Over the years, e-learning has been on the rise across industries worldwide as it helps speed up employee training. Technological innovations, such as GUI (graphical user interface), LMS (learning management system), etc., have also played their part to ensure the results obtained from e-learning far outweigh those obtained from traditional classroom learning.
In this article, we will be looking at some of the essential benefits that e-learning brings to small businesses worldwide. Additionally, we will observe how it can help companies remain relevant in the mainstream market without compromising quality.
E-Learning Offers Flexibility and Easy Access to Training
In a typical workplace, little to no time is wasted during the working hours to ensure maximum productivity. So how can a company continue to train and update its staff on new and relevant skill sets needed for the business’s success in the mainstream market?
The old system of trying to gather employees in a traditional classroom setting to hold a training session is expensive, time-consuming, stressful, and often difficult to arrange. With e-learning, employees can have access to the same training session, but this time at their own convenience and pace. All they need is a personal computer or mobile phone and an internet connection.
With 5 billion smartphone users globally, it has become necessary for corporations to make training accessible to employees via mobile—a process that has also been made possible through e-learning.
It’s Easily Scalable and Cost-Effective
Imagine trying to hold an in-person training session for 300 employees of a particular branch in your organization only for that number to suddenly rise to about 600 due to new additions from another branch of the same company. Firstly, the cost of renting a physical space will go up due to the increased number of participants. Secondly, the additional materials and equipment needed for a successful training session will also be required. Finally, you may need to reschedule the original training session to accommodate everyone’s schedule.
With e-learning, the need to rent a larger physical space, provide more equipment, or change the date is eliminated. Do you want to have 500 additional participants? No problem. The same material sent to one person can be sent to hundreds of people.
Reduced Learning Time
One significant advantage of e-learning is that it utilizes charts, graphs, images, videos, and text to give information to trainees. What’s more, the majority of people learn better through visuals. This is further backed up by statistics that indicate that 65% of people are visual learners.
Furthermore, studies have shown that the brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text. Thus, people tend to retain 80% of what they see compared to 20% of what they read. E-learning does an excellent job incorporating visuals into the learning process through videos, charts, and other visual formats that help trainees retain information better and faster.
Increased Employee Retention Rates
Did you know that 94% of employees will continue working for a company that invests in their careers?
Employees in this day and age want to be appreciated. Businesses that fail to train their staff will continue to have poor employee engagement and an increased employee turnover rate.
E-learning can be used for onboarding by familiarizing new employees with their day to day activities at a reduced cost and increased efficiency. Helping new employees settle into their new role in a company as quickly as possible is an excellent retention strategy. According to research, the first three months after starting a new job is when it starts to be evident if new hires perform well or underperform. Employee onboarding through e-learning ensures that they are comfortable and productive from the get-go.
E-Learning Is Adaptable and More Efficient
With e-learning, the same training session and content delivered to one employee can be distributed to many other employees worldwide.
Additionally, e-learning courses can be updated easily if the need arises. Holding a training session in a typical classroom setting might take forever to organize, and may not yield positive results like e-learning.
Conclusion
E-learning has proven to be a game-changer for companies worldwide that organize training for their staff. It has also eliminated the limitations of traditional classroom settings and enabled more efficient delivery of training sessions.
Nikola Djordjevic is the Co-Founder and Project Manager at MedAlertHelp.org, a site dedicated to improving your knowledge about health, nutrition, fitness, aging, retirement, and much more. He is also passionate about IT technologies and their impact on our lives.
E-learning stock photo by Rido/Shutterstock
