Johannesburg, 19 Aug 2013
In today's job market, taking online courses helps workers remain competitive and they don't need to take time off from their jobs to do it. Learning solutions provider Bytes People Solutions has made this type of continuous learning a reality in the workplace, by providing 50 of its employees with the opportunity to further develop their skills through the company's online skills portal.
Course modules completed by the staff included topics such as introduction to sales, developing the capacity to think strategically, understanding a manager's role, communicating with confidence, and recognising and responding to conflict, among others.
"To survive and thrive in today's tough economy, people need to continually upgrade their skills set," says Dr Madelise Grobler, MD of Bytes People Solutions. "That is a key principle in our organisation, and we wanted to make that opportunity available to our own staff. In a difficult climate, however, face-to-face learning activities are expensive. That's why online learning and assessment has many benefits to offer, and it should be part of everyone's career development."
Costs and time are two key factors in ongoing learning. "Having the option of taking online classes and studying in your own time is critically important," Grobler adds. "Because it is so cost-effective and can be done independently, online learning is a reality and it's a convenient solution to skills development that should be encouraged in the workplace."
She stresses that it's important for organisations to ensure they follow a structured process when it comes to continuous learning. "It's critical to assess each individual and to ascertain what skills they need to develop their career. That's the approach we take with all our clients' organisations, to ensure that both the business and their people gain the maximum benefit from our learning solutions. The fact is that a career is a work in progress and the job of learning is never done."
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