Engaged Employees Lead to Better Business Performance

It’s easy enough to assign training: load your training materials (or pick from a library of pre-made content), click a few buttons, and within minutes, thousands of employees will receive a notification or email letting them know they have new assignments.

L&D professionals know that’s only the beginning of the battle. The real challenge for businesses is getting employees to complete training and continuously engage with it.

What is Learner Engagement?

Assignment records, attendance tracking, and training completion rates only present a partial picture of training activity. While vital and valuable in specific contexts, these metrics don’t provide much information about the overall effectiveness of learning programs—in other words, whether or not the training resulted in any noticeable improvement in employee or business performance.

Moving the needle on metrics that truly matter to a business—and its bottom line—requires authentic learner engagement. What does that mean, and how can businesses encourage it?

Learners are fully engaged when they understand the connection between mandated training and the work they’ll be doing to move the business forward. Senior leadership should communicate and demonstrate goals, objectives, and potential rewards. When people see how training positively impacts their performance on the job and the success of the organization, they’re more likely to be interested in what they’re learning and curious about further opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Why is Learner Engagement Important?

Engagement is the secret ingredient that unlocks the power of learning, transforming it from an operational necessity into an enriching, mutually beneficial experience for employees and businesses.

When employees are engaged in learning, they’re not just moving through the motions of training to check the boxes—they’re fully invested in their career development and excited about their jobs. Engaged learners translate into enthusiastic employees who deliver excellent job performance and better business outcomes. The more employees see how training contributes to their success, as well as the success of the business, the more they’ll take advantage of the learning opportunities available to them and apply what they learn to level up on the job.

How Can Businesses Improve Learner Engagement?

Here are five ways businesses can improve learner engagement:

• Communication: Learner engagement begins at the top with open communication about why learning is essential, how it relates to business objectives, and the potential rewards for active participation.

• Personalized Learning: Personalization takes learner engagement even further because it shows employees that you care about their needs and preferences. It demonstrates that learning is about more than what’s good for the business—it’s about helping individuals discover their unique strengths and reach their own career goals.

• Gamification: Games, leaderboards, challenges, and awards motivate learners to get involved and continue learning to improve their knowledge and skills. Gamification also introduces a social element to learning by encouraging employees to share their progress and knowledge for the benefit of the group.

• Mobile Accessibility: Mobile learning ensures training materials and resources are available to employees anytime and anywhere, even if their job requires them to be away from a desk or computer. Now that smartphones are a permanent fixture of modern life, most employees prefer to access training via their mobile devices regardless of age or the nature of their jobs—it’s simply easier to access and more engaging, flexible, and intuitive.

• Learner Feedback: It’s vital to ask employees what works and what doesn’t throughout the learning process. Collecting feedback communicates to employees that their voice matters, and it arms L&D professionals with valuable insights about improving learning processes and strategies.

The Role of L&D Technology in Learner Engagement

Learning needs to be seen by employees as a tool that helps them be successful rather than an adversary. Learning tools can aid employees in their jobs just as technology guides us through our non-working lives. People should have easy access to resources that help them do their job when and where needed. Providing this kind of support gives people more confidence, shortening their time to proficiency.

Interested in learning more? We’ve identified key areas to which learning can and should be better connected to strengthen learning’s connection to development and increase learner engagement. Download our free guide now.