The Worker Experience: Creating Better Ways to Learn

Organizations have begun their transformations to the cloud, yet there's still a ways to go before the majority of them deliver digital learning capabilities that equal consumer-grade experiences, writes Harry West from Appirio.

(Harry West is vice president of HCM transformation services at Appirio, a Workday services partner.)

When Appirio hosted its Worker Experience Tour in five cities across the U.S. and U.K. last year, our goal was to bring clients and partners together to better understand the changing needs of workers. We shared with attendees our simple formula for building the modern worker experience: provide consumer-grade experiences, enable more flexible ways of working, and remove barriers to information.

During the tour, customers discussed their journeys to the cloud and how through that process, they were able to deliver a better worker experience. Many of them discussed how the shift helped managers free themselves from manual processes and become more involved in day-to-day people management, which improved their effectiveness as leaders and ultimately, aided employee retention and career development. Others talked about making their workforces productive from anywhere—one of the many benefits of cloud-based, mobile solutions like Workday.

Now that we’re well into 2017, what’s next?

One of the most top-of-mind issues for HR leaders today is how to deliver continuous learning that meets workers where they are. As EdAssist found, more than 58% of millennials expect their employers to provide them with learning opportunities relevant to their job.

It’s not enough to have the right technology—you have to get the most out of it by influencing end users to fully leverage new capabilities made possible by the cloud.

Although many organizations have already begun their transformations to the cloud, we feel there is still a ways to go before the majority of organizations deliver digital learning capabilities to workers that equal the consumer-grade experiences found outside the workplace.

It’s not enough to have the right technology—you have to get the most out of it by influencing end users to fully leverage new capabilities made possible by the cloud. Just as you don’t succeed in transformation by lifting and shifting legacy technology into another data center, you also can’t succeed in creating better ways to learn if you can’t help workers become as productive using enterprise technology as they are using their own consumer applications.

This includes finding ways to help people reduce email reliance, easily find content that’s relevant to them and their career growth, and create and share content that’s helpful and educational for others. Focusing on these areas of worker behaviors will do a great deal to improve engagement and retention of a workforce whose expectations of technology are higher than ever.

To learn more about building a better learning experience, watch this webinar we hosted in March with Workday, including some fantastic insights from Lisa Feiler, manager of HRIS and HR manager at Moen, a Workday customer.

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