Nothing doing in the LMS: 5 reasons that make voluntary digital learning opportunities unattractive

HR Development goes to great lengths to create a digital learning offering. They search for relevant topics, evaluate different providers, carefully plan budgets, and talk to the departments to create an optimal learning experience for everyone. In the end, disillusionment sets in: the number of training participants is far below expectations. But what is the reason?

Is it possible that your employees are so happy with their current level of knowledge that they don't need another challenge?

Perhaps they think digital learning is only for younger generations and feel they are too old to learn anything new?

Or they just have the idea that e-learning is a boring, solitary process of staring at a screen for hours without ever seeing a human being?

There are many reasons why the workforce signals or subsequently develops a lack of interest in digital learning.

Here are 5 reasons why employees are not enthusiastic about voluntary learning via digital formats.

If e-learning is boring to death, if the way it is done seems flat and uninspired, employees can quickly lose interest and disengage from the learning process. They may also feel that they are not getting enough support or that the digital learning experience does not meet their individual needs. This can leave them feeling frustrated, over- or under-challenged. It is important to ensure that e-learning is engaging, stimulating, and provides learners with a supportive learning experience that they will not soon forget. After all, once the impression sets in that your company's digital learning formats aren't engaging, a positive reputation can't be quickly restored. A potential knockout for the company at a time when new business-relevant topics are just sprouting up

One-dimensional communication when introducing new digital courses to companies can lead to the workforce simply not seeing a purpose in the e-learning offering. "Why should I take sustainability strategy training when I'm not from an ESG background?" "Why should I take entrepreneurship training in a salaried position?" These are questions that employees may legitimately ask, depending on the topic. Without clear and effective communication up front, it can be difficult for employees to see the importance of the courses to their work or personal development. As a result, they may not develop an interest and may feel that their time is being wasted. It is therefore important to inform employees about the benefits and objectives of the courses and to ensure that they know how they can benefit from them. Multi-dimensional internal promotion of the voluntary learning offering through different channels and formats can provide the motivation and inspiration needed to increase completion rates.

Feedback from employees after they have completed a learning offering is critical to ensuring that the learning offering is effective, engaging, and meets your needs as an employer. You should ensure that you actively solicit and evaluate employee feedback to improve and adjust the learning offering. Be sure to ask specific questions to learn what aspects of the training employees particularly enjoyed and what areas may need improvement. This can be an important part of optimizing the e-learning offering. Employee feedback will help increase their motivation and engagement in future learning opportunities by making them feel that their opinions are being heard and considered. (Assuming you actually take them into account in the next learning offering selection).  

A lack of learning culture can lead to employees feeling that learning is not part of their everyday work and is not a priority. When faced with a heavy workload, they may not have extra time to focus on learning.  Companies can also support employees by fostering a learning culture and providing time and resources for learning. By recognizing and supporting learning as part of everyday work, companies can increase employee engagement and motivation. Personal development of employees can also contribute to greater success for your company.

There is a new digital training program and logging into the learning system is so complicated that it nips any motivation in the bud: The constant password and username changes can be so frustrating for employees that they eventually stop logging in and the hoped-for prosperity of the learning culture fails to materialize. From a technical and usability perspective, ensure that the threshold to access the digital learning offering is as low as possible. Resolve the technical hurdles and communicate as clearly as possible how the e-learning can be accessed.

What conclusions do you draw when introducing the next voluntary e-learning offering?