Typical learning hurdles in the company - and how you can master them
The pandemic has contributed to a sustained eLearning boom. However, in order for newly introduced training programs to reach their full potential, various obstacles to learning often need to be overcome.
"Good afternoon. Would you accept the package for your neighbor?" Tomasz is from Poland, but this sentence comes across his lips in accent-free German. He is one of hundreds of new parcel delivery workers hired by Deutsche Post DHL during the pandemic. To provide the new, mostly foreign employees with language training, Deutsche Post DHL has introduced extensive digital German training - and it's not alone!
As the results of the current e-learning benchmarking study suggest, digital learning has been able to establish itself sustainably in the DACH region even after the Corona Boost. Thus, at 91.8%, almost all of the 448 companies surveyed stated that they already use e-learning offerings in company training and continuing education. 16% of the companies have only introduced them in the last two years. At 36.3%, the proportion of digital learning is well above the pre-Corona level.
But regardless of whether digital or analog learning opportunities are offered, various barriers to learning must first be overcome. By far the most important hurdle is a workload that is too heavy, leaving employees simply not enough time to learn (88.8%). If they actually want to use their learning time, 45.2% are held back by a lack of support from their superiors. Around 30% each also complain about inadequate internal communication, a lack of learning culture or appreciation of their efforts, or a lack of incentives. Only 17.9% fail due to technical hurdles and 16.8% due to an unsuitable teaching offer.
How to overcome these obstacles to learning? The authors of the study, as well as the majority of the companies surveyed, rely on defining learning time as working time across the board and enabling participants to engage in largely self-determined learning. Apart from this, however, other framework conditions must be optimized and a digital learning culture established among employees and their supervisors.
Deutsche Post DHL has cleverly solved many of these learning hurdles. For example, employees from various levels and areas were already involved in the development of a suitable training solution. The Germany-wide rollout was accompanied by a comprehensive communication campaign, such as animated explanatory videos, brochures, and a motivating video address by the head of department. The mobile German courses in the LinguaTV app also rely on small and easy-to-consume learning morsels (micro learning), so that even short time slots in everyday working life can be used well for language training.
Whether the training was a success at the end can often be determined from the learning data. Even though, according to the benchmarking study, just 22.2% of companies are currently making full use of this option. In the case of Deutsche Post DHL, 96% of the course participants surveyed in an anonymous online survey confirmed that they were very satisfied with the digital training offering. The analysis of the learning progress also shows a successful result: The employees regularly used the LinguaTV app several times a week to learn German. This brings the learners to above-average learning times in self-directed learning, comparable to several hours of school per week. The goal of offering the most effective microlearning possible - i.e., easily digestible learning morsels that can be optimally integrated into everyday professional and private life - was thus perfectly implemented:
Parcel delivery man Tomasz is very satisfied with the new mobile language training and would now like to continue with an advanced German course.
For further reading, we recommend our free Language Training at Deutsche Post DHL.
For more information and a free consultation on the topic of "Digital Language Training", please contact the education experts at LinguaTV.