Learning at Work Week falls from 14 to 20 May this year. The week was created to be the “biggest festival of workplace learning”, and the theme for 2018 is ‘Networked for Learning’.

The event has been running for almost 20 years with a focus on highlighting the benefits of regular learning and development at work. The organiser of Learning at Work Week is national charity Campaign for Learning, in partnership with 2018 sponsors Pearson, The Open University Business School, FindCourses.co.uk, OCN London and The Reading Agency.

On the event website you will find a framework and ideas, but Campaign for Learning stress the need to align training objectives with your business goals.

When you consider the number of different practices and tasks across PR and marketing, agencies and in-house comms teams can find it extremely beneficial to put time aside for learning and development.

Here are some ways to make learning a priority in your business:

Set learning goals

By setting goals you can plan the steps needed to reach that point. It also allows you to monitor progress and ensure your employees truly develop the knowledge they were looking for.

Have a training budget

Although you can do some forms of training for free – reading whitepapers and blogs, attending webinars, booking software demos – being able to attend paid training courses can be useful. Training courses allow you to get really stuck into the subject and ask questions to an expert. They are usually more intense and allow you to immerse yourself in the learning environment.

Get employees to present topics to each other

Share knowledge across whole business by getting employees to present to each other. Either on topics they are already familiar with, or new topics related to their role that they can go away and learn about.

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Allow time for personal development

Learning doesn’t always need to be things that someone needs for their role, it can also be things that will help people to get the most out of themselves. Whether this is developing a skill like public speaking, learning a whole new skill like video editing or taking time to research more productive ways of doing their everyday tasks.

Digital agency atom42 offers employees a “gift of learning” as part of their role.

“We believe that learning something new is one of life’s most satisfying and uplifting experiences. We encourage all atoms to learn as much as possible, and we don’t mean just about online marketing…

We offer the “gift of learning” – where we give funds to our team members to enable them to go out and learn something that they’re excited about. We’ve had people learn all kinds of skills, from pole dancing, home furnishing sewing and even flying trapeze!

Personal development is really important to help keep people happy both in the workplace and in their lives as a whole. The added bonus is meeting new people and gathering great stories along the way.

It must be the cheapest thing we’ve ever done to improve the happiness of those we work with,” explains Paul Egan, Managing Director of atom42.

Your people are essential to your business – they can’t be copied like your products or services and can make the biggest impact on your customers. Spend money and time developing your people, and they are more likely to feel equipped for their daily tasks and passionate about their roles.

Does your company offer any interesting learning opportunities? Share in the comments section below.