In the old school of employee training, all training had to take place in person and usually in a group setting for efficiency. This meant that training beyond the basics could typically only take place a few times a year.
 

However, as technological advances continue to accelerate, it has become clear that continuous employee learning is a must for companies to stay competitive. How can companies reach their employees for this continuous training, particularly frontline employees who may be distributed across different locations and virtually all have busy schedules?

One powerful solution is blended training, combining in-person sessions and virtual experiences that employees can join from anywhere. Blended training offers a balanced and “best of both worlds” approach, creating connections in face-to-face learning while making learning accessible and easy to digest in online experiences.

Why Blended Training Can Be a Game-Changer for Frontline Employees

With the acceleration of technology development, business operations move fast and often need to adapt quickly to changes. This makes effective and agile employee training essential, to keep workers up to date with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their roles.

To close skill gaps, upskilling has become a trending topic for many in business today, but frontline workers often miss out on these opportunities. According to a study from Gallup and Amazon, over 70% of employees in computer-related, engineering, and science roles had participated in upskilling within the previous year, while less than one-third of employees in production, transportation, and food prep roles had done so.

Blended training enables companies to overcome one of the biggest training challenges with frontline staff: time. Unlike fully in-person training programs, which require setting aside significant employee time, the virtual experiences in blended training can easily fit into the regular workday. This enables companies to foster a culture of continuous learning.

Critically, effective training also has the potential to increase employee retention. According to the recent Kahoot! 2023 Workplace Culture Report on frontline workers’ aspirations, experiences, and priorities, nearly 1 in 2 U.S. frontline employees said they would stay at their company more than 10 years longer if provided with better training and career support.

How can you design a blended learning experience at work that maximizes benefits for your team members? Here are 4 team blended training tips to get started:

1) Meet employees where they are

With blended training, you can leverage both group and individual learning, in-person and online.

This makes it easier to create a more flexible and accessible experience for employees. While face-to-face training can be vital for hands-on instruction and building teamwork, between these sessions, online learning enables employees to learn more at their own pace, from any location.

Encourage workers to refresh their knowledge when needed by keeping these online training materials accessible on-demand. These digital resources should also be available across platforms, including mobile devices, tablets, and computers. This is especially important for frontline workers, who may not be equipped with a work computer and are more likely to have a smartphone available.

To optimize blended training even further, try the flipped learning model: assign content, such as training videos and readings, to be done independently online, so that employees can actively engage with each other during the next face-to-face training.

2) Use microlearning for mini-lessons with a major impact

While we know that effective training is important, it can be difficult to schedule time for longer training or informational sessions. This is especially true for frontline workers, since it may require other employees to cover their shifts. One powerful solution is microlearning, where trainers or team leaders break down training into bite-sized pieces that are easy to digest and apply right away. Try delivering these microlearning experiences at a consistent cadence, either virtually through your employee app or live during your team huddles.

Take a tactical approach and start with what employees need to know now. Focus only on a few key messages, and leave other topics for next time. This keeps employees learning continuously, but prevents training from ever becoming overwhelming. At the end of the year, you will likely see that employees learned much more than they would have through one or two major training sessions.

3) Leverage technology for better training experiences at scale

Whether your team is made up of desk workers, frontline workers, or both, technology can play an important role in facilitating effective blended training. In fact, in the 2023 Workplace Culture Report, one of the top ways frontline employees want employers to support their learning and development is by providing them access to online learning platforms and resources.

Use technology to get creative with your training sessions – both in-person and virtual – and customize the experiences to your brand identity and company culture. You can also add more engagement through interactivity, including gathering feedback and ideas from employees. Giving every employee a voice is not only critical for helping employees feel empowered and engaged but also to uncover key customer insights.

Don’t forget to use your tech solution’s analytics to track the results of your training too. This allows leaders to identify best practices and continuously optimize the process.

4) Let the games begin

Technology can also help you energize both face-to-face and online training through the power of friendly competition. A game-based learning approach might include testing employees’ knowledge with quiz questions at the end of the training or interspersed throughout the meeting. When employees know they will be quizzed on the information, they will often be even more motivated to pay attention to every detail – especially if there are prizes for the winners!

Teams can use friendly competition during training for many purposes at the same time, including employee engagement and team building, employee recognition, and greater knowledge retention through focused review. To achieve all this, invest in an experience that your team truly finds compelling, and be ready to tailor it to their needs and interests.

Managing a workforce has no shortage of challenges, but fewer are more important to get right than ensuring employees have the knowledge and skills to be successful. By leveraging the opportunities of both face-to-face and virtual learning experiences and optimizing engagement in each format, you can empower your team to stay agile and work smarter together towards your company’s most important goals.

Author Bio

Louisa Rosenheck is the Director of Learning and Inclusive Design at Kahoot!

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