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How Could Crypto Change Your Local Government?

Recently, the city of Miami launched its very own cryptocurrency, called “MiamiCoin” and generated over $4 million in funds in less than 30 days. With this brand new technology being introduced to the government, it is welcomed with extremely cautious optimism. Though it’s just being tentatively utilized, the many possibilities that come with decentralized technology could completely change the future of government.

This decentralized, blockchain technology is still new. It was invented in 2008, but has only begun to actually be adopted in the last few. As it continues to be developed and adopted, the horizons will expand and the possibilities will unfold. A whole new system will slowly be adopted.

In the short term, it seems as though this MiamiCoin is a bit of a test run to see how it might be used to benefit the community. Blockchain and decentralized technology have already begun to explore different niches, such as social media, so it was only a matter of time before its benefits were tapped into by local governments.

Truthfully, no one can say for sure how this technology might be adopted. However, considering crypto’s rapid growth and surprising successes despite its many skeptics, it might be wise to assume and prepare for its eventual adoption. Miami has already been praised for its adoption of MiamiCoin for the sake of benefiting its citizens. So far, it has been considered a cautious success, and according to CityCoin’s (the developer who launched MiamiCoin) website, there are over a hundred developers who have begun building applications for Miami on their open-source protocol.

With Miami poised to launch into this new age of technology, it signals to other city governments the possibilities of using open source or blockchain technology. With these entirely new systems, new and fresh training will be required for government employees. The technology, terminology, and function of these systems will likely be like nothing these employees would have ever dealt with before, and while extremely valuable, it can be extremely precise. Thorough training on these new systems as they are slowly incorporated and become more and more a part of the everyday workday will be critical to the overall success.

Introducing cryptocurrency to the government sphere was a bold, exciting move. With it comes immeasurable opportunity as well as plenty of new regulations and procedures surrounding it. Keeping an eye on the changing landscape and training your team on new procedures is a critical step in the future functionality of your government branch!

How to Keep Seasonal Hires Safe in National Parks this Summer

Summer is here, and with it, seasonal hires in government areas like National Parks. It’s critical for these temporary employees to get trained on safety as quickly as possible. They’re only available to you for a short time, and working in the parks can be a dangerous occupation.

Luckily, the development of short 15-minute refresher courses has proved an effective way to bring these seasonal employees up to speed. Especially for returning seasonal employees, who might already be familiar with the process but still need to be reminded of or updated on certain training to ensure everyone’s safety while working in the dangers of the National Parks.

These employees are often more difficult to reach while on the job, since they are not restrained to one office or even a single building, they are working outside in the elements. They’re also more likely to work irregular and long hours. Therefore, getting in-person training is inconvenient and difficult. With online courses, it can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection, and can be completed in a short time frame at the convenience of the employee. For example, employees can complete these courses in their own downtime or during a commute.

In addition, the consistency and ease of these refresher courses boosts morale for outdoor-loving employees who don’t want to worry about working an in-person safety session into their busy work schedule. It’s a uniform form of training in a job where consistency is unusual.

Safety procedures should serve the worker, not the other way around. Workers might sometimes use their judgment in a moment and stray away from procedure in order to actually be safe. Short, simple online courses provide the best framework of safety for these workers, without putting them in such a rigid environment to unintentionally put them in an unsafe position.

Since employees should be encouraged to use their own judgment and discretion to find the safest course of action, spending an excess of your budget on in-depth safety training is not only unnecessary, but can be counter-productive. 15-minute online courses are an amazing option as they’re cheap, can be used multiple times, and are easily distributed among employees. The short length also encourages employees to complete and pay attention to the content being presented to them.

Online courses are an amazing way to bring National Parks’ seasonal employees up to speed quickly, effectively, and cheaply. Don’t waste your or your summer hires’ time and resources on extensive and often irrelevant safety training, instead keep them actually safe by giving them a simple framework and allowing them to make judgment calls when on the job.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!Schedule Free Consultation

How Government Organizations Can Benefit from Online Training in a Post-COVID World

In a post-COVID world, the benefits of online learning for government organizations have gone from convenient to absolutely necessary. With a decline in revenue and therefore a slash in budgets, finding areas where money can be saved and time can be used most effectively is at the top of the list of priorities.

There may be some hesitancy, and certainly there are some cases where in-person learning might be seen as the better alternative. Even so, new hire orientation, management and sensitivity training, and even something as small as learning how to use a new desktop application are all examples where prepackaged training would be beneficial. It’s important to know why virtual learning should be implemented now more than ever.

Saving Time and Money

Because of the limited budgets associated with most government organizations, it’s crucial to review the costs of in person training compared to virtual ones.

When planning in-person training, the needs of the humans in your audience cannot be ignored. Bathroom breaks, lunch breaks, and travel time all have to be taken into consideration and planned for. There’s the time required for set-up, and the time required to take everything down. Speakers who arrive late hold up the entire event, attendees who arrive late miss important information, and tech issues might take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to resolve.

There are the time-wasting costs of this, and the monetary ones. Locations have to be booked, food has to be prepared, people have to be paid. Even if you already have a location free of charge and require those attending to provide their own food, you’ll still have to pay people (whether W-2 employees or contractors) to set up the area for your event and take it down.

On-the-job training is also expensive and wasteful. Hours of a valuable employee’s time is spent training a new hire when they could be handling other important tasks. This is (at least) twice as much time and cost consuming as it would be if you could simply give the new hire a course to watch, read, and complete.

Learning virtually is significantly cheaper, as it generally comes at one upfront cost. It can be carefully written and produced to be as time-effective as possible, with no opportunities for employees to miss parts of it. Once a course is bought, it can be used and reused time and time again, eliminating the need to pay for multiple events or hours of another employee’s time.

Increased Accessibility

Even as we return to “normal”, remote work is here to stay, especially for those who are at higher risk for COVID-19. Remote employees who perhaps live hours away in another city or even another state can still receive the training they need with an online course. Not only are they receiving the required training, they’re getting the same exact information as their colleagues who work on-site and in person.

Government organizations don’t have the flexibility that private companies enjoy, which makes accessibility an important factor in evaluating virtual training. Getting access to the virtual types of courses you might need is drastically easier than getting the same info from an in-person format. There is no travel time, and no cost required to fly or drive people to the event. It’s more easily worked into a person’s busy schedule, and all employees can review the information at a time and place that works best for them, making them more likely to retain and understand the information.

For on-the-job training, e-learning also makes new-hire training more accessible and more consistent. With a more traditional, person-to-person method, if an employee who would normally be in charge of the training is out sick or on vacation, someone else would have to be found to fill their place. That person may not be as knowledgeable or comfortable with training, therefore decreasing the standard of knowledge in the workforce.

With a course, new hires will get a consistent onboarding experience. This also is applicable to continuing education courses for established employees. Everyone can be given the same course, or access to a webinar (either recorded or live), and regardless of who is there for work that day the same knowledge can be passed to everyone by an expert.

Increased Efficiency

Government organizations have to be especially conscious of processes and covering their bases thoroughly due to the usually legal nature of their businesses.

There is little to no chance an important piece of information is left out of an e-learning course. When you give your employees a course to complete and review, you know everything they need is in there. There is no human error of verbal communication from a tired supervisor who might forget to mention a seemingly small, yet critical piece of information to new hires. This also applies to seasoned employees who are learning a new application or continuing their education for work. E-learning is far more consistent and effective across the board, which means a higher quality of work from employees.

Purchasing a course also provides the benefit of being taught by an expert in the field, someone who knows exactly what they’re talking about and can convey it well. A team of people puts in the work to build a course, so the quality is great and the information is accurate and complete. With it, employees are quicker to be up and running.

It also provides the benefit of employees being more likely to learn the information provided. If they don’t understand something the first time, they can go back and reread or rewatch the section explaining it. If necessary, a colleague can easily provide further clarification.

This same material can be used for a long time, essentially until it is no longer relevant or outdated. When that happens, either a new course can be purchased to replace it, or new materials can simply be incorporated into the old course to provide the required knowledge.

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Regardless of the number of employees an organization might have, or what needs to be taught, learning via a course is a better alternative to in-person training in many situations.

It saves time and money by consolidating all required knowledge into one course, for one price, and since it can be used as many times as necessary, it becomes a long-term investment for the company purchasing it. Accessibility is increased because courses are available to anyone, anywhere, at any time. The efficiency of course learning is greater, as it does not require someone to sacrifice their time to teach, and is taught by someone who knows exactly what they’re talking about.

It’s time to evaluate the needs of your government organization, and see where e-learning can be used to make the most of the time and resources available to you.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!Schedule Free Consultation

Diversity Training in the Wake of Anti-Racism Protests

The death of George Floyd in May of this year sparked widescale outrage and protests across the nation and later the globe as Black Lives Matter posters were waved from New York to Tokyo.

Companies from all over changed their social media profile images to black backgrounds in solidarity of the movement, but such actions have not sufficed for many people.

Instead, consumers and employees alike have expressed their desire to see companies and local institutions commit to tangible change within their policies and workplace environments.

As the nation continues to become more diverse, employers are being made aware of these new responsibilities for providing their employees with safer and fairer workplaces.

As a local government employer, it’s important that you understand the legislation involved in these matters so that your organization can maintain compliance.

Lacking a strong understanding of what it means to have diversity in the workplace can create blindspots that may unintentionally lead to unfair employment/workplace practices, which could have serious legal repercussions.

The following content is meant to educate you about local changes being implemented within organizations and steps that you can take to bring your own work environment up to speed on modern diversity training best-practices.

Compliance with State and Federal Law

There is legislation that state and federal governments have created in an effort to prevent unlawful or unfair employment practices within organizations, private or public.

For instance, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits any employer from participating in the discrimination of employees based on sex, color, race, religion, or national origin.

This applies to employers that have 15 or more employees and isn’t limited to private organizations but also impacts federal, state, and local governments. The full details of Title VII can be read at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission website.

Some other relevant laws put in place include:

The Equal Pay Act of 1963
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1969
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008

It’s vital that you also check your state laws periodically to stay up to date on any recently passed legislation related to diversity in the workplace or other compliance issues.

Failure to do so may lead to lawsuits, fines, or other penalties for unfair or unlawful employment practices, regardless of whether they are intentional or not.

Local Organizations and Government Bodies Implementing Change

There are already sweeping changes in diversity training occurring within various organizations across the United States. We mention some of them below.

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

The University is launching new equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) training for all incoming students. Although it is only now being unveiled, the Executive Director of EDI, Jodi Thessing-Ritter, says that the program has, in fact, been in development for several years.

The EDI training involves a 50 minutes online course that contains videos, quizzes, and modules of info covering a variety of topics including race, religion, disabilities, gender, sexual orientation, and gender expression.

The City of Dayton

The city of Dayton has recently hired a consultant to provide diversity training to help build cultural awareness among city employees. The consultant, Daniel Juday, will also strive to help employees develop more trusting and meaningful relationships.

The Navy

A new Navy task force has been established in an effort to address racial and gender biases.

Although the Navy has long been committed to inclusion and diversity for many years, Vice Adm. John Nowell stated, “…I think it’s safe to say that as we look at current events it’s really put a light on the fact that we need to do more. We need to do it more quickly.”

The task force recommends reforms in recruiting, health care, promotions, military justice, and five other key areas in the service.

The City of Manchester

Thanks to a $20,000 grant, the City of Manchester will have all city employees receive diversity training later this year.

How to Maintain an Inclusive Environment in Your Organization

Any diversity training implemented within your organization should be thoroughly considered. Take these points into consideration as you move forward in making your own organization more inclusive.

Implement Solid Equal Employment Policies

As an employer, implement a strong equal employment opportunity policy. Make sure that it is upheld across all levels of your local government organization.

The policy itself should include transparent assurances that if employees file complaints, then you’ll protect said employees from retaliation. All prohibited conduct should be clearly laid out in the policy as well.

Once the policy is in place, be sure to train relevant parties like supervisors, managers, and employees about the policy and its contents. It’s up to you to set the standards and expectations people have about this subject.

Train Managers and Employees

All Human Resource managers and employees should be trained on equal employment opportunity laws.

During any diversity training, remind employees of relevant company policies that are in place and that all employees will be held accountable for their actions. Immediate and appropriate corrective action should be followed through in the event of violations of company policy.

Promote a Culture of Inclusivity Within Your Organization

As a local government employer, it’s your responsibility to actively practice inclusivity in your workplace.

Remember to take the initiative in helping people feel valued and welcome at your organization by interacting with different people, appropriately connecting with employees, and creating useful employee resource groups.

Diversity Training Amid Lockdown

As the nation continues to change and become more diverse, it’s important that we make sure that our workplaces feel welcome to said diversity.

Doing so will help your local government agency foster an environment of professionalism that cultivates an appreciation and respect for personal differences across your workforce.

However, the nation still being in lockdown poses a challenge to many organizations who would want to conduct group diversity training at this moment.

It’s for this reason that online training solutions are more necessary and convenient than ever.

We offer on-demand training dedicated to compliance and risk management, covering the subject of diversity in several courses, including Bridging the Diversity Gap, Understanding Workplace Diversity, Your Role in Workplace Diversity, and more.

We hope that our accessible online training will help you and your organization create safer and fairer workplaces for all individuals.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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Meeting the Rising Demand for Data Science Professionals

If anything new has become apparent in the 21st century, it’s that data is eating the world at a faster pace than ever before. It’s estimated that internet users generate approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every single day, and that number is constantly rising.

Projections suggest that by 2020, there will be 40 trillion gigabytes of data in existence. To provide even greater perspective, a 2017 study showed that 90% of all data present in the world today was generated only in the past 2 years.

However, this data is unless there’s someone who can make sense of it.

Companies are beginning to utilize big data to help make more calculated business decisions, and those who fail to do so may inevitably struggle to keep up with the modern age.

This is why organizations all over the world are scrambling to fill their data science positions, a task that is uniquely difficult given the myriad of skills needed for an individual to fulfill the responsibilities of the role, such as:

Python coding
Advanced statistics
Proficiency with the Hadoop Platform
SQL Database/Coding
Apache Spark
Machine learning and AI
Data visualization

And given the fact that data science as a field is still in its infancy, that list of needed skills will only continue to grow in size.

Why Local Governments Need Data Scientists

Big data is used for a multitude of tasks, from predicting hurricanes for pre-emptive evacuation to giving you appropriate recommendations on your Netflix feed.

For local governments, big data can be used for making a variety of data-backed decisions that can help reduce traffic congestion, lower crime, improve the environment, and of course, make intelligent budgeting choices.

Dubuque, Iowa, a city with a population of 58,000, took advantage of big data as early as 2009 during an effort that increased the city’s revenue by $18,000.

Their local government managed to accomplish this by teaming with IBM to improve sustainability efforts by installing smart water meters in homes.

It took time to gather the relevant data, but over time, they were able to learn how their homeowners used water.

They were able to find ways to make water usage more efficient in ways that would have been impossible without big data.

This kind of impact isn’t limited to Dubuque, Iowa. Local and big governments around the world are making the choice to create a foundation for intelligent decision making via their investment in big data and data scientists.

Can Organizations Fill the Need for Data Scientists?

Although the benefits of big data are plenty, local governments won’t be getting any of them unless they acquire people equipped with the skills and experience needed to analyze and understand the data.

It’s become more and more apparent that a career in data science is becoming increasingly promising. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) suggests that there will be nearly 30% growth in the field of data science in the coming years.

The result of this projected growth means the creation of nearly 50,000 jobs in the field of data science, most of these jobs filling the needs of private and government organizations.

The incentives for individuals to develop the skills for data science are not exactly lacking, either. According to Glassdoor, “data scientist” is the highest-paying entry-level job within the USA, the median base salary starting at $95,000.

Although there’s projected growth in this field, many organizations are still in great need of talent today. And for many local governments and businesses, their need for data scientists is simply too great to wait any longer.

For this reason, many organizations are turning to in-house training to develop their own talent. Doing this is often difficult and time-consuming unless a third-party is brought in to assist with the training, which in itself may end up hurting their budget.

Individuals within their organizations can go back to school to acquire the relevant skills, but school is more expensive than ever, and many people–especially professionals–don’t have the time to invest in college classes given that they’re already entrenched in their present careers.

An ideal solution would be a training program available online and on-demand, allowing individuals to learn at their own pace while providing a solid framework that’s cost-effective for individuals as well as organizations.

The good news is that you’re experiencing that solution at this very moment,

Enterprise Training has an extensive list of Information Technology courses that cover a variety of topics including Apache, Blockchain, MySQL, and so much more.

ETS learners gain access to over 60 state and national affiliations, as well as accreditation courses, and we also offer IT certifications to solidify your expertise in the data science field.

If you’re interested in positioning yourself for a promising career in data science while making a positive impact in your organization and the world, begin your training today from the comfort of your own home.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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Improve the Environment and Your Career with a LEED Certification

When planning your career path, it takes foresight to predict what the future might hold in store. For facilities management professionals, the future is green.

Acquiring LEED certification is one of best ways to evolve with the industry (and environment) at large and put you in a position to keep your career path trending upwards.

The certification is recognized globally across 165 countries and over 2.2 million square feet of buildings are receiving LEED certification every day.

Even the International Labor Organization has projected that over 6.5 million job opportunities are going to be generated as a result of green construction projects by 2030.

As more companies and nations rally to handle the environmental crisis, which is one of the greatest threats we face today, any LEED-certified professional will likely be guaranteed work for many years to come.

This is true for anyone involved in building construction and management – whether you’re a construction worker, architect, or facilities manager.

To understand precisely why LEED certification can have such an impact on your career, it’s important to have industry context and to understand what LEED certification is.

What Does LEED Certification Stand For?

The acronym stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The certification program is used as a form of quality control; assessing a building’s design and construction based on a number of factors including:

Energy efficiency
Building materials
Access to public transportation
Responsible land usage
Air quality
Water usage

The program itself is sponsored by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). If a building project participates in the program, they can be awarded four different levels of LEED certification, depending on how many points they score on the exam:

40-49 points = LEED Certified Buildings
50-59 points = LEED Silver Buildings
60-79 points = LEED Gold Buildings
80+ points = LEED Platinum Buildings

Why LEED Certification Can Improve Your Career

LEED is significant because it operates as a third-party verification system, meaning every project involved with a LEED-certified professional is vetted through an extra layer of accountability.

In other words, even if a construction and design agency guarantees that a project will adhere to high standards regarding sustainability, LEED certification makes sure those standards are in fact being met.

There are many tangible reasons to acquire LEED certification, not least among them being financial benefits.

Between 2015-2018, the USGBC reported that LEED-certified buildings saved an estimated $1.5 billion in energy costs: $145.9 million in water, $715.2 million in maintenance, and $54.2 million in waste!

The USGBC also reported that buildings that are LEED-certified are worth 4% more than buildings that are not. In the end, having the certification serves to benefit everyone involved in building projects, from the project managers to the tenants themselves.

The certification itself is the most difficult of its kind to acquire, which is why those who do become LEED-certified are recognized as a cut above those who don’t.

In fact, having a record of LEED-certified projects on your resume can quickly grow your reputation as a thought leader within the construction and facilities management industries as well as the movement towards a sustainable future.

So, what steps should you take to get there?

Getting LEED Certified

To acquire your LEED certification, you must pass the official LEED certification exam provided by the Green Business Certification, Inc. Instead of a one-size-fits-all exam, you have the option to take five different tests:

Building Design & Construction
Operations & Maintenance
Interior Design & Construction
Neighborhood Development

Technically speaking, there isn’t a prerequisite class required to take these tests, but it’s highly recommended to come prepared since they’re difficult to pass.

While there are a number of colleges and universities that offer LEED certification courses, it can be difficult for you to find the time necessary to go back to school as a working professional.

A solution does exist, however, and you’re reading it at this very moment.

Enterprise Training is an official USGBC education provider, and we offer on-demand courses dedicated to LEED certification which you can consume at your pace from the comfort of your own home.

As an ETS Learner, you’ll also receive access to over 60 state and national affiliations and accreditations courses, the completion certificates, and the ability to print course materials for later reference.

If you’re interested in becoming LEED certified to improve your career while building a more sustainable world, start your free trial of Enterprise Training today.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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Adult Learning Theory and eLearning: Why and How to Educate Yourself Best

Remember what famous rockstar Alice Cooper told us?

“Schoooooooool’s out! Forever!”

He was right…sort of.

While traditional school may be over for you, the thing you did in school – learning – probably isn’t.

Like most working adults, you may have decided to continue your education.

Or, perhaps you haven’t yet and know that you should.

Well, in today’s post we’ll go over why adults continue learning (adult learning theory), how adults effectively learn, and the #1 method for learning every adult can benefit from.

So first up, the reason for continuing education.

Why Adults Continue Learning

There are many reasons why adults decide to seriously learn new subjects and skills long after graduation.

We list the 3 most common reasons below.

To Advance Their Career

Probably the biggest reason adults undertake learning initiatives is to move up the ladder in the organization they work for.

This is especially true if you work in a culture of continuous learning.

The fact is, ongoing education makes you more valuable as an employee. You will inevitably know more than your peers, be able to do more than them, and be able to take on the greater responsibilities that come with a promotion and raise.

Of course, expanding your education also makes you more marketable.

Consider licenses or certifications like the CISSP certification. That goes a long way in helping you find a better job or get the accreditation you require to move up in your agency.

To Keep Their Minds Active

Beyond career goals, many adults decide to further their education in order to keep their minds active and healthy.

According to the Association for Psychological Science:

“New research indicates that only certain activities — learning a mentally demanding skill like photography, for instance — are likely to improve cognitive functioning.”

A psychological scientist and the lead researcher Denise Park of the University of Texas at Dallas goes on to say that:

“It seems it is not enough just to get out and do something—it is important to get out and do something that is unfamiliar and mentally challenging, and that provides broad stimulation mentally and socially. When you are inside your comfort zone you may be outside of the enhancement zone.”

Learning new skills, even in the work environment, will provide the stimulation needed to keep your mind healthy.

To Earn a Degree

For some people, they need to continue learning to get the degree they never got, and may need.

This may for career advancement, but it may also be personal.

More often than not, we learn things for reasons that have nothing to do with making money or advancing our careers. Rather, many people continue learning to prove to themselves that they can do it. To feel a sense of personal achievement and to receive the honor of that achievement, like a degree from a good university.

Whatever the reason, it’s never too late to continue learning, which is what we cover in the next section.

How Adults Learn (Adult Learning Theory)

What regular people call adult education, famed American educator Malcolm Shepherd Knowles called Andragogy – a synonym that basically means the art, science, and theory of adult learning.

Knowles became famous for penning his “5 assumptions of Adult Learners”:

Self-concept – While children have a dependent concept of self, adults see themselves as self-direction.
Adult learner experience – The more an adult has learned, the more knowledge an understanding they can bring to the next subject.
Readiness to learn – An adult’s readiness to learn is more dependent on their social roles than on their physiological development, like it is in children.
Orientation to learning – Adults orient themselves around learning in terms of immediate application.
Motivation to learn – The most powerful motivator to learn comes from within for adults, while external motivators like a promotion or a raise also play a role.

These 5 assumptions tell you how adults should approach learning, but not the methods for learning itself.

That’s what we touch on in the next section.

Why eLearning is the Best Option for Adult Learning

Adults can use books, videos, in-person trainers, lived experience, and a host of other ways to actually take information into their brains and learn it.

But the #1 way…

The way that matches Knowles’ 5 assumptions of adult learners…

Is eLearning.

It allows adults to learn in short bursts on their own, called microlearning.

It’s more effective than other forms of learning.

And it’s one of the cheapest options out there.

If you need to implement an adult learning platform in your agency that covers every topic under the sun from IT to project management, then get your free trial of Enterprise Training below!

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!Schedule Free Consultation

Why Soft Skills Training Matters (And How to Give It to Your Employees)

When managers think of training, they often think of hard skills. Technical skills.

The skills that “get the job done.”

And those skills are very important.

But there’s a range of skills that matter just as much, or as we’ll show you later, matter more than hard skills.

And those are soft skills.

The kind of skills that have to do with the way you think, the way you behave, and how you interact with other people.

Which leads to the natural question:

Why Do Soft Skills Matter?

West Monroe set out to answer that same question by surveying 1,250 individuals across two surveys made up of 600 HR and recruiting professionals and 650 full-time employees who regularly work with their company’s technology teams.

Here’s what they found:

98% of HR leaders say soft skills are important in landing a technology position. In fact, they think they’re so important that 67% say they didn’t hire technically qualified candidates because they lacked soft skills.
Verbal communication and collaboration were ranked as the most important soft skills.
Once hired, most companies don’t invest in developing their technology professionals’ soft skills. Nearly one-quarter of companies provide soft skills training to line-of-business employees, but not to IT.

HR leaders consider leadership to be the least important soft skill for prospective technology hires.
Technology employees often don’t ascend the career ladder, with 39% of companies lacking a technology background in the c-suite.

43% of full-time employees say soft-skills-related challenges with IT have negatively impacted their work.
Collaboration-based issues have delayed or prolonged a project for 71% of respondents. One-third of employees have missed a deadline altogether because of communication issues.

It should be clear now why soft skills are important. But before you can start training your employees in these skills, you need to know what skills to train them in.

What are Some of the Top Soft Skills?

LinkedIn recently surveyed 291 hiring managers in the U.S. and the majority of them (59%) believed that soft skills were difficult to find.

So they “analyzed the soft skills listed on the profiles of members who job-hopped (defined as a member changing their employer on their LinkedIn profile) between June 2014 and June 2015 to identify the most sought-after soft skills among employers.”

According to the results of their findings, the most in-demand soft skills are:

Communication
Organization
Teamwork
Punctuality
Critical thinking
Sociability
Creativity
Interpersonal communication
Adaptability
Friendly personality

And these were the least in-demand soft skills:

Business planning
Cross-functional team leadership
Emotional intelligence
Team building
Coaching
Management
Analysis
Team management
Resume writing
Business

A study coming from Google confirms some of these skills.

In 2013, Google wanted to understand what qualities their top employees all possessed.

Shockingly, STEM expertise came in last.

The other seven characteristics were:

Being a good coach
Communicating and listening well
Possessing insights into others (including their different values and points of view)
Having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues
Being a good critical thinker
Being a problem solver
And being able to make connections across complex ideas.

So there is without a doubt a very high need for soft skills and not enough employees have them.

The question is…

How Do You Conduct Soft Skills Training?

By giving them the ability to learn soft skills at their own pace at work, home, their commute or anywhere else.

Soft skills take time to learn and practice.

It’s not the same as hard skills where you can memorize a fact or process and put it into action.

Soft skills need to be refined. You need feedback from your peers as you try new communication methods, new ways to think about problems, different ways to engage and lead people.

You need a training platform that’s flexible and can be used on-demand.

Like Enterprise Training.

And if you try out Enterprise Training for 14 days free, you can gain immediate access to our top soft skills training course:

Smart Leadership, parts 1-6.

Along with hundreds of other leadership and professional development courses.

If improving soft skills is a goal for your organization, start your free trial of Enterprise Training today.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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7 Digital Learner Preferences to Know in 2019

What are the digital learning preferences of your employees?

If you don’t know, your employees may secretly hate learning, or worse, they aren’t absorbing what you teach them – leading to constant retraining, poor performance, and bad customer service.

All of which can be reversed when you do know about digital learner preferences.

And the Digital Learning Consortium is here to show you just what they are.

They recently released a survey titled Voice of the Learner conducted during the spring and summer of 2018 that gathered responses from 5,000 learners spanning 5 generations from 114 countries in 15 professions.

So you know they found some good stuff.

We’re going to detail the major takeaways from this study below to show you how to design digital learning programs that your employees look forward to taking.

7 Digital Learner Preferences

1. A.I. Without Privacy Violations

Most respondents said they would use A.I.

They recognize the benefits of A.I., such as automatically identifying skill gaps and recommending learning activities to fill the gaps.

There’s just one sticking point:

Privacy.

Many respondents said they were worried about how their managers would use information collected using A.I. They’re afraid it may be used against them when being given assignments or during performance evaluations.

Keep this in mind if you decide to implement A.I. and attempt to keep things as transparent and voluntary as possible.

2. Learning Records That Are Controlled by Individual Learners

The majority of survey respondents (over two-thirds) want learning records that follow them throughout their career, enabling them to view and share their progress with anyone.

But once again, the issue of privacy crops up.

These same employees want to be in complete control over their records instead of giving control to a 3rd-party. Essentially, they would act like “supercharged resumes or LinkedIn profiles” that were kept secure by the learner themselves.

3. Online Courses and Digital Reading over Video

While online courses had the highest mean importance, respondents spent the most time each week (1.6 hours) on digital reading, both overtaking video in importance and time spent.

It seems respondents didn’t enjoy audio or webcasting.

4. Learning Alone

Another surprising finding from this study is that 58% of respondents said they prefer learning alone rather than in groups (when engaged in a Massive Open Online Course environment).

At the same time, 70% of respondents agreed that peer-to-peer interactions enhance the learning experience. But if they form learning groups, most of them preferred group sizes of 3-6 instead of large group sessions.

5. Longer Learning Sessions over Microlearning

As if this report didn’t feature enough shocking information, it turns out that most people don’t prefer microlearning.

Here’s how the numbers broke down:

51% prefer 20-45 minute learning sessions.
24% prefer 1-2 hour long learning sessions.
9% prefer 5-10 minute learning sessions.

This tells us that a mix of learning experiences would be best, allowing individual employees to tailor the learning experience to their preferences.

6. A Clear Link Between Learning and Their Career

Now, this next point should come as no surprise:

Over 70% of respondents are more motivated to learn when they see a clear link between what they’re learning and how it furthers their career.

If you can create a culture of continuous learning that rewards intelligent and competent employees with raises, promotions, perks, rewards, etc., then you’re employees will gladly engage in your learning programs.

7. Centralized Learning Hub

78% of respondents prefer a centralized learning hub where they can access all of their training from anywhere.

They don’t care much about seeing the speaker or in virtual reality, but they do care about having personalized recommendations and an organized knowledge database they can use at will.

The Next Step in Meeting Digital Learner Preferences

Now you know what your employees want from your learning initiative.

The next step is to give it to them.

But you don’t want to provide it haphazardly – one program for this and another for that.

Like the last point in our list above, you want to give your employees a central hub of information they can access while in the office, on a train home, or in their bedroom.

You have to make learning easy for them.

And it should include courses, reading material, and videos to cater to all different needs and learning preferences.

Where can you find all of this in one package?

Right here at Enterprise Training.

We have over 6,000 online government training courses covering everything from cybersecurity to project management.

If you need a one-stop-shop for your employees’ learning needs, then try a 14-day free trial of Enterprise Training today by clicking the button below.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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SB 1300 and SB 1343: What California Employers Need to Know

SB 1300 and SB 1343 #metoo movement sign — SB 1300 and SB 1343 were passed in response to high-profile allegations of sexual harassment.

Out of the 1,217 bills that passed across Governor Jerry Brown’s desk, he signed 1,016 and vetoed 201.

Two of the bills signed will dramatically alter the relationship between employers and employees in regards to sexual harassment complaints and legal action taken in the wake of an employee harassment complaint.

These bills are SB 1300 and SB 1343, and they were pushed and promptly passed in large part due to the #metoo movement.

They both expand mandated harassment training and SB 1300 in particular, expands the definition of sexual harassment and offers new legal protections for employees who are harassed, similar to what California SB 396 attempted to accomplish, but taking it one step further.

We’ll go over each of these bills in detail so you know what training you need to provide to staff and what the changes to the legal code mean for your relationships with your employees.

To start, let’s briefly cover SB 1343 since that’s the most straightforward of the two.

What is SB 1343?

SB 1343 only applies to businesses who employ 5 or more people.

There already exists a 2-hour sexual harassment training requirement for managers and supervisors, but SB 1343 mandates an additional training requirement for non-managers, including temporary or seasonal workers.

Both the 2-hour training and 1-hour training must be provided to staff by January 1, 2020. Every 2 years, you need to provide 1-hour of this training to all staff again.

If you hire employees after January 1, 2020, they must take the 1-hour sexual harassment training within 6 months of working on the job.

What is SB 1300

SB 1300 is a sweeping harassment bill that applies to all California employers regardless of how many employees they have or how large or small the business is.

We’ll do our best to cover all the major points here.

First off, employers are no longer allowed to offer the following in exchange for a raise, bonus, or as a condition of employment or continued employment:

Require an employee to sign a release that basically says they’re not allowed to possess a claim or injury against an employer or other entity, such as a civil action, or notify governmental entities such as law enforcement.
Require an employee to sign a non-disparagement agreement or something similar that denies the employee’s right to expose unlawful acts in the workplace, such as sexual harassment or otherwise.

Here are the other major points you need to know:

Employers may be responsible for the acts of nonemployees harassing employees and other nonemployees such as interns, volunteers, and service contractors.
A single incident of harassment is enough to bring the case to trial and raise the issue of a hostile work environment if the harasser’s behavior has unreasonably interfered with the plaintiff’s work environment.
No workplace will be held to a different standard regarding sexual harassment than any other workplace.
Defendants in harassment cases are prohibited from being awarded attorney’s fees and costs unless the court determines that the action brought against the defendant was frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless or that the plaintiff continued to litigate after it clearly became so.

SB 1300 Bystander Training

SB 1300 takes their training a step further and authorizes employers to provide employees with bystander intervention training, which includes:

Information and practical guidance for bystanders to recognize harassment when it occurs.
The skills, confidence, and motivation to intervene in a problematic situation.
And resources to use if they do intervene.

What Judicial Decisions Does SB 1300 Affirm?

SB 1300 took a look at existing judicial decisions and aligned with those it favored and departed from those it rejects.

Here are the cases it approves of and used as a basis for this new legislation:

Harris v. Forklift Systems. In this case, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated plainly that “the plaintiff need not prove that his or her tangible productivity has declined as a result of the harassment. It suffices to prove that a reasonable person subjected to the discriminatory conduct would find, as the plaintiff did, that the harassment so altered working conditions as to make it more difficult to do the job.”
Reid v. Google, Inc. In this case, the California Supreme Court rejected the “stray remarks doctrine,” because the “existence of a hostile work environment depends on the totality of the circumstances and a discriminatory remark, even if made not directly in the context of an employment decision or uttered by a nondecisionmaker, may be relevant, circumstantial evidence of discrimination.”

Nazir v. United Airlines, Inc. In this case, it was observed that “hostile working environment cases involve issues ‘not determinable on paper.’”

How Can You Prepare for SB 1300 and SB 1343?

Well, you’re going to need to provide extensive harassment training to your employees, managers, and supervisors.

Which means you need an easy way to access this information. You also want to make it as simple as possible for your employees to take this training.

We can help make this happen.

We have a full library of courses, ebooks, and videos that meet harassment training guidelines, such as:

Sexual Harassment Prevention for Employees
Smart Workplaces: Sexual Harassment Prevention for Field Managers & Supervisors California AB 1825 and all 50 States
Harassment Prevention for Managers – State and Local Government Sector Edition

The best part is, they’re all available immediately after signing up. To claim your free trial of Enterprise Training, simply click the button below.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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