Daily Archives: September 6, 2022

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Since the dawn of time, methods have existed for training employees to perform new or unfamiliar tasks. From facilitating mentorship between highly competent colleagues and other employees to developing user manuals for technical skills, most companies already have the resources necessary to train their workforce.

But the question arises: Why are companies now choosing to develop new-era on-the-job training programs?

Adaptability is crucial in the modern business world. New platforms, markets and technologies appear to emerge every quarter, making each new venture risky, because the environment is susceptible to change at any moment.

A rise in the number of employees working remotely or through a hybrid model has necessitated these rapid changes in the workplace and industries. Even if a company can adjust its goals and strategy to accommodate these changes, it is an entirely different challenge to ensure that its employees have the skills necessary to adapt rapidly.

Related: 6 Ways to Keep Your Employees Learning At Work

Companies incorporate technology into training programs in a variety of ways. Three of the most innovative include:

Opening up future-oriented education to all:

Offering free training via the internet is part of a larger movement to make information readily available and empower individuals to determine their futures. From Khan Academy to YouTube tutorials, it is evident that the internet is revolutionizing education, particularly skill-based education.

Companies have noted this change. They have begun offering skill-based training programs to talented individuals outside the organization.

TheSoul Publishing is an example of a company that has previously opened up its on-the-job training programs to offer educational experiences to everyone. It transformed its internal Boost Academy into three future-focused camps open to the public. This allowed TheSoul to provide practical training methods that have helped individuals learn skills such as social media management, animation and video production.

Immersive technology:

Immersive training utilizes the power of next-generation technology to develop human-centered on-the-job training programs. They are individualized and do not assume that all employees learn in the same manner and at the same rate.

Immersive technologies combine the physical and digital worlds, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). This technology enhances the elements of the most effective forms of on-the-job training, such as gamified online platforms and demonstrator videos aimed at particular skills.

Additionally, VR and AR experiences increase employee engagement to new heights. Employees participate in a hands-on, practical manner by manipulating objects in a digital environment. Thus, employees can perform tasks independently while being permitted to make mistakes from which they can learn and enhance their skills.

Remote onboarding:

A 700-page training manual with a mile-long table of contents may be exhaustive, but it is not engaging for employees.

Another complication is that it is becoming increasingly common for new employees to be onboarded without ever setting foot in a company's office if the company even has a physical office space. Companies have started re-onboarding employees in response to the rapid technological change occurring across all industries to ensure they can utilize the new technologies they have implemented.

Companies can make training significantly more engaging, exciting and digestible by leveraging the dynamic and integrated nature of the latest tools. Employers can ensure employees are truly absorbing and contextualizing content by incorporating entertaining and informative videos and gamification into their programs.

Related: Gamified Training: An Infallible Way For Employee Engagement

Workforces become progressively more flexible:

New technology permits the company-wide implementation of more effective training programs. Digital methods for teaching employees skills are significantly less expensive than traditional, pre-pandemic methods.

A workforce can become flexible and adaptable to whatever the business world throws at it if training is facilitated at the level of the individual employee and the entire organization.

When you have well-trained employees, the attitude that "this is not really part of my job" will disappear. Although you shouldn't train each employee to do everything, training can expand an employee's capabilities beyond the minimum requirements of their initial role. When it comes to unfamiliar tasks, the "no-can-do" philosophy disappears. Instead, employees ask, "Where can I learn how to do this?"

Then a new issue arises: Employees wonder, "Will my boss be upset if I take the time to educate myself?" Therefore, companies must foster an environment in which employees are encouraged and empowered to pursue additional on-the-job training so that employees feel comfortable acquiring new skills. It produces long-term benefits for both the employer and the employee.

Progress evaluation is streamlined:

When it comes to ensuring that employees comprehend complex technical procedures, adhere to essential guidelines and comply with health and safety protocols, companies must do more than simply provide lengthy documents and assume that employees will retain all the information.

This information must be assimilated thoroughly. Companies must determine whether employees have comprehensively understood the topic. Using technology's adaptability, companies can evaluate an employee's progress in real-time using multimedia tools such as games, quizzes and videos. The company can then determine if the on-the-job training was effective or if modifications are required.

Related: Where to Deploy Innovative Tech to Create a More Flexible, Engaging Organization

Employers must adopt the philosophy that if you continue to train, teach and develop your employees, you will always have the most qualified candidates in the roles this is especially beneficial if the company's industry makes it challenging to recruit skilled workers.

On the other hand, this type of philosophy is also attractive to potential employees who not only want to get paid, but also want to develop their own sets of skills via the on-the-job training opportunities the company provides. Improving and expanding access to skill-based training will always benefit both employers and employees.

See the rest here:

How Innovative Technology Improves On-the-Job Training - Entrepreneur

AUT has asked four faculties to reduce staff levels by between 30 and 50 each. Another 80 general staff are also set to lose their jobs. Photo / Michael Craig

Students and staff at Auckland University of Technology are anxious about their futures after the university proposed cuts to jobs and courses.

AUT has outlined plans to cut 150 academic staff and 80 general staff, with the changes taking effect in November.

David Sinfield, a senior lecturer in art and design, said he was "in the firing line" but would not know of his fate for at least four to six weeks.

"It's extremely stressful and worrying. Everybody that I know of at AUT other than the Deans and the VC office are all in the same position of not knowing whether they will have a job at the end of the year."

Sinfield, who is the AUT branch president for the Tertiary Education Union, had been at the university for 17 years, and said this was his third round of restructuring.

"I know many people that have been there for 20 years plus, so there's a lot of people that have given their lives and their careers to AUT. And to be treated like this is actually appalling, in my view."

He said academic staff had adjusted to increased workloads, online teaching and other pressures during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"There are a lot of staff that are extremely exhausted from doing that over Covid. And to be faced with this now is really a kick in the teeth."

AUT Vice Chancellor Damon Salesa said yesterday that the proposed restructure was driven by a large fall in international student numbers, rising inflation and other economic pressures.

Universities New Zealand CEO Chris Whelan said New Zealand universities were facing the "perfect storm": flat domestic student numbers, hugely reduced international student numbers, and high inflation.

"Every university is balancing the same challenges right now wanting to retain as much of their workforce as they can for the time when we do get the students back but having to get through a period of time.

"We don't know whether it's three years, we don't know whether it's five years, we don't know whether it's longer, but basically reducing costs now, by a small amount, means that we avoid larger cuts later on."

The borders reopened on July 31, but it was not known how many international students would return or how quickly.

"We know that numbers are not going to be for 2023 anything like they were pre-Covid," Whelan said. "It's going to take time for students to come back in some cases just the flights are not available yet. There are countries like China, which have yet to fully open up and allow their students to travel."

Seven out of eight of the universities had already reduced staff by a total of around 700 during the pandemic, mostly on a voluntary basis. Massey University began a restructure in August which the union says could affect another 150 jobs.

Tertiary Education Union national president Tina Smith said AUT's latest restructuring did not necessarily foreshadow further, broader cuts across the university sector.

As a relatively new university, AUT did not have the same financial reserves as more established institutions, she said.

It also has a relatively high rate of international students, meaning the border closures have had a greater impact on its financial situation.

Smith said many students were concerned about the proposed cuts and were trying to decide what they would do next year.

"These moves to cut staff are not encouraging students to stay or go to AUT. It is such a lose-lose situation."

AUT has asked four faculties to reduce staff by between 30 and 50 members: Design and Creative Technologies; Culture and Society; Business, Economics and Law; and Health and Environmental Sciences,

See the rest here:

Auckland University of Technology staff and students in limbo as cuts loom - New Zealand Herald

Linklaters today announced that Nick Roudev will be joining the firm as Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) counsel in Dubai. Nick is an experienced commercial lawyer specialising in TMT, artificial intelligence, electronic payments and data privacy law.

Nick has over 10 years of experience practising across North America, Europe and Asia. He joins Linklaters from Simmons & Simmons, where he has been a managing associate in their Digital Business team since 2019. Prior to joining Simmons & Simmons Nick spent three years as a senior associate in the Allen & Overy TMT practice in London, preceded by four years in Toronto, Canada, as a technology lawyer with Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, where Nick also completed his articling and was called to the Ontario bar.

Nick has extensive experience advising clients across the globe on various issues of electronic payments, artificial intelligence, telecom regulation, data privacy and intellectual property rights arising in the context of service and licensing arrangements, outsourcings, strategic collaborations, corporate M&A, digital wallets and acquiring and data commercialisation arrangements. Nick is recognised as an expert regionally, and has been most recently appointed to the technology and digital payments advisory group of the Digital Economy Courts in the DIFC.

Partner and Linklaters Asia Head of Technology, Media & Telecommunications, Adrian Fisher commented:

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Linklaters strengthens Technology, Media & Telecommunications practice in the Middle East with hire of Nick Roudev | News | About Us - Linklaters