Learning and development is more vital to building an organization’s talent pipeline than ever. But without the right technology in place, L&D remains functional rather than transformational.
L&D ensures employees have the right skills to do their jobs, and that they develop the skills to progress in the organization. But L&D professionals are too often saddled with administrative tasks that take time away from meaningful activities.
In the same way that organizations digitized other processes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic — and realized operational efficiencies along the way — digitization must now occur within HR. A human capital management system can help L&D professionals assume a more strategic role by automating the most time-consuming and least meaningful parts of their role, enabling L&D to focus on what’s most important: your people.
L&D’s role is more vital than ever, but menial tasks are holding you back
Right now our workforce faces a “double-disruption,” according to the World Economic Forum. The widespread adoption of workforce technologies, coupled with pandemic-fueled digital transformation, is changing the skills workers need. By 2025, 85 million jobs may be made irrelevant and replaced by 97 million new ones.
Today’s rapid digital transformation is creating a mismatch between the skills employees have and the skills employers need. If unaddressed, your company won’t have the internal talent modern business demands. L&D professionals are best positioned to help develop the right talent from within, but that requires freeing up their time.
Deloitte investigated the role of HR professionals to see how they spend their time and where there are opportunities for digitalization. The workplace insights provider found the following time-consuming L&D tasks could be done by an HCMS with automation capabilities:
- Registering an employee for an in-person training session
- Registering an employee for a virtual training session
- Tracking required training progress for an employee
- Creating and sending training materials for an employee
- Providing an employee with access to historical training records
- Tracking renewals for professional certifications/regulatory requirements for an employee
Streamlining the administrative tasks outlined above can help L&D professionals spend more time on impactful work, like helping to upskill current employees. And automation could be the key to making this change a reality. Automation can quickly handle processes and mundane “spreadsheet” tasks, augmenting the role of L&D professionals to drive greater productivity.
Making the case for automation in learning management
Investing in an HCMS with automation requires building a business case for change. When advocating for this technology, you’ll want to highlight the return on investment for the company and its employees. Be sure to emphasize the following with your company stakeholders:
- Cost savings: L&D automation offers up to $24,000 in annual cost savings based on the time and manual effort it takes to complete administrative tasks. The technology can also help automate tasks in other areas of HR, helping your business realize an additional $250,000 in potential savings.
- Attract, retain and develop talent: Today’s employees value personalized career development, and a strong L&D program can help you keep and recruit top talent. Ninety-four percent of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career growth. By automating administrative tasks, L&D professionals can focus on employee development initiatives that support retention, like personalized coaching or peer-to-peer learning programs.
- Improvements in job satisfaction: Administrative tasks aren’t particularly motivating; in fact, most employees dread them. By streamlining L&D’s responsibilities, employees can spend time on meaningful work they enjoy, like managing people or applying their expertise. In addition, workers who find their jobs meaningful invest more time in their role and stay at the company longer.
- Support the hybrid workplace: A mix of in-person and remote staff means you need a mix of in-person and virtual learning experiences. For the majority of organizations, this reality is unfamiliar and will take some time to perfect. Automation can allow L&D professionals to spend more time on ensuring their hybrid learning programs are set up for success. Instead of figuring out which employees need to go to what training, the L&D team can focus on more strategic and creative tasks, like planning and executing the training.
An advanced HCMS platform also can allow you to view real-time employee data to make more informed decisions. An analytics and reporting dashboard can help uncover business opportunities or gaps in your organization so you can quickly take action. For example, by knowing attrition or performance trends, L&D can expand offerings or targeted learnings into those areas.
Elevate the role of learning and development
L&D will play a strategic role in helping your organization adjust to rapid digitalization. But learning and development professionals need to be equipped with the proper technology. By automating menial tasks and freeing up L&D to focus on high-value work, you can ensure your workforce is supported through whatever lies ahead.
