a collective 27.5 million hours of learning, across both the corporate and academic sectors.

The upward trend is significant, but not entirely unexpected. Learners want to set themselves up for success.

We need to acquire a large amount of new knowledge and skills to enable this to happen, from virtual communication, remote collaboration and leadership, to time management techniques and smart ways to stay healthy while working from our lounge rooms at home (which were among the most popular courses taken in March 2020).

We’ve also seen a dramatic increase in employees looking for help with digital productivity tools, working remotely and dealing with stress. For example, we’ve seen a 100 per cent increase in searches for ‘learning from home’, and a 70 per cent increase in searches for ‘stress relief’. What’s most interesting is that employees aren’t sitting around waiting for guidance, they’re driving their learning and taking charge of their ability to be successful in this new environment while taking care of their mental health.

There has never been a more critical time for employers to provide their people with the flexibility to learn anywhere, anytime, rather than onesize-fits-all lectures or multi-hour training courses in conference rooms. And the data from March 2020 proves this is the case. People are taking more time to learn and grow, customised to their preferences and schedule. Mobile logins increased threefold in one week at the end of March, and usage from the Cornerstone Learn app continues to grow significantly month over month in 2020, up 45 per cent in March over February.

So, what should happen next? Go back to the ‘old’ way of doing things, or embrace this new reality? Create a more agile workforce that can quickly adapt to future downturns and unexpected challenges. A renewed focus on learning is going to help all organisations – and people – thrive.

In her role as Managing Director of Cornerstone OnDemand Australia and New Zealand, Sue Turk helps organisations across Australia and New Zealand improve their ability to attract, manage and develop their employees.

With an obsession for customer success and employee engagement, Sue helps HR professionals navigate the skills economy and digital transformation, helping them realise competitive advantage through their people. Sue has more than 22 years’ corporate, HR and leadership experience. For more insights on the state of work and learning in the future, sourced from millions of workers across the Cornerstone Learning platform, visit: https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/ infographic-navigating-new-world-of-work