Top 5 Employee Development Trends for 2023

Continued employee learning and development (L&D) is crucial for maintaining the productivity and health of any business. A study by IBM found that employees who received 40 hours of training met their significant project objectives three times more often than those who received 30 hours or less. The same study noted that organisations who provided significant continued professional development (CPD) to its employees were 10% more productive than their competitors.

How does employee development affect talent attraction and retention?

Providing good professional development opportunities has other benefits too. Internally developing talent is a cost-effective way to ensure your business has the skills and expertise needed to meet changing market conditions.

How well you deliver professional development opportunities also impacts:

• Your ability to attract talented employees from diverse backgrounds
  83% of Millennial and Gen Z say skill development is a top priority when choosing a role
• Your rate of employee turnover
  94% of employees would stay at a company if it invested in their professional development
• Employee morale and job satisfaction
  Employees who feel supported and well-trained are more likely to excel at their role and are 21% happier at work

5 of the latest trends in professional learning and development

How professional development and learning are delivered to employees is changing. New technologies, tools and theories affect the future of L&D in the workplace. Here are some of the latest professional development trends impacting on the future of employee learning and development in the insurance and financial services sectors:

 1. Digital Learning and Development

Digital learning and development will continue to have an impact on how businesses choose to deliver professional development and training to employees. 75% of L&D professionals have seen their use of digital solutions increase over the past two years and there is no sign of this slowing down in 2023.

Organisations are moving away from traditional classroom-based learning and adopting more interactive and engaging digital learning platforms. Digital learning and development platforms are often faster and more cost-effective than traditional training schemes and have the advantage of delivering consistent and accessible learning for employees in multiple locations.

 2. Gamification

Gamification can be a powerful tool for employee engagement, and in 2023 it will become even more popular for businesses looking to improve their learning and development programmes. Companies can use gaming elements to drive employee engagement, motivation, and knowledge retention. 60% of businesses saw an increase in employee engagement when they used gamification elements in their learning programmes and 50% saw an increase in productivity.

Gamification elements include everything from activity feeds, progress bars, badges, points scoring and avatars as well as adding in elements of competition with others and receiving real-time feedback.

 3. Remote Training

Many companies are now offering online and remote training programmes to their employees. In 2023, these programmes will become even more prevalent as employers realise the benefits of remote training. Remote learning means that employees can access learning materials at times that suit them, allowing them to maintain productivity. Gone are the days when entire teams down tools to attend a training seminar.

Remote learning also means employees in multiple locations can all receive consistent training and development opportunities improving customer experience and increasing employee retention.

 4. Social Learning

Social learning is quickly becoming a popular trend in employee development. At its most basic it is the way we learn from our colleagues in informal settings and can be extended to how we can use technology to share knowledge through blogs, wikis, and videos.

Companies that can leverage social learning and build those technologies into their training and development structures can increase collaboration and knowledge sharing. Increased collaboration can help foster workplace culture and prevent brain drain from senior staff members retiring.

 5. AI-Powered Learning

AI-powered learning platforms are becoming more popular, and in 2023 they will become even more prevalent. AI-powered platforms are powerful tools that can create personalised learning experiences for employees and can also help to identify areas where employees need additional support.

Because AI learning platforms tailor the content and learning experience to both your business and the learner, they can give you a greater return on investment (ROI) than traditional training. AI platforms also automate many administrative tasks around employee development freeing up your HR resources for other tasks.

Harness all the latest professional development trends with Davies

We believe that innovation starts with finding the right people. As a true specialist, Davies successfully works with hundreds of insurance firms and have over 1,000 learners currently participating on one of our insurance focused development programmes.

Davies can help you develop reskilling programmes and mentoring schemes that will support your business goals as well as provide recruitment solutions for a robust and agile resourcing strategy fit for the future.

Contact us now for advice or support in sourcing top talent.