The importance of flexible learning in the finance sector

Flexible learning isn’t often considered by L&D professionals. But in the finance sector, it can truly make all the difference. In 2019, Deloitte highlighted a new way for learning to take place: learning in the flow of work and life. The report emphasises that empowering people to actively progress throughout their lives would require development, learning and new experiences weaved into the day-to-day (often real-time) flow of work. And, I agree. In this blog I’m going to highlight the importance of flexible learning, especially in the finance sector:

Time saving

Financial institutions possibly have some of the widest variety of roles in the corporate world. These range from time constrained teams, where even 30 seconds can make a whole lot of difference, to teams that can structure their days more freely to employees that spend most of their day on the field. For this reason, I picture L&D professionals more like researchers, you not only need to understand what skills learners need in their jobs but also where digital learning can integrate in their daily schedule. I believe microlearning is extremely fitting for the fast-paced teams within the finance market as it gives learners control over their learning.

Meeting learner’s tech needs

As L&D professionals, another area you need to consider is the wide demographic bank societies have, as you need to be able to engage them all. Take into account the age of your learners, how comfortable they are with technology, and if they have access to the technological tools to participate in learning.

In their own time

Training in person, lasting hours, is a thing of the past. Nowadays people want flexibility when it comes to their time, this includes learning when they choose to. Flexibility has been a big selling point for startups. Hence why, established companies need to start offering it too, if they want to be perceived as an attractive employer.

How about you? What has your organisation done to understand the daily routines of learners before rolling out training? How are you promoting flexible learning in your organisation?