Dispersed workforces are prominent in a range of industries and have contributed to the rise in some of the most renowned companies in the world such as Uber, Airbnb and Deliveroo which comprise the ‘gig’ economy. Many are attracted to such industries due to their flexible working hours, independence and ability to control your own schedule. However, despite these positive features, they go hand in hand with isolation and stunted development through having little to no direct contact with the employer and minimal opportunity to complete the necessary training. These setbacks can have a detrimental effect on employee welfare and the overall relationship between employee and staff, which if not addressed, could cause low staff retention rates and lower pride in your company’s service and reputation in the long-term.
One prolific similarity that industries in the gig economy shares is smartphones – with most employees checking their apps to gain work. This suggests that the most logical way to make training accessible to employees is through these devices.
The benefits of mobile training
Mobile learning benefits are numerous when remote devices are carefully utilised with robust software. Using eLearning in compliance training to educate employees in dispersed workforces on specific laws, regulations and company policies has proven to be thoroughly effective across industries. It ensures employees are correctly representing their company and brand, particularly important in customer-service facing environments which largely populate the gig economy. One platform which is well-known for this is Wranx- they can accommodate easily digestible chunks of information for employees to complete, usually in 2-3 minute drills.
Learning is more compact for those in the gig economy, who often work longer hours than the average 37.5 hour per week worked by those in full-time, fixed term positions. Mobile learning trends enable huge cost and time savings, meaning employees can spend more time working rather than training. This keeps employees happy as they are often paid per hour / job, as well as gig economy employers who take a sizeable cut of the overall revenue.
Mobile training offers a variety of accessible methods such as apps, games and video content, appealing to the younger generation of workers, who fill the majority of gig-economy roles. Short, focused activities not only make the user more inclined to complete these tasks, but also increase their retention of knowledge over a longer period of time and has been shown to effectively facilitate the transfer of information from short-term to long-term memory.
The transition to mobile training
The rise in mobile training across self-employed industries, with a 36% increase since 2008, is unsurprising and can only held attributable to its user-friendly convenience and engaging content so commonly surpassed in professional industries.The fact that Quickclass makes a bespoke learning platform for each company they service means users are exposed to non-generic information and a personalised touch which keeps their concentration far longer than simply trawling through an unidentifiable text. Undoubtedly, corporate eLearning best practices would do well to encompass mobile training into their eLearning programme to increase the rates of self-study amongst its full-time employees.
