How can blended learning programmes tackle the employee engagement crisis?
July 2024
Employee engagement has been a growing problem ever since the Great Resignation at the end of the pandemic. COVID burnout, changing working habits and high customer expectations all led to rising turnover, and far more insidious, shrinking employee engagement. But how can blended learning programmes help businesses reconnect with their teams?
Last year, a study by management consulting company Gallup found that only 10% of UK employees feel engaged at work, making Britain’s workforce one of the most disengaged in the world.
In our experience, organisations that effectively attract and retain the very best talent prioritise employee engagement within their company culture. This means upskilling their team to keep up with changes in the workplace, such as the advent of AI, and providing support and guidance through strong leadership skills.
Read on to discover the main causes of employee disengagement and how a blended learning programme could help to boost engagement within your organisation.
Our blended learning platform can connect your employees with world-class trainers and CPD-recognised certification programmes. Book a demo to see it in action!
What causes employee disengagement?
Various factors lead to employee disengagement. These include:
- Unclear expectations
- Changes in responsibilities
- Changes in the market
- Leadership changes
- Unmanageable workloads
- Feeling undervalued
Let’s discuss these issues and consider the possible solutions.
Lack of growth opportunities
Hopefully, most members of your team are keen to grow and develop their skills. As a result, employees are likely to disengage from their work if they feel there’s no clear progression path in place.
The solution: It’s not necessarily about promotion (although sometimes it will be). Clearly outline career paths at the onboarding stage, and give employees the opportunity to continually grow by learning new skills.
Blended learning programmes can provide employees with access to on-demand training modules and the ability to earn certifications at their own pace, allowing learning and development to fit around their daily responsibilities. This can lead to a sense of accomplishment that boosts engagement in the workplace, while leaving productivity uninterrupted.
Unclear expectations
According to Gallup, just 45% of employees under the age of 35 know what is expected of them at work. This lack of clarity was found to correlate with a decline in wellbeing, productivity, customer engagement and employee retention.
Interestingly, this problem was felt most keenly by hybrid and remote workers. Given that 71% of managers haven’t received formal training on how to lead a hybrid workforce, this is hardly surprising.
Solution: The good news is, this doesn’t need to be a large organisational change. Gallup reported that weekly meaningful conversations with team members develops high performance relationships more than any other leadership activity.
Since hybrid work has become the norm for many workplaces, it’s also time for business leaders to adjust their approach. Train teams to collaborate remotely using the right technologies, and train managers to be great hybrid coaches.
Blended learning programmes can be the ideal training format for hybrid workers, enabling access to on-demand training modules from anywhere, at any time.
Changes in responsibilities
Employees now hold more responsibilities than they did pre-pandemic, 64% of managers told Gallup. Naturally, this can create stress for employees, making them less engaged as a result.
It’s natural for changes to occur within a business as markets grow and evolve, and often this can lead to role changes. While these adjustments can benefit the company, it doesn’t always feel like a good move for the employee.
Solution: One way to tackle this problem lies in your hiring strategy. Where possible, think more long-term when devising roles and consider what the trajectory of that role might look like over the employee’s career span.
These considerations come from strong leadership. Blended learning courses can help managers and senior leadership teams to develop their skills and ensure they care for employee needs in the right way.
Changes in the market
Market changes pose a more unpredictable threat to employee engagement. While elements may be out of anyone’s control, they can be demoralising, and lead to feelings of disengagement.
Solution: Market change is a difficult problem to address, particularly if the entire company is feeling the pressure. However, a lot can be said for open communication.
Training can benefit these soft skills too. We offer blended learning programmes that focus on people management and performance management skills, helping leadership to more effectively handle periods of market turbulence.
Leadership changes
We’ve talked a lot about company shifts in this article, and another change that happens frequently within business is that of leadership and management.
While leadership changes are inevitable from time to time, sometimes being assigned a new manager can be jarring for employees.
There are simple solutions though – for instance, Gallup found one meaningful conversation per week between a team member and their manager can develop a high-performance relationship more effectively than any other leadership activity.
Solution: Proper change management practices can ease these problems. This might include the provision of blended leadership training to bring new managers into alignment with the company culture and values.
Unmanageable workloads
Having a consistently heavy workload is a huge driver for disengagement, and it can quickly cause burnout. And that leads to a whole host of bigger problems, such as mental and physical health problems, if it’s not dealt with effectively.
Solution: One way to prevent this is to check in regularly with your team to make sure their workload is manageable. However, sometimes tough management decisions need to be made for the sake of the wider organisation, and this is why leadership skills are so crucial to business resilience.
Feeling undervalued
The final reason for employee disengagement in our list is feeling undervalued. Performance management platform 15Five found that 43% of people cite lack of recognition as a reason for leaving a job, making it an issue that impacts staff retention as well as low engagement at work.
Solution: The fix for this seems simple – recognise hard work and reward your staff for it. This can be delivered in many ways, but one way to invest in your staff is by providing learning and development opportunities, and encouraging them to grow and progress in their role.
How personal and leadership development can boost engagement
A running theme throughout these problems is strong and supportive leadership. Blended learning programmes play a crucial role in enhancing employee engagement by focusing on empowering teams and leaders to grow professionally. This contributes to a higher sense of fulfilment in their working life.
Development initiatives offer employees the chance to boost their skills and knowledge. If your employees feel that you’re investing in their personal growth, they are more likely to feel valued and motivated to perform at their best.
Leadership development programs also foster a positive work environment. By equipping managers with the skills to lead effectively, you can cultivate strong relationships between them and their teams, leading to higher levels of engagement.
Discover blended learning with UpSkill
The UpSkill platform is designed to bring world-class trainers and expertly-designed curriculums to more people through blended learner journeys. Our extensive library of on-demand content provides the freedom to upskill whenever and wherever someone is able, and our CPD-recognised certifications provide a tangible result to boost their CV.
Are you looking to invest in better leaders and promote employee engagement?
Book a demo to see our blended learning programme in action.
