Introduction to Workplace Learning

What is Workplace Learning?

Today the workplace itself is a significant source of learning and workplace learning is broadly defined as the acquisition of knowledge or skills by formal or informal means that occurs in the workplace. With the rapid speed of change and the need for new knowledge and skills to keep pace with change, working is increasingly interconnected with learning and skills can be continuously upgraded to stay relevant through workplace learning.

According to the 70:20:10 model of learning proposed by Michael M. Lombardo and Robert W. Eichinger, 70% of our learning comes from working on-the-job or from our experiences at the workplace, 20% of our learning comes from observing, being coached and mentored by others while 10% of our learning comes from attending classes or formal learning programmes.

Workplace learning is more concerned with informal learning rather than formal education and qualifications. The methods of workplace learning may take many forms and, and can be categorised into different types that involve a learning interventions such as in-house training sessions, learning through coaching and mentoring self-driven continuous learning

Benefits of Workplace Learning

In the manpower-lean environment that most businesses operate in today, making full use of learning opportunities at work has become a business imperative in order to minimise downtime in operations.

Enterprises committed to supporting and developing their staff to grow into the job, excel on-the-job, and move across or up the organisation ladder will be more successful at retaining talent. This is especially critical for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as they face more challenges in terms of recruitment, training and retention.

Importance of Workplace Learning

Learning happens all the time. We don’t go into a course thinking: “For the next six hours I’m going to learn. After that I’m going to stop.”

You might think that as an adult, your learning days are over. Wrong! We learn every day, especially at work. We learn how to do our job, how to communicate with people, new tips and tricks, and sometimes we even learn how to learn.

When we think of learning, most of us think about schools and universities, or of career training with a focus on job requirements and professional advancement being the key impetus. Learning is even seen by some companies as a costly disruption to workplace productivity.

But did you know that learning which happens through work and for work is way more effective than learning outside of work? Multiple studies over the past few years have shown that the workplace can be a really effective, if not the most effective, place to learn.