Picture this: you’ve worked 40 long and rewarding years at the same company. To celebrate this dedication, you’re gifted a beautiful gold watch at your retirement party before riding ininto the sunset to explore the world with nothing holding you back. Maybe your grandparents told you a similar story, or you saw something like this happen on TV. However, today’s fast-paced workplace has passed this tradition by.  

Never mind 40 years at the same company and a gold watch, these days, the average worker has 13 jobs throughout their career, lasting a little over four years apiece. This constant change makes finding purpose and building a fulfilling career in the modern workplace challenging, to say the least.  

In fact, 69% of employees would change roles for better job fulfillment, while a third would take a lower-paying job if it were more fulfilling. While providing a fulfilling workplace should be its own reward, from a purely business perspective, it’s also beneficial, as purpose-driven companies have 40% higher retention rates.   

The bottom line? Employees crave purpose and fulfillment. So, we’re here to help deliver that by digging into all the big questions you have on purpose and fulfillment. We’ll explore self-discovery exercises, goal-setting frameworks, and career-planning strategies that'll help you ignite passion, purpose, and fulfillment in the workplace.  

Finding purpose through self-discovery  

The journey to a fulfilling career starts with self-discovery. It may sound cliche, but you're unlikely to find purpose and fulfillment in your job without first looking inward. We recommend starting this process with a reflective question: do you work to live or live to work? Your answer will likely inform the rest of your journey.  

Depending on your goals and personality, this process could involve anything from self-reflection on whether you’re in a role and industry that suits your disposition to self-care or reading job boards and descriptions to find roles that align with your goals. For example, if you’re the quiet, shy type, you’re unlikely to find fulfillment working in a noisy call center.   

Whatever path you take, self-discovery involves delving into one’s values, interests, strengths, and passions. One popular technique is the “Ikigai” framework, which is rooted in Japanese philosophy and recommends a holistic approach to finding purpose and fulfillment. This technique encourages people to reflect on four key elements: 

By identifying the intersection of these aspects, known as one’s “Ikigai,” you can pursue a career path aligned with your deepest passions and values.   

Additionally, personality assessments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or the Big Five personality traits can offer insights into individual preferences and tendencies, guiding career decisions. While the scientific validity of such assessments is debatable, they remain popular as a general tool, particularly in the corporate world, where 89 Fortune 100 companies use them for hiring, team building, and talent management. These assessments can help people understand how they fit in, interact with others, and approach various aspects of their lives. By leveraging this self-awareness, people can make informed, purposeful decisions about their career paths.   

To learn more, check out this excellent Blinkist summary of the book Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Types. 

Once you’ve reflected on your values and aspirations, the next step is to set meaningful career goals. The PACT goal-setting framework — purposeful, actionable, continuous, and trackable — provides a structured starting point for goal setting. By following this approach, individuals can set meaningful objectives aligned with their purpose, maintain momentum through continuous improvement, and effectively monitor progress to stay on course. 

Accordingly, it's no surprise that there's a wealth of benefits to goal-setting. Employees who regularly set goals are:   

3.6x more likely to be committed to their organization  

6.7x more likely to feel proud of their organization  

6.5x more likely to recommend their organization as a great place to work  

6.5x more likely to say their workplace lets them master necessary skills  

7.7x more likely to say their employer gives them opportunities to develop their skills  

Goal-setting benefits employees and the business but can be deceptively difficult. Just 6% of companies set aligned goals and regularly revisit them, while fewer than 20% accurately track their goals.   

To avoid these pitfalls, remember these goal-setting tips. First, write your goals down! It sounds so simple, but estimates suggest just 16% of people write down their goals every time, even though writing down your goals makes you 42% more likely to succeed!   

Further, setting goals isn’t a one-time event; it’s an ongoing process of refinement and adjustment. As you grow and evolve in your career, your priorities may shift, and new opportunities may arise. Therefore, it’s essential to regularly revisit and reassess your goals to ensure they're still relevant and aligned with your career path. We recommend reviewing your personal career goals every six months. Your role-specific goals quarterly, and, if you’re overseeing a team, review your organizationally driven goals each month to refresh and reset. 

Involving others in the goal-setting process can also provide support and accountability, as people who set time-bound goals and report progress to their peers increase their chance of success by 40%. Whether you’re seeking feedback from mentors or collaborating with colleagues on shared objectives, leveraging others’ expertise can make your goals more effective. Together with an accountability partner, you can brainstorm creative solutions, overcome obstacles, and celebrate successes, fostering a feeling of collective achievement.  

With clear goals established, you should have a great start to developing a career plan. From there, crafting a career plan involves mapping out your goals by identifying specific actions, resources, and timelines needed. This process could require you to gain new skills through education or training, seek mentorship or networking opportunities, or pursue relevant experiences or projects.  

A recent survey by IBM confirms the importance of career planning, finding that employees ranked career advancement opportunities (43%) — like career planning — higher than compensation and benefits (41%). That’s right, employees ranked career advancement above pay — that’s how important it is. 

Try to remain flexible and adaptable as career paths often evolve. Combining self-reflection, strategic thinking, and proactive action can create a career plan that paves the way for a fulfilling, successful professional journey.   

The exact process for crafting a career plan will vary from person to person and industry to industry. However, our best advice to help you get started is to discuss this with your manager during your next performance review or 1:1 meeting. You could even send them this article to get the ball rolling. From there, your manager can help you craft a tailored, fulfilling career plan specific to your needs.  

For more information, check out our article on building strong career pathways.   

 Like any new endeavor, you're bound to encounter various challenges and obstacles along your career journey. Maybe you were overlooked for a big promotion, or you're trying to balance your work life with starting a family. While these challenges may be out of your control or inevitable, what matters most is how you react to a setback. You can either let the challenge take control or use it as an opportunity for growth. The decision is yours.  

While it's not always easy, we recommend approaching these obstacles with resilience and a growth mindset, utilizing them as opportunities to learn and develop. Seeking support from mentors, coaches, or that accountability partner we recommended can provide perspective and guidance during challenging times. By embracing challenges and overcoming obstacles, you can emerge stronger, ready to tackle new opportunities and achieve a fulfilling career.   

Ultimately, building a fulfilling career in the modern workplace isn't challenge-free — it requires effort, self-reflection, planning, and lots of resilience. However, the rewards — peace, purpose, and prosperity — are worth the perseverance. You'll unlock your full potential and find professional fulfillment by engaging in self-discovery, setting meaningful goals, crafting a career plan, and navigating challenges.   

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We’ll explore self-discovery exercises, goal-setting frameworks, and career-planning strategies that will help you ignite passion, purpose, and fulfillment in the workplace.

Finding purpose and building a fulfilling career in the modern workplace

We’ll explore self-discovery exercises, goal-setting frameworks, and career-planning strategies that will help you ignite passion, purpose, and fulfillment in the workplace.  

Finding purpose and building a fulfilling career in the modern workplace 

Building a learning culture at your organization is vital to ensure your employees deliver quality work on time and within budget. With a learning culture, employees can also apply their creativity and innovation to help keep up with competitors in an ever-evolving business landscape.

However, creating a culture of learning can be challenging, particularly if employees are disengaged, as 85% currently are, globally. Disengaged employees typically lack the motivation and drive to proactively learn, meaning they’re less likely to make the most of L&D programs and retain information.

So, how exactly do you engage employees and build a learning culture? We’ll analyze the importance of building a culture of learning via your employee engagement strategy, including actionable tips to engage employees.  

For a deeper dive, check out our whitepaper, Employee engagement strategies to build successful L&D programs. 

Defining employee engagement and culture of learning

Employee engagement and a culture of learning feed into one another, contributing massively to the overall success of your business. Without one, the other cannot thrive.

Employee engagement simply means how invested employees are in both their roles and the success of the business. Engaged employees want their team to succeed and understand that their work makes a difference, which encourages them to develop and upskill. They’re more likely to be productive, efficient, and innovative, and less likely to seek employment elsewhere.

A culture of learning develops when employees proactively look for opportunities to learn and develop their skills and knowledge. Naturally, the more employees learn, the more likely they are to perform in their roles. A learning culture also encourages collaboration, teamwork, and communication, thereby enhancing your organizational culture and increasing employee engagement.

The importance of employee engagement in a learning culture

Employee engagement and a learning culture go hand in hand. It’s almost impossible to have one without the other. If employees aren’t engaged, you cannot foster a learning culture because disengaged employees don’t have a learning mindset. On the other hand, becoming engaged encourages employees to adopt a learning mindset, which helps them proactively seek development opportunities.

When employees are engaged, it can improve the following areas, which all help foster a strong learning culture:

Further, employee development and upskilling allow your organization to promote from within more often, which increases retention and prevents lengthy and expensive recruitment processes. Engaged employees can also do wonders for customer retention.

For more information, check out our blog on why employee engagement is important for improving customer retention.

The consequences of a poor learning culture

Just like plenty of positives come from having a strong learning culture, many negatives come from a poor learning culture. In fact, a poor employee engagement culture can actively harm your business. For example, a report from Breathe HR found that poor workplace culture costs the economy £20.2 billion a year.

As well as the financial impacts, lack of engagement may also impact your business in the following ways:

Reduced adaptability or even resistance to change

How to improve engagement and create a culture of learning

Your business doesn’t need to reinvent itself to boost company culture and employee engagement. There are plenty of ways to improve engagement that your business can quickly and affordably implement.

Your leadership team plays a crucial role. Without leading by example, how can they expect their employees to engage? Leaders should demonstrate how individuals can make a difference and ensure open, honest, and regular communication. 

Additionally, leaders must be prepared to invest. This includes offering access to learning technology and tools (such as a learning management system to streamline the process) as well as providing learning resources and ensuring employees have enough time to learn. Further, encouraging continuous professional development will emphasize that learning doesn’t need to be assigned. Rather, it can be autonomous and self-directed.

Rewards and recognition are another way to improve engagement. This doesn’t always mean monetary rewards, either. Shout-outs and gamification are great ways to engage employees in learning without significant investment. Similarly, collaborative learning not only improves engagement but also boosts teamwork and communication.

Offering employees the tools, resources, and time they need to improve engagement is one thing, but it’s also important to measure engagement so you know your strategy is effective. To measure employee engagement and identify what’s working and what’s not, explore the following tips:

Learning analytics and data, which is easy to pull and comprehensive if your organization uses an LMS

Surveys and questionnaires, which can be anonymized to encourage honesty

1:1s and reviews, to encourage direct feedback on individual experiences

The overall performance of the business since implementing changes

To learn more, read our blog on how to measure employee engagement. 

Inspired to boost engagement? Download our whitepaper, Employee engagement strategies to build successful L&D programs, to get started! Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs. 

We’ll analyze the importance of building a culture of learning via your employee engagement strategy, including actionable tips to engage employees.

The role of employee engagement in a culture of learning

We’ll analyze the importance of building a culture of learning via your employee engagement strategy, including actionable tips to engage employees. 

Engaged employees are the foundation of any successful organization. Without engaged employees, it’s impossible to thrive as a business. Yet, in recent years, several concerning employee engagement trends have emerged. For example, Gallup’s 2023 State Of The Global Workplace report found that “85% of employees are not actively engaged or are actively disengaged at work,” resulting in $7 trillion in lost productivity. That’s right, $7 trillion. With a T. 

To break this down further, Gallup found that:

18% of employees are actively disengaged at work 

Just 15% of employees are actively engaged at work

At Go1, we believe engaged employees are essential, so we want to redress this worrying trend. 

That’s why we’ve created our new eBook, Employee engagement strategies to build successful L&D programs, packed with tips, tricks, and insights to help managers boost employee engagement. But that’s not all, to accompany the eBook, we’re also launching a new blog series covering the ins and outs of employee engagement. 

In this first blog, we’ll focus on measuring employee engagement. We'll start by analyzing the state of employee engagement, before outlining three essential strategies to measure employee engagement. 

Then, in the coming weeks, we’ll expand on this with blogs on improving employee engagement in remote workplaces, the role of employee engagement in creating a culture of learning, and setting employee engagement goals that lead to business growth. Be sure to check back in regularly so you don’t miss these blogs and more! 

Ready to enhance your engagement? Start here. 

Before we examine strategies to measure employee engagement, it’s important to set the scene by outlining the state of workplace engagement. Unfortunately, as mentioned, the current state of employee engagement is not encouraging. Just 15% of employees are actively engaged at work.

Among disengaged employees, 59% say they regularly feel stressed at work. What’s more, SHRM finds that just 29% of employees are satisfied with the career advancement opportunities their company offers, leading to lower engagement. 

Largely, poor employee engagement falls on managers. 75% of disengaged employees blame their managers or broader company leadership. To make matters worse, 25% of employees say they don’t trust their employer. It’s difficult to engage with someone you distrust. 

Perhaps more concerningly, only 22% of companies say they know what drives their employee disengagement. This is bad news, as it’s impossible to rectify employee disengagement if you can’t identify the root causes. 

Moreover, 90% of leaders think having an employee engagement strategy improves business success. Yet, only 25% have one. Likewise, 87% of HR managers agree that improving employee engagement is one of their most important training goals. Despite this, 36% say increasing employee engagement in learning is also one of their biggest challenges. These stats tell a troubling story: there is a significant disconnect between what businesses want and what employees experience. While most teams want to increase engagement, it seems few know how. 

The current state of employee engagement leaves a lot to be desired — to say the least. Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom. When teams put in the effort to actively engage employees, the results can be astonishing. 

For example, Gallup found that teams that rank in the top quartile for employee engagement experienced the following benefits: 

These figures speak for themselves — the benefits of employee engagement are something every business leader should strive to emulate.

So, what can teams do to improve engagement and reap these benefits? For starters, 92% of employees believe well-planned employee training programs positively impact their engagement, while 80% say learning and development opportunities would help them feel more engaged at work. 

Further, 37% of employees say ‘more recognition’ would be the most important thing a manager or a company could do to improve employee engagement, making this the most popular response in a recent survey. To build on this, research shows that 84% of highly engaged employees were recognized the last time they went above and beyond at work, compared to just 25% of actively disengaged employees. In other words, a little bit of recognition goes a long way. 

To learn more, download our eBook, Employee engagement strategies to build successful L&D programs. 

3 essential strategies to measure employee engagement

As demonstrated, the benefits of employee engagement are significant. So, to help you boost engagement and reap these rewards, let's analyze three ways to measure employee engagement.

Surveys are arguably the most common and popular tool for measuring employee engagement. Most employees will have taken a pulse survey throughout their careers. When used correctly, employee engagement surveys are incredibly valuable. Yet, surveys are often misused and misunderstood as a tool for measuring employee engagement.

For example, 58% of employees wish their company conducted employee engagement surveys more frequently. Despite this, only 21% of companies conduct engagement surveys three or more times a year. Worse still, 36% of employees say they either don’t have a feedback program at their company or aren’t aware of one.

Here, a significant disconnect between employees and managers emerges. 48% of senior managers say engagement surveys are highly valuable, whereas 45% of employees say surveys have little or no value. Similarly, 52% of senior managers feel engagement surveys provide a very accurate assessment, whereas 48% of employees believe the surveys do not provide an accurate assessment. 

Why is this disconnect so apparent? Because many employees believe engagement surveys don’t lead to any actionable change. Just 20% of employees believe their manager would act on the results of an engagement survey. Unfortunately, they’re not wrong, as 27% of managers admit they never review survey results, while 52% say they have reviewed survey results but taken no action.

As a result of this disconnect, just 25% of employees feel like the feedback they receive from their managers is frequent enough to help them improve and reach their goals.

So, what can companies do to enjoy the benefits of employee engagement surveys? According to The State of Employee Feedback Survey, the number one thing (68.4%) employees need to feel heard is for their company to take feedback seriously and implement meaningful change. Yes, it really can be that simple! 

To learn more, check out our article on why listening to employees is essential in the modern workforce. 

2. Use technology to measure engagement 

The world of work is continually evolving, with technology gaining primacy in more and more aspects of workplace life. Measuring engagement is no exception. 

Many powerful tools help businesses measure employee engagement. As Culture Monkey explains, “by leveraging technology and utilizing data analysis techniques, organizations can accurately measure employee engagement and make the necessary changes to their workplace culture to maximize employee satisfaction and productivity.”

Similarly, eLearning Industry puts it in no uncertain terms, stating, “for organizations looking to improve employee engagement and organizational performance, leveraging technology is a must.” 

However, many companies fail to harness the full power of technology for measuring employee engagement. A recent analysis by Gartner found that just 16% of employers use technologies to monitor their employees' engagement levels. Likewise, 64% of HR leaders say an always-on feedback tool is essential for an engagement program, but only 20% have this kind of tool in place. 

On the other hand, when teams do harness technology as part of their engagement program, the results can be monumental. For instance, TriHealth, an award-winning American healthcare company, implemented an engagement tool featuring a powerful audience manager and AI-powered content delivery, which led to a 164% increase in engagement in a year. 

Ultimately, these statistics present an opportunity for teams that are looking to gain a competitive advantage. Technology can be a powerful ally to boost employee engagement, yet few teams currently utilize engagement tools to their full potential. As such, using technology to measure employee engagement can not only boost engagement but also give you a leg up on your competitors. 

To learn more, read our article on how technology has changed the way we learn. 

As mentioned, to boost engagement, employees want to feel heard. Additionally, they also want more recognition and want their feedback to be taken seriously. Stay meetings and 1:1 meetings tick all three of these boxes. 

While you’re probably familiar with 1:1 meetings, stay meetings are less common. As BuiltIn explains, “a stay interview is a conversation with a high-performing employee with the goal of discovering what they like about their role, and what they would like to change. Stay interviews are an opportunity to both uncover what motivates that employee and to also build trust with them as a manager.” 

Currently, just 28% of organizations say they currently use stay interviews. Although, organizations that don’t use stay interviews may be missing out, as research shows stay interviews can reduce turnover by at least 20%.

Moreover, a massive 70% of employees wish they could spend more time with their managers to create a stronger connection with them and the organization. Whether this is achieved via stay interviews, regular 1:1 meetings, or something else entirely, this is a statistic businesses cannot afford to ignore if they want to boost employee engagement. 

Additionally, a survey on workplace rewards and recognition found that 43% of employees want to receive recognition privately in a 1:1 meeting with their manager. If you’re a manager, keep this in mind the next time you walk into a 1:1 or stay meeting with an employee.

Again, the message is clear: to accurately measure employee engagement, managers should spend more one-on-one time with employees, dedicating time to listening to their suggestions, recognizing their contributions, and ensuring employees feel heard. In turn, this will lead to more open, honest, and productive conversations about engagement. 

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

At Go1, we believe engaged employees are essential. So, we'll analyze the state of employee engagement, before outlining three essential strategies to measure engagement.

How to measure employee engagement

As a global leader in licensed sports merchandise, Fanatics aims to be number one – not just for their customers but also for their employees. However, Dawn Stopha, Director of Global Programs, was faced with numerous requests for employee development opportunities. She knew that to be number one, her team had to make some changes to Fanatics’ learning and development offering. Enter, Go1.  

Fanatics’ workforce is comprised of 10,000 employees across the globe, from salaried corporate workers to hourly distribution center workers. With such a vast and varied employee base, the company needed to find diverse learning content that could meet a plethora of unique needs. 

Providing employees with learning content wasn’t a new endeavor for Fanatics, but they knew their content offerings needed significant improvement. Before they started their vendor search, Fanatics primarily used off-the-shelf content and push training. “We would develop things quickly using PowerPoint and just push out content, not really getting to know who our audience was,” Dawn reflected. “Nothing was translated; nothing was done from a high-level safety or compliance standpoint.” 

To ensure they got exactly what they needed from their new content provider, Dawn and her team created a checklist of priorities they used to evaluate different vendors. While the list featured many diverse needs, their main priorities were top-notch compliance training, learning content in a variety of languages, and an easy-to-use content library. 

Thirteen vendor interviews later, Dawn and her team had settled on their top two contenders. When they presented these options to the entire learning and development team, Go1 stood out as the crowd favorite. Next, they presented their options to the chief people officer – and her response solidified their decision. “When we reviewed it with her, we [presented] Go1 first,” Dawn recounted. “She pretty much said, ‘I don't need to see anything else.’” 

So, why did Dawn’s team ultimately decide to partner with Go1? Dawn says many distinct factors made Go1 the obvious choice. 

First, it was important to Dawn that her team would be able to establish a strong relationship with whichever vendor they selected. “You can enter into a contract with any vendor, and if the relationship with them is not there, then it just doesn't work,” Dawn said. “You're in it for the long haul over the life of the contract, and you really need to have great relationships with everyone that you're going to be talking to.” 

Dawn was pleased to find that Go1 exceeded her expectations for the relationship between the two companies. “There's not been any situation where Go1 has not helped us find something,” she said. “It has been the easiest vendor relationship that we've had." 

Go1 also fulfilled Fanatics’ need for high-quality compliance content. When choosing compliance training, Dawn had to consider many different state laws and regulations. “I think about states like California, New York, Connecticut, Illinois, where their laws for employees are so strict. We needed to be able to say, let's take this training, we're going to review it, and then we're going to be able to provide it to our employees so that they're covered,” Dawn said. “We found a couple different [Go1] courses. Anytime we went back to our legal team, all of them were top-notch.” 

In recent years, Fanatics has undergone a generational change and, consequently, a shift in their company culture. Fanatics employees currently span six generations, with 82% of the workforce made up of millennials and Gen Z. Dawn loves that Go1’s wide range of content means there’s something for all learning styles, including the younger generations. 

“What we had to do was really shift to meet the changing culture of the employees that were coming into Fanatics,” Dawn said. “The Go1 content is everything from podcasts to short, quick microbursts of learning, to now, they're moving into virtual reality. It really, really entertains the generations that we have now in our culture.” 

What’s more, Go1’s content has allowed Fanatics to provide learning in various languages, catering to the company's global workforce. “Two months ago, we had gotten a call from someone in our Japanese office that said that they were looking for content,” Dawn said. “So, we worked with our contact at Go1, and we were able to provide them with 435 courses in Japanese. That was like a slam dunk home run because we've never provided learning to the countries that we support.” 

In addition to self-serve learning, Fanatics has incorporated Go1 content into other areas, like new hire training. Their new hire orientation supports employees through their first 90 days at the company, providing them with learning content on topics like business etiquette and business writing. 

Go1 has also enabled Fanatics to launch its first leadership development program. “We have 38 global leaders that are going through this program. All of the content is from Go1,” Dawn said. “We started the pilot two weeks ago and we've gotten rave reviews. The impact that this is having and will have down the line is going to be exponential.” 

Dawn and her team have seen incredible outcomes since partnering with Go1. Over the past year, employee engagement has risen significantly. “We increased employee engagement by 7%,” Dawn said. “And we can attribute it to the Go1 content because of the fact that we could see it in the comments. There were probably close to 9,000 comments that said, ‘Thank you,’ ‘You heard us,’ or ‘Our career growth and development has increased and here's why.” 

Dawn says the biggest impact Go1 has had on Fanatics is providing their workforce with diverse content. “What I would tell someone considering using Go1 is that I've been so pleasantly surprised with not only the foundation course topic information that's available but also the diversity,” she said. “The content is engaging. It's not boring. It's content that will keep you energized.” 

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs. 

Find out how Go1’s diverse content library has helped Go1 customer Fanatics meet their goals.

Customer story: A slam dunk for Fanatics learners

Brenda Lazarus, Manager of Learning and Development at Daylight Transport, is passionate about making learning accessible for everyone. “I really care about bringing education to the people,” she said.

And in today’s world of work, where virtual and hybrid employees are more common than ever, making learning accessible means making learning virtual.

In partnership with Go1, Brenda successfully implemented a remote learning program for all Team Members across Daylight Transport. Read on for her advice on how you can facilitate remote learning, too.

To get started, you must ensure your remote learning solution is flexible enough to support employees across various times and locations. 

Daylight Transport's workforce is dispersed across the U.S., posing a unique logistical challenge. So, when Brenda set out to find a learning program, she needed a solution that would work across several time zones. Once she discovered Go1’s asynchronous content  which can be completed anytime, anywhere, she knew it was the perfect fit.

Brenda also offers virtual training and development sessions, which she schedules at multiple times across various time zones. Doing so is a priority for her, as it ensures no one misses an opportunity to learn.

If you’re thinking about offering remote learning, it’s important to remember that employees must have access to all the tools they need to engage with virtual learning content.

According to Brenda, Daylight Transport Team Members can access Daylight University through company-issued computers or other company-approved devices only while they are on the clock.  Since they can log in to the learning program at both on-site and remote work locations, it’s easy for Team Members to learn wherever they happen to be working.

When working with a remote or hybrid team, clear, continuous communication is vital. That’s why Brenda promotes Daylight University in various ways. She sends Team Members articles about the program, attends virtual Town Halls to discuss the program, and lets Team Members know when new learning playlists are released. 

Frequently promoting Daylight University means new Team Members can learn about the program, and those who have been around a while are reminded to challenge themselves to continue on their personal learning journey if they haven’t already.

Remote learning comes with unique challenges, but Brenda makes herself available to help both on-site and remote learners overcome any obstacles they encounter. Brenda assists Team Members who need help searching the platform for specific content. She also helps managers familiarize themselves with the platform to pass this knowledge on to their Team Members and provides tips and tricks for those who are just getting started.

Implementing a remote learning program has given the entire Daylight Transport team continuous access to growth and development opportunities – thereby strengthening their workforce.

“I love when our learners tell me that they found a course or topic they never thought they would in a learning system at work,” Brenda said. "If the learner learns something new and gets better, then Daylight gets better.”

The workplace has changed, which means learning must change, too. Find out how one of our customers implemented remote learning for their entire workforce.

Insights from the Industry: How to facilitate remote learning

Learning and development is crucial for any organization. Without it, your employees can’t upskill and stay up-to-date with industry changes. As a result, your organization will stagnate, and you’ll quickly fall behind your competitors.

As such, it’s vital to address barriers to learning as soon as possible. Concerningly, research shows that 66% of employees face at least one barrier to learning at work. These barriers prevent your business from cultivating a culture of learning, meaning you won’t meet your goals as quickly — and risk not meeting them at all.

So, we’ll explore how you can address learning barriers to foster a happier, more skilled, and more productive workforce. For more information on overcoming learning barriers, download our e-book, The ultimate guide to choosing the right learning platform for your business.

Understanding common barriers to learning

Barriers to learning can come in many forms — including your employees themselves. Occasionally, external learning barriers arise, but most of the time, learning barriers are internal. The good news is your organization can alleviate internal learning barriers, which we’ll cover in detail below.

But, what exactly are these learning barriers, and how do they affect your employees’ ability to learn and develop? Common examples of learning barriers include:

Lack of time - When employees are at capacity, learning takes a back seat to meet work-related deadlines.

Lack of resources - Workplace learning is nearly impossible when employees don’t have the relevant materials or tools.

Unclear objectives - When employees don't have clear goals, timelines, or objectives, learning can grind to a halt.

No incentives - If there are no incentives or rewards, employees can struggle to engage with learning.

Technology - Old or outdated tech can be a significant blocker.

Language - If employees don’t speak fluent English, a lack of training resources in their native language will prevent learning.

Self-doubt - Employees can delay learning if they have self-doubt and are worried about the challenge. They may also have a fear of failure.

Fear of change - Some employees won’t be open to change.

Lack of learning culture - If your organization doesn’t foster a learning culture, it will become a major barrier.

Lack of stakeholder and management support - Senior staff — especially the leadership team — must champion learning to ensure employees recognize its value.

Organizational silos - Employees with a specific and defined role may not be encouraged to broaden their skills.

Difficulty sourcing resources - It may be difficult to source training resources, courses, and materials.

Cost - Certain training courses can be expensive, particularly in-person and tutor-led training. The economy and market trends can also influence costs.

Personal commitments - Employees may have personal commitments that affect their ability to learn.

Geographical limitations - It can be a challenge to attend in-person training. For online seminars, time differences can make attending tricky.

Lack of flexibility - Some mandatory learning, such as compliance training, can be inflexible. 

Legal barriers - Legal issues, such as those related to intellectual property, can prevent learning.

How can you overcome learning barriers at your organization?

You may face difficulties overcoming every learning barrier. For example, most external barriers, such as legal challenges, employees’ personal commitments, and geographical limitations are out of your control.

However, you can overcome most external barriers, such as difficulty sourcing resources and cost. Online learning content providers like Go1 have extensive libraries of online courses covering thousands of topics, from compliance and workplace safety to developing soft or hard skills. The great thing about online learning is that it’s also cost-effective, allowing you to develop your entire workforce on a budget.

On the other hand, internal learning barriers are within your control, and, therefore, preventable. As we’ve highlighted, you must address learning barriers so your employees can meet their potential.

For example, 61% of employees say time is the biggest barrier to their learning and development. The obvious solution to this is to give employees more time to learn. Giving employees more time to learn is easier said than done, but it’s something you can support your employees with. Even 15 minutes of learning a day means your employees can complete a one-hour training course in less than a week.

Other ways you can remove learning barriers include:

Resources - Ensure your employees can access the materials, tools, and courses they need to learn and develop.

Set clear objectives - Provide employees with clear, achievable objectives. You can set clear objectives through a PDP or as part of reviews and 121s.

Incentivise learning - Gamification is a great way to increase engagement with learning by incentivizing employees with badges, certificates, and rewards. Another incentive is promoting employees who embrace continuous learning.

Provide the right tech - Ensure you have up-to-date tech so employees can learn whenever and wherever, including hybrid and remote staff. A learning management system (LMS) is the perfect tool for providing training across your organization.

Cater for all languages - Ensure there are opportunities for all employees to learn, no matter what language they speak. 

Foster a learning culture - When your organization creates a culture of learning, it encourages employees to embrace training. To foster a culture of learning, you should encourage employees to make mistakes so they don’t fear stepping out of their comfort zone.

Encourage senior leaders to champion learning - A learning culture is built from the top down. When your workforce sees your leaders engaging with learning, it encourages other employees to follow suit.

Prevent organizational silos - Rather than isolate and pigeonhole employees, encourage collaboration and upskilling that aligns with your company’s goals. 

Of course, you can only overcome some of these barriers by investing time, money, and resources into your learning and development program. However, the benefits far outweigh the costs. Remember, L&D has gone from a nice to have to a need to have. So, by addressing learning barriers, you’ll have an engaged, efficient, and productive workforce working towards the same goal.

Access Go1’s industry-leading content library and overcome learning barriers

At Go1, we work with a diverse range of learning providers to give your employees access to the breadth and depth of content they need to upskill and develop.

To learn more, speak to our experts today to find out how we can support your organization’s learning and development strategy.

We’ll explore how you can address learning barriers to foster a happier, more skilled, and more productive workforce.

How to address learning barriers in your organization

Choosing a learning platform, finding content, and designing a new learning program are all fantastic steps toward building a learning culture at your company – but your work doesn't end after your learning program has been created. Once you have a new learning program in place, you’ll need to support employees as they start using it. Luckily, we’ve gathered some tips from Go1 customer Orbus Software on how to help employees adapt to a new learning program. 

Orbus Software partnered with Go1 to create a brand-new onboarding program for their team. However, rather than requiring employees to learn an entirely new system, Orbus launched their onboarding content within the learning platform they already used. “We integrated Go1 into our LMS to make the transition to utilizing Go1 content easier for our team,” said Penny Simpson, Global Head of Learning and Enablement at Orbus. 

If your company is already using a learning platform, adding new content directly to this platform can save time, reduce stress, and minimize the learning curve for employees. A seamless integration reduces friction for your L&D team and drives learner engagement via easy content consumption. 

Speaking of ease of use, Orbus ensured their team had the training they needed to confidently navigate the onboarding program. “We created a 30-day and 90-day tailored training for account managers and SDRs with clear objectives, role alignment, and capstone projects for performance management,” Penny said. 

Managers at Orbus are also trained to help direct reports use the learning program, track their employees’ progress, and have regular check-ins. Providing managers with training on a new learning program means employees aren’t left to figure out how to use the new program on their own. Instead, they have someone they can reach out to for help with any issues that arise. This also allows managers to be directly involved in their employees’ growth and development. 

“This structure helped prepare our managers for the new onboarding program but also ensures that managers are hands-on during the preboarding stages,” said Penny.  

“The program provides them with checklists, touchpoint emails, and a timetable for course completion throughout the 30- or 90-day program.” 

New hires at Orbus are set up for success, too, as the business automatically enrolls all new employees in the learning program. Automatic enrollment makes the learning process even more accessible, as employees don’t have to search for a sign-up link or the name of the learning program or platform – they receive all this information as soon as they join the company. “This allows for a self-service approach, which drives scalability internally,” Penny noted. 

Although Orbus offers a simple self-service path to learning, they also created a learning enablement team that meets with new employees to answer their questions about the onboarding program. Orbus ensures every learner has a path to success, no matter how much or how little help they need with the learning program. 

Orbus put a lot of effort into launching their new learning program – and the good news is, their efforts paid off. “Since launching the onboarding program with Go1, we have achieved an 82% completion rate for compliance-related content. Not only that, but people are commenting that the compliance training is interesting,” said Penny. “Employees now also feel they understand company values, mission, and role expectations and have reported a strong sense of belonging. This has also been a time saver for middle managers and has helped them focus on coaching and team development.” 

The new learning program has been such a success that Orbus is now working on expanding it. “We have received requests for employees to continue their learning journey, which is invaluable,” Penny said. “With this feedback, we plan to expand the onboarding program beyond account executives and SDRs, as well as beyond the first 90 days of employment.” 

Your new learning program is ready to launch – but how will you help employees adapt? Check out these insights from a Go1 customer.