T H E BI G STORY: L EA RN I N G & D E V E LO PM E N T
VIRTUAL LEARNING IN ACTION
Louise Campbell, head of learning and development, EMEAA, at Robert Walters, sees the purpose of L&D as twofold: to educate and upskill staff and to bring staff together to collaborate and reinforce the organisational culture. This became hugely challenging for many organisations during Covid as face-to-face programmes disappeared. She said the company realised that there was an opportunity for L&D to play a vital part in not only educating, but also retaining and engaging existing staff. “We listened to what our employees were thinking/feeling and adapted accordingly,” she said. Robert Walters quickly revamped its onboarding programme to become a virtual one by enlisting multiple leaders in the group to run a variety of interactive sessions on the recruitment cycle. Groups were kept small and informal, with high levels of participation. Sessions included real-
I M AG E S | S H UT T E R STO C K
Learning and Development_Recruiter May June 2022_Recruiter.indd 23
life challenges and scenarios and lots of breakout rooms with role plays. “This ensured high levels of participation and access to multiple business leaders that traditionally would not be active in a classroom environment,” says Campbell. “It was amazing to see so many of our senior leaders enthusiastically run online training sessions and this is something we will continue long term as engagement is so high – everyone wants to hear from the most successful people in our group and gain some insight into what works for them.” The company also recognised that some people were feeling isolated, overwhelmed and anxious at this time. To address this, the company ran weekly ‘Good to Great’ webinars and opened the invitation to all staff. A huge variety of topics were covered such as resilience, health and wellbeing, time management, along with traditional upskilling
programmes. “We noticed great uptake in these sessions, as it gave people an opportunity to step away from their day-to-day business, speak to colleagues and just have a wellness check in which was much needed at the time,” says Campbell. For the most part online learning was embraced by all, reports Campbell. She cites the major upsides of online learning bringing people together and increased cross collaboration across territories, access to senior leaders and colleagues across the globe which was previously restricted by territory. But there are downsides, she says, including “Zoom/Teams fatigue”. “Although there is a place for virtual learning to continue in the future, there needs to be a blend as people really miss face-to-face interaction,” she says. “As we move back to a hybrid working environment, decide which sessions can continue virtually and which would be better face-to-face.”
WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 23
28/04/2022 09:40