How to develop a learning culture focused on carers in the workplace

Identifying caregivers in your teams and creating a special HR strategy for them is a must; prioritising staff emotional wellbeing and learning needs is not only the right thing to do as a responsible employer, but also has a positive impact on the provision of quality patient care and on the employee’s performance in the workplace.

We believe in supporting carers in the workplace by developing learning cultures for families that involve the people they are taking care of in the learning process.

A competitive advantage

So, what can give your company a sustainable competitive advantage? The ability for carers to acquire any skills they want, when they want them, without content limitations. Allowing your employees to have on-demand, unlimited learning possibilities is potentially the most powerful tool a company can have.

By offering a learning platform that includes ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, videos and courses,  you can make sure that you have content for every employee profile, and also complimentary content that will be of interest to their families in their caregiving roles.

This way, the caregiver will feel supported by the company, by having a personalised learning and development path that can help them to keep growing in the workplace, while also getting their family involved in the process.

The more personalised the learning path for each employee, the more engaged this employee will feel. A learning culture is a collection of organisational conventions, values, practices, and processes. These conventions encourage employees and organisations to develop knowledge and competence. This is why identifying every employee’s professional and personal needs is key to meeting their requirements in a way that helps them to work, be involved in the caring process and to learn.

The benefits of a learning culture

Having a well-established learning culture encourages continuous learning and is consistent with the belief that systems influence each other. Since constant learning elevates an individual as a worker and as a person, it opens opportunities for the establishment to transform continuously for the better. This is true for every employee. But how does it apply to those who are caregivers whenever they are not working?

Here are some key steps in creating a learning culture focused on carers in the workplace:

• Formalise training and development plans, but be flexible

For a learning culture to be ingrained, it should be mandatory for all individuals in the organisation. Nevertheless, for caregivers, it is imperative to have flexibility and even to give them the opportunity to spend their learning time at home, while continuing with their caregiving tasks.

Training and development plans that are not formalised run the risk of not being taken seriously and as a result, not implemented. With a learning platform, in addition to having personalised recommendations about relevant topics for every employee, the company can arrange their own formal learning plans. Each company will be able to create personalised learning clubs that can be introductory to a company’s mission and culture, or specific for different departments: creating a leadership plan for the sales team, boosting teamwork skills within the developers’ team, or having generalised marketing training for every leadership position in the company. This kind of customisation also allows you to offer flexible learning times to carers.

• Give recognition to learning and effort

Employees who have successfully learned new skills and abilities should be recognised and encourage others to follow suit. Caregivers should get extra recognition because of the additional effort they make to learn, and to keep upskilling and boosting their performance at work.

• Involve the person being taken care of

If the employee agrees, include learning content that might be interesting for the employee and for the person that they take care of: if it’s a child, for example, include content for children or families that can be enjoyed together and that reinforces your company values. If the employee is caring for a patient, ask the carer for topics of interest for them both that can be entertaining and can teach both of them new skills. 

• Get feedback

Regularly evaluate the benefits of having a personalised learning plan in the workplace. Most importantly: talk to your employees to understand if they like their learning path and if they find it useful. When talking to carers, ask if the learning path is well adjusted to their needs and schedules.

This article is provided by Odilo.