Employees motivated to develop skills

24 Jun 2010

by: Margaret Snell

Employees across Europe are highly motivated to develop their skills, with 76% willing to give up their free time to undertake training and 53% prepared to part fund it, according to a survey carried out by Cegos. The survey of staff from companies in the UK, France, Germany and Spain looked at employees’ motivation to learn, who initiates training and how e-learning and blended learning as well as emerging learning tools like podcasts, wikis, blogs, forums and webinars are used.

It found that training in Europe is largely employee-driven, with most employees willing to make personal sacrifices to undertake it. Individuals are motivated to develop their skills by the potential to increase salary (65%), to fulfil their potential (57%) and their ability to get a new job if made redundant (50%).

Managers and young people are the key beneficiaries of training with 77% of under-35 year olds and 82% of managers receiving some training. However 25% of employees still receive no training.

While classroom training remains the most popular method of training across all countries, employees are being offered a wider choice of training mediums and emerging learning tools are growing in popularity. The UK is leading the way in blended learning (41% versus 31% average) and mentoring (44% versus 35% average). Spain and the UK continue to lead in their use of e-learning (with 56% and 53% of learners using it).

UK employees are also leading the way in the use of podcasts, wikis, blogs, forums and webinars with around a third or more of UK employees having used them in the workplace. France is lagging behind in its diversity of learning techniques and does the least e-learning, with less than a quarter of employees using this tool.

In e-learning, the use of video, serious games and mobile learning applications are on the rise, with Germany in the lead on its use of serious games and mobile learning with 21% and 15% respectively.

Francis Marshall, managing director of Cegos UK, said: “In the current economic climate, employees are highly motivated to develop their skills and take control of their learning. With most willing to make personal sacrifices to undertake training, this points to a blurring of the boundary between work and home life as people become more and more connected to technology.”

 

 

 

 

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