If you’ve followed WeLearn and its team for a while, you know we’re huge advocates for Front line Worker development—this idea of investing in your boots-on-the-ground employees because it’s good for their happiness and your bottom line. We know, that was a loaded statement. If you’re new around here, let’s take a minute to unpack that.
Investing in your front line: It sounds too good to be true–investing in training for your frontline can save your business loads of money. But it’s true! Just think about it. Rather than spending time and resources hiring new workers who already have a certain bank of knowledge, why not take your hardest workers who understand your processes and give them access to resources to make them more equipped industry professionals? This works in a whole host of industries. Whether your front line is caregivers in a hospital or nursing home, or assembly line workers in a factor, a little bit of technical training for employees who already understand who your business works can go a long way.
Providing education pathways that work: When you embark on a journey to provide additional opportunity to your front line, don’t forget that all learners are different. The most successful learning programs don’t always follow the standard associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, work experience, master’s degree pathway. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and design a learning path that works for your employees in your specific industry. There’s no such thing as one size fits all!
Why should you care: We could slice and dice this a dozen different ways, but the bottom line is this—educated employees do better work, investing in employee learning makes them feel valued, valued employees are happier, happy employees stick around and produce MORE good work. While this process can take a little bit of effort to put into practice, it truly is the gift that keeps on giving.
If you’re now thinking…how do I do this for my organization? We aren’t going to lie; it’s not easy and takes buy in from the executive team. However, nothing in life (or business!) worth having comes easy. If you’re interested in learning more, stay tuned and we’ll be back with more content on this topic.
We’d also love to learn what you’re working when it comes to building learning pathways and front line worker development. Get in touch!
