Keeping professional knowledge up to date is becoming increasingly important. But learning takes time – at least as we know it from school and university: in large chunks that are difficult to digest. There’s another way. Continuously, in small bits and above all completely flexible. Such a learning opportunity is particularly useful for Generations Y and Z, for whom a good work-life balance is more important than all previous generations.
If only I had taken more time…
“If only I had had more time for this – I just worked too much.Generations Y and Z have heard this sentence a few times too often. From their parents and grandparents. Where does it come from? The grandparents were still battered by the war years and had to rebuild everything in the post-war decades. So there was little time for private matters.
They inoculated their children: “You should feel better one day. Work hard.” Accordingly, they placed work above all else. Again, family and private interests were left behind. Generations Y and Z are now drawing the line. My house, my boat, my car – millennials don’t care about that anymore. Their currency is different: time.
A good job, opportunities for advancement, a decent salary – still important
A good job, opportunities for advancement, a decent salary – these are still important to the Ypsiloners and Zettlers. But it is at least as important to them that their private life does not suffer. You don’t want to look back one day and regret not having made the trip around the world, not having pursued your hobby or not having seen enough friends and family.
From their point of view, that’s not even necessary. Both generations grew up in a digital world and the mobile Internet, in which everything works in real time and at the push of a button – from anywhere and at any time. And they don’t understand why the professional world should follow different rules.
Flexibility is key
Smartphones, laptops and the like have long since made the office go into the bag. Working today is completely flexible. So why not drop the stylus at four in the afternoon instead of at eight? And spend the beautiful sunny day with friends or family. You can still work in the evening – from the home office.
The PageGroup Working Life Study confirms that this is now a manifest trend. The line between private life and work is becoming increasingly blurred. In Switzerland, around 70 of the employees regularly work remotely.
Flexible offers in further education
But beware: Anyone who takes this step should not only enable their employees to work digitally. Consequently, he should also make them flexible offers in the area of further training . Because there is no question that operational learning is becoming increasingly important in our increasingly data-driven world. Accordingly, it should have a permanent place in everyday work.
The reason: Simple job content is increasingly being outsourced to the computer. Therefore, work content is not only shifting more and more. They also become more complex. According to the World Economic Forum , at least 133 million new roles that can be traced back to the increasing division of labor between humans, machines and algorithms will be created worldwide by 2022. For the most part, they require highly specific knowledge.
For generations Y and Z, face-to-face seminars are a thing of the past
This makes continuous learning a must. Millennials in particular will not be very enthusiastic about presenting their employees with a program consisting of face-to-face seminars. For younger generations, a learning culture tied to place and time is just as much a relic from the past as rigid times in the workplace from nine to five.
But no worry. There is a solution. In the form of a digital learning platform. Employees log into this whenever it suits them and they need new input – no matter where they are. The content can be provided as a webinar, video tutorial or any other form imaginable. Digital exchange on the various topics is also possible – with a time delay in chats or in real time in virtual classrooms.
In this way, employees can not only integrate professional learning perfectly into their daily routine. They also decide how long they study and what they study. Sometimes it is enough to absorb only a small amount of learning to solve an existing problem. This knowledge can be called up in a very targeted manner via a learning platform. Your employees will have the motivating experience: Learning can also be really fun. Thanks to built-in gamification tools like quizzes.
In this way, employers not only meet the needs of their employees for more flexibility in favor of a better work-life balance. They are also moving professional learning out of a very unsightly niche in which it had to endure for a long time: too unspecific, too tedious, too time-consuming and anything but fulfilling. The effect: Your employees are always up-to-date without ever having to make compromises in private. If that’s not a win-win situation.
