What are the benefits of learning and development? We know it’s inherently good but what does it actually do?
Leaders in business are always looking for a way to improve results.
But one place they don’t look at, is learning.
Historically, workplace learning has been an after thought.
But imagine a workplace where employees feel empowered, engaged, and equipped to tackle challenges head-on.
That’s exactly what effective learning and development programmes bring to the table.
But chances are, your learners don’t understand the benefits of learning and development.
We know that an empowered workforce can impact things like employee retention. In fact, 93% of employees will stay longer if the company invests in their development.
Related: 100+ key learning and development statistics
But while we know the challenges of learning and development, what are the benefits?
Keep reading to learn:
- What learning and development is
- 5 key benefits of learning and development
- How you can use these benefits to improve your learner engagement
Let’s get started.
What is learning and development?
Learning and development (L&D) is a strategic approach to enhancing employee skills, knowledge, and competencies, aligning them with your organisation’s goals.
It encompasses a variety of activities, from formal training programmes and workshops to on-the-job learning and mentorship.
The primary aim is to foster a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability, ensuring that employees can meet evolving industry demands and contribute effectively to the company’s success.
Effective L&D initiatives not only boost individual performance and career growth but also drive organisational innovation, efficiency, and competitive advantage.
Key benefits of learning and development
Some obvious benefits of learning and development are better working knowledge, more confidence in a job role.
Of course, we expect you to know some core L&D benefits off the top of your head.
But what do they actually mean for your individual learner?
And more importantly, how can they impact your wider business?
The key benefits of L&D are:
- How L&D improves skills
- The impact on employee morale and making people feel valued
- How good L&D can help you attract and retain top talent
- How L&D can help you stay ahead of the curve
- L&D’s impact on productivity
Let’s deep dive into the top 5 benefits of L&D:
1. How L&D can improve skills
This might feel like an obvious benefit to learning and development, but there’s more nuance to it.
Offering staff the chance to learn will broaden their skillset.
Indeed.com highlighted that “these improvements will positively affect the productivity of workers, which can increase the profits and efficiency of an organisation.”
But when you’re struggling with engagement and learners are trying to fit courses in, how effective is L&D at actually improving skills?
Not to mention the learning retention issue.
This is where the right tool can really help.
We work with Totara to deliver our learning platforms.
They’ve created Totara Perform, which is an add-on to the core LMS, and allows you to link development to learning more directly.
You can map skills to develop and then correlate those skills to learning content in your catalogue.
It gives learners a clear direction of what’s needed to progress and a visualisation of how learning content can directly impact their path to better skills.
2. Learning and development’s impact on morale
Employees want to feel valued.
And while more tangible benefits like better pay, flexible working hours are hard to beat, learning plays a role too.
Investing in learning is an investment in your people.
Allowing staff to further their career and develop professionally during the working day as part of their job speaks volumes about the company valuing them, and their happiness.
The result?
Happier employees working better.
3. How to attract and retain top talent with L&D
Good staff retention saves time, money, and resources, so keeping the talent you have is crucial.
Related: Key employee retention statistics
Equally, when looking to hire new talent, offering L&D to be proud of will go a long way.
As highlighted in a recent article by Forbes, “it’s not enough for a candidate and employer to share values; today’s jobseekers also want reassurance that if they join a company, they’ll be able to learn new skills.”
In other words, job seekers want a job that can satisfy them today and, in the future, meaning L&D is now a must-tick item on their checklist.
But that’s not all.
By using your LMS to its strengths, you can identify and then develop top talent in your business.
That means high flyers creating better business results, for longer.
4. How L&D can help you stay ahead of the curve
Emphasising employee training and using tools to monitor exactly what they’re learning can help establish any skill gaps, as by tracking what staff are reading, watching, and listening to will give a good overview of strengths throughout the wider business, as well as a clear insight into where additional training may be needed.
In fact, closing skill gaps will also help present-day operations, and future company growth too, with IBM saying that “organisations must find ways to stay ahead of skills relevancy, and hiring alone is not a sustainable solution to the talent crisis.”
Now, successfully navigating this new environment requires businesses to reshape their skills, talent, and culture. The improvements will be significant.
5. Boost productivity with L&D
As employees learn new skills and abilities, they will not just become better workers, they will feel like more productive members of the wider business.
In turn, this will improve their morale as well as their workplace capabilities.
Investing in employees this way shows them they’re valued, and they will become better equipped to do their job and a happier and more productive member of the team as a result.
How to use L&D benefits to your advantage
Everyone knows how hard it is to engage learners in your company training content.
Learners are disengaged and they’re time poor.
But they want to learn.
They want to invest in themselves with new skills and new knowledge.
As such, you can use the benefits of learning to create better learning engagement.
How?
Create competition
Competition in learning is an essential component of improving engagement on your LMS.
Gamification can help you create that competition.
With BuildEmpire, you can implement point scoring and leaderboards across your LMS.
Related: New to BuildEmpire: points and leaderboards
With these features, you can create competition across teams and the whole company to encourage better learning.
The more points a user has, the more they are being impacted by your learning. You can use this as a case study on its own when it comes to selling the benefits of learning.
Market your learning
To sell your learning, you need to think like a marketer.
It’s not just about sharing new content.
Of course, channels like email are useful for content dissemination.
But there are other ways to market your learning.
Related: LMS marketing strategies that can boost engagement
Knowing the benefits of L&D, you can create marketing collateral.
Speak to your current learners to get case studies and testimonials.
And then share those widely.
Not just email, but via social channels like your company Slack or Teams. Use banners on your LMS to push key messages of impact.
Implementing marketing tactics within your learning will help you boost your engagement.
Incentivise your learners
A lot of the time, learners don’t engage with content because they don’t have time, or they don’t see the benefit.
If your learning content is just a tick box, then chances are, they’re right to be distrustful.
By creating real rewards for your learners, you can better incentivise them.
Now we know the benefits, you can create easy calls to action for learning content.
Instead of ‘being compliant’, your message can instead be ‘develop and grow’. As an employer, that should be your main goal for your teams. As an employee, they want to see solid personal investment from their employer.
Wrapping up
Make time for learning during the working day.
Don’t force your employees to learn in their own time.
The benefits will be huge for you and your business, not just your learner.
Allowing employees to learn, grow professionally, and upskill as a routine part of their working day has many benefits.
From happier and productive staff, to increased talent retention, and closed knowledge gaps.
Companies are beginning to see that continued and consistent learning at work is having a hugely positive impact now and will continue to help them thrive in the future.
We’re here to help your business achieve those L&D goals with everything from customised learning management systems to bespoke virtual learning environments.
In fact, here at BuildEmpire, we can design and build the perfect learning system to fit all your L&D needs, and will be there for ongoing hosting, maintenance, and support to ensure you and your learners are always getting the most out of your learning platform, saving you time and money in the long run.
Book a demo with our team to see how we can help you get more from your learning solution.
FAQs
What are the benefits of training and development?
Training and development are important because they enhance employees’ skills, boost productivity, improve job satisfaction, and help organisations stay competitive. They also support career growth and ensure employees can adapt to changing technologies and business needs.
What is L&D important?
L&D (Learning and Development) is important because it equips employees with the skills and knowledge needed to perform effectively, adapt to change, and drive business growth. It also improves engagement, retention, and overall organisational performance.
How does learning and development benefit employees?
Learning and development benefit employees by enhancing their skills, increasing job satisfaction, boosting confidence, and supporting career growth and advancement.
How does learning and development benefit organisations?
Learning and development benefit organisations by improving employee performance, increasing productivity, boosting retention, and fostering innovation and adaptability.