A year of massive transformation for business, 2021 sees the world of work forever changed, because rapid digitalisation has forced a sea change in the way humans learn, work, connect and collaborate.

Research shows that human resources (HR) professionals play a pivotal role in accelerating digital transformation, and helping the industry to upskill, reskill and train people so businesses can recalibrate, recover and grow. “Ever since March 2020 we’ve been looking at what sets best performing businesses apart from the also-rans. The big revelation is that businesses that lean deeply into digitalisation and whose HR professionals play a key role in integrating digital fluency across departments have a competitive edge,” says Paul Hanly, Co-Founder of New Leaf Technologies.

“In 2020 businesses were forced into digitalisation by the COVID-19 pandemic, but HR professionals who embraced e-learning and used it to fuel agility, and enhance digital fluency, made a real difference to the businesses they served last year,” Hanly says. “Research shows HR leaders, talent managers and Learning and Development (L&D) professionals can ignite a future-fit culture that propels growth in businesses big and small with e-learning,” Hanly explains. “By empowering teams with integrated, strategic learning programs that were self-elective and smart, HR professionals drove growth and revenues for their companies.”

Hanly cites research from McKinsey that reveals that organisations that are designed to be fast, resilient, adaptable and digitally enabled reap exponential growth. “When HR practitioners embrace digital and e-learning, and make this a cross-company effort, the results are astounding,” Hanly says.

“The McKinsey research shows company-wide agility can boost financial performance by as much as 30%,” the co-founder of  New Leaf Technology says, adding: “Most agile organisations average some 20% higher revenues than digital laggards. HR professionals can literally turn this upside down by leaning into transformation, and using e-learning to help remote workers grow and develop, to become more confident in this new world,” he says.

How do digitally transformed organisations approach upskilling, reskilling and training their teams? By integrating e-learning to upskill, because of the huge data insights, reach and self-empowering benefits offered by technology. Importantly, e-learning gives employees the flexibility to learn at their pace, choose their own electives and enable democracy in learning which is a fundamental tenet of digitalisation.

“What we find is that when HR professionals digitalise and democratise learning it becomes owned by teams who actively start to take responsibility for their own learning and development in concert with the human resources department.

Research reveals that 77% of employees are ready to learn new skills or completely retrain and that 74% see professional education and training as a matter of their personal responsibility. In a South African survey, 40% of employees said their digital skills improved during the lockdown, but the data shows that access to training opportunities are uneven, and this is where e-learning can make a difference.

“The best success we’re seeing in companies is when skilling opportunities through digital platforms are integrated with remote work,” Hanly of New Leaf Technologies says, adding that in agile companies HR professionals use e-learning to help create interlinked and integrated training and working experiences.

New Leaf Technologies partners with clients to offer valuable solutions that lead to business success. Working side by side, clients have direct access to support, advice, and training to ensure a return on your investment. As L&D becomes a fundamental part of COVID-19 recovery, New Leaf offers some of the world’s top e-learning technologies, with global expertise to accelerate outcomes.

The learning platform aNewSpring, which reduces learning time by enabling participants to adapt their journeys, tailors to each individual’s needs to suit their style and pace. The eLearning solution, EvenSmarter™, enables access to a range of ready-made learning content from any device to suit the variety of accessibility needs of employees.

New Leaf Technologies advises HR professionals to lean into learning, because it offers these five business-boosting benefits:

1. E-learning provides the opportunity for employees to work at their own pace and in their comfort zone by integrating their education into their regular remote-working schedule.
2. Through e-learning, it is possible to upskill employees on a large scale using remote working tools. This cost-effective method of training allows individual customisation of learning experiences, and personalisation, depending on time constraints or responsibilities.
3. e-learning allows employees to study and keep working efficiently. Online upskilling enables professionals to create new schedules that work for their needs, and the needs of the company.
4. 42% of workers say they are more productive when working remotely. Setting up a personalised and comfortable office space provides comfort and a more natural environment for absorbing information.
5. Engaging with new digital technologies and online learning platforms on a daily basis grows general technology and web literacy and specialised knowledge of the software used to learn.

Ultimately, e-learning will no doubt become an integral component and complement to traditional in-person programs, even after the pandemic is over. An investment in e-learning is an investment in your people and the future.