Challenges to Learning: The 'always on' and hyper-connected nature of our workplaces could be an inhibitor to professional development.
Consider these workplace metrics:
Ability to learn at work is the number one driver of a company's employment brand – among millennials. (LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2018)
In a 15-year study the Center for American Progress, determined that the average economic cost to a company of turning over a highly skilled job is 213% of the cost of one year’s compensation for that role.
94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career. (LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2018)
The number one reason employees don't learn as much as they want to at work is TIME.
In any given week employees have 25 minutes to devote to learning.
How much time is enough?
This is where it gets a bit challenging to measure. But let's start with how much time people have in their work weeks. By one industry accepted estimate, in any given week employees have ~25 minutes to devote to learning (Bersin, Haims, Pelster, & Van der Vyver, 2014). In a five day work week -- that's 5 minutes/day.
Self Directed Learning - 5 Minutes a Day.
Yet another industry metric states that up to 50% of professional learning happens at the point of need (Bersin, Haims, Pelster, & Van der Vyver, 2014). If we we look at these measures together, along with the rise of video, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and gamification in learning and development, it becomes clear that a self-directed learning approach is going to be an integral part of the mix.