With looming inflation, record high quit rates, and massive skills shortages, employers with deskless workers are facing make-or-break challenges in 2022. Even companies that can afford to pay appealingly higher wages are struggling to find and keep employees. So is the key to employee retention something beyond money?
The answer is yes. While it may come as a surprise, investing in mobile training software is a well-kept secret that has helped companies gain a competitive advantage, and mediate some of these impending challenges.
Offer impactful training, even at a distance
As the pandemic began to unfold on a global scale in the beginning of 2020, it became increasingly obvious that essential workers were going to become more important than ever. The vast majority of these workers are deskless, meaning they don’t do their jobs from behind a desk or in traditional office settings. And as such, employees and employers alike found themselves in a catch-22. How do you offer COVID-19 and other job training to new and existing employees, without bringing them into contact with others?
One solution to this problem is to use a traditional LMS or other training software that offers training to employees from laptops and computers. But these are deskless workers we’re talking about, making it unlikely that they would have easy access to these devices on the job. So your options are to either bring them to a space with computers to complete training (which means you might as well just have your in-person onboarding and training sessions), or ask them to complete their training from home. The problem with this second option is that it assumes all employees will have access to a computer, and it also forces employers to bench their people, costing valuable work hours.
What many employers don’t know is that there is a third, better option: mobile training. Mobile-first learning software is software that is designed to be used from smartphones and tablets. In other words, it’s software that is made for deskless employees. And this is the key that releases employers from the catch-22. You can get training in the hands of your people, without bringing them into contact with one another, or benching them from their work.
Decrease quit rates by offering on-the-job support
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 3% of the entire U.S. workforce quit their jobs last August. Quit rates in deskless industries were disproportionately high— 6.8% in food and accommodation services, and 4.7% in retail, for example. To combat this, giant companies like Amazon who can afford to pay employees higher rates are offering huge pay increases and signing bonuses to attract workers. But even with these efforts, tens of thousands of jobs still remain unfilled.
So is there another answer to retaining deskless employees, besides offering more money? The short answer is yes— by offering support. According to a survey by TalentCards, 63% of deskless employees stated that access to additional training would help them feel more connected to their company’s value and mission. Offering mobile training is exactly the kind of support that shows deskless employees that their company cares about them.
Offering deskless employees mobile training accomplishes two things. First, it provides them with tangible support, right at the moment they need it. When an employee needs to reference back to an important piece of training, or needs an answer to a job-specific question, all they have to do is pull out their smartphone, and find the relevant info.
The second benefit of offering mobile training is less tangible, but arguably more impactful. Access to mobile training shows your deskless employees that you care about their growth and development in the company. It’s not just the people who work in offices that get access to training resources, it’s everyone. Because when it comes to retaining employees, making sure your people know that you’re invested in them can make all the difference.
Invest in current employees to cover the skills gap
It’s no secret that the skills deskless workers need to carry out their roles are changing, and fast. According to the National Association of Business Economics, 47% of American employers said that they experienced a shortage of skilled workers in the third quarter of 2021. And 20% said that the job seekers who do apply don’t have the right skills to carry out the role. When you can’t hire employees who already have the skills you’re looking for, the remaining option is to upskill and reskill the ones you do have.
Upskilling and reskilling doesn’t have to be a costly effort. It doesn’t have to involve long training sessions that pull workers away from their jobs. This is where mobile training comes in again. Seventy-eight percent of deskless employees say that they’d prefer to complete training right at work, and 56% believe that additional training will improve their chances of surviving in a job market that is changing due to advancements in tech. That means that the majority of these employees are not only willing to participate in training, they actually want it.
Bottom line: a little training goes a long way
One of the many side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it has revealed on a large scale just how essential deskless workers are to millions of businesses, and to the economy as a whole. As such, employers are forced to come up with more creative and strategic solutions to combat high turnover and skills shortages. Offering mobile training to deskless workers is not only a cost and time-effective solution, but it also brings tremendous value to both employers and employees alike.
