The Joy Of Learning

Work sucks! According Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report most of us are not engaged with our work and it’s costing $7.8 trillion globally in lost productivity. That's equal to 11% of global GDP! Whilst they estimate the engagement figure globally to be 21%, here in the UK it’s only 9%, which puts us 33rd in Europe; well below countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (21%), the Middle East (15%) and even war-torn Ukraine (24%). Why?

Whilst I’m conscious that correlation doesn’t always mean causation, let me throw another bunch of stats at you. Research produced by the City & Guilds Group back in 2019, found that only 54% of employers here in the UK expected to increase their spend on skills development in the next 12 months. Compare that with 92% for India and 64% for the US (which ranked highest overall for engagement in the Gallup report at 34%). OECD data shows the UK spends half the average for other European companies on L&D, and research from the LSE shows that the proportion of employees who say they have had recent work-related training has fallen from 29% in 2002 to 24%. Could the follow-on affects of relatively low spend on training be linked to low employee engagement?

[Whilst it is beyond the scope of this article, various explanations have been suggested for why we undervalue training and learning in the UK; but I find it noteworthy that we have a chronically over-educated/under-employed workforce with many grads in jobs for which a university degree is unnecessary, so perhaps we suffer from 'learning fatigue'?]

I’ve written previously of the benefits of upskilling staff, and how key people skills are becoming increasingly in demand; but as well as the ‘pull factors’ – plugging a skills gap, mobility, promotion etc, there are also ‘push factors’ that determine the training that is required:

• statutory training – eg health & safety, IT security etc
• job-based training – eg continuous personal development, professional qualifications
• objective-based training – which aims to encourage cultural changes within the business in line with organisational values
• employee-led training – stimulated by curiosity of the individual and a desire for growth

As we look at the list above, traditionally the focus has always been on statutory training and job-based training since they have more definable, and perhaps more immediately apparent, outcomes (even if those outcomes benefit the business more than they do the trainee). If you train a sales team on better sales skills you would expect their productivity to go up.

But in this article I want to look at one benefit of training (or Learning & Development) that is often overlooked: employee engagement. By that I don’t just mean the increased motivation or comradery we get from a training session, or even increased productivity, but actual commitment to the employer. And you don't get that from spending an afternoon being taught what boots you need to wear in the warehouse; it comes from the objective-based and employee-led training that actually helps you become more fulfilled in what you do.

We can quantify the benefits of training using Donald Kirkpatrick’s four metrics:

• reaction to the training course itself – was the trainer engaging, was the coffee OK, were there enough doughnuts?
• knowledge gained
• behaviour or skills change
• results – ie increased productivity or efficiency

[this model has flaws, and members of his family have actually worked to enhance the model, but it’s a good enough starting point]

These benefits can be measured using learner feedback surveys in the short term and (hopefully) a subsequent increase in productivity, capability or effectiveness; but can we show that investment in L&D impact longer-term employee engagement and retention? Do people come away from a training course with a warm fuzzy glow feeling blessed that they work for a company that values them? Or is it all just Powerpoints, flip charts and Post It notes?

Data from LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning Report seems to show that it does. According to the report, 67% of employees are looking to move jobs this year, but 29% could be convinced to stay if they had the opportunity to develop their skills and 28% if they could progress their career. So it’s no surprise that the number of L&D jobs advertised on LinkedIn jumped 94% in late 2021. Employers are increasingly seeing the longer term benefits of L&D in terms of employee engagement and employer branding, beyond that of mere upskilling.

And to me, this is where the discussion starts to get interesting. We can measure employee engagement in real time with tools like our own Winningtemp, and so we can track the effects of training on reducing the risk of staff turnover and attrition (and to some extent presenteeism) before, during and after a training programme. More and more of the companies I work with – both training providers and corporations with L&D/training programmes, are finding upticks in their employee engagement as a direct correlate of their training initiatives (and yes, we benchmark against controls) - especially where those training programmes are followed up with coaching and mentoring schemes.

But learning shouldn’t just be something the company does, it should be something it is! Cultivating a culture of listening and learning among peers and managers creates a culture of continuous improvement – what I like to call ‘listening leaders’. That way employees see training as being not just part of their employer’s financial investment in them, but also part of their overall growth and wellbeing – the fourth ‘push factor’ mentioned above. It is no wonder that research by Deloitte found that:

"Organizations with a strong learning culture are 92% more likely to develop novel products and processes, 52% more productive, 56% more likely to be the first to market with their products and services, and 17% more profitable than their peers. Their engagement and retention rates are also 30–50% higher."

If workers are adopting a growth mindset, are listening to each other better and are actively seeking out opportunities to experiment and learn, the chances are they’ll not only be having better conversations with each other, they'll also be better at listening to customers. This is one reason why many companies I speak to are now investing more in their people post-COVID as a way to drive profit rather than the other way round. They see enhanced employee engagement as a driver for greater customer engagement rather than focusing on the customer all the time, who they’re coming to realise isn’t always king.

With employee attrition/engagement a priority for HR right now, L&D is seen as being more than just a way of keeping pace with demands for relevant skills (which the IOD has identified as being key to our post-COVID economic recovery), but also a way of showing workers that their employer is prepared to invest in their future. As such, some of my clients brag about their L&D programmes on their website, in their recruitment campaigns and even in their sales pitches - they see it as part of their EVP. But as the saying goes, “culture eats strategy for breakfast” and building a culture of continuous learning and growth will make employees more resilient and better able to thrive.

Whether engaged workers make engaged customers, or if it’s the other way round, the cost of a few flip charts and marker pens can go a long way to improving the bottom line - even if the coffee and doughnuts aren't that great.