Workplace learning is critical for compliance, safety, customer service, and your company’s bottom line. From this perspective, it makes sense to pour your energy into course and curriculum content. However, if learners aren’t motivated to learn, it doesn’t matter what you’ve uploaded to your LMS. Despite learners’ best intentions, they may procrastinate or put in minimum effort. When learning is done distractedly or sinks to the bottom of an employee’s to-do list, completion rates fall and competencies lag.
To avoid that situation, you need to think about engagement strategies alongside course development. And since some people will always be joiners, you need to focus on individuals who are less motivated and have a harder time staying focused on their training programs.
Getting in the spirit of learning
Have you ever been a fair-weather fan of a local or national sports team that suddenly starts battling for a major championship? Your team colors are suddenly everywhere and everyone’s talking about the competition. You start paying more attention and you follow the team’s progress. The community spirit is infectious and you can’t help being swept up in the excitement. Soon enough, you’re no longer a fair-weather fan, but an equally dedicated participant.
It’s similar with workplace learning. The way to get people engaged and interested is to imbue the process with that same competitive air and feeling of community. When the learning process is interactive, fun, and social, people not only want to get involved, the lessons really hit home, making training efforts more effective.
Why is engagement so important now?
Economic and demographic shifts have had an impact on workplace performance, especially learning. While Return to Office (RTO) policies are trending, remote work is still common in many organizations. Research shows that 39% of full-time employees in the US spend some portion of their work week at home, with 13% being fully remote and 26% in a hybrid working arrangement. Many employees prefer working from home but struggle to make or maintain meaningful connections with colleagues and grasp the basics of company culture.
We’re also witnessing shifting power dynamics between employees and employers that throw learning programs into a gray zone. Younger employees who prioritize work-life balance sometimes shift into low gear when demands feel “extra.” So-called “quiet quitters” complete required work, but don’t go the extra mile. For this demographic, learning can suffer if it feels like an add-on. Skills training requires full focus, concentration, and dedication, which these learners might try to hold back.
With foresight and the right LMS tools, L&D teams can help cultivate a learning approach that includes remote and reticent workers. Engagement features make learning fun and interactive, build camaraderie and connections, and make education an essential part of workplace culture.
6 Absorb Engage features that make learning irresistible
The following features on Absorb Engage are designed to build learner motivation, drive excitement, and keep employees connected—both to curricula and other learners.
1. Eye-catching billboards
Your learning portal is the storefront for your education program. It’s the first thing learners see. To be effective, it needs to grab people’s attention and help them navigate. With Absorb Engage, the Billboards feature sets the stage and encourages learners to dive right in. It’s a customizable template for your portal that entices and attracts.
Well-chosen images and videos attract attention without requiring any login or signup. At a glance, learners can see current courses, new programs, and skills highlights. Clicking inside a billboard image or video take them instantly to the learning product they’re interested in.
2. Incentivizing leaderboards
People love competition—and they love to win! Adding a gamified aspect to employee training creates an instant context that drives engagement. Leaderboards on Absorb Engage give people a goal and a dashboard destination to monitor and track. When learning is tied to a public ranking, it incentivizes people to do well—complete a course, excel at a new competency, and help their team succeed.
3. Stimulating peer meetups
Peer input is vital for learning, but it can be challenging to fold it into on demand training online. Absorb Engage’s Collaborations feature makes it easy for learners to get together to help each other, share tips, ask questions, and collaborate.
An MS Teams integration lets you set up the kind of social space that suits the training program—from discussion groups, to peer-to-peer mentoring sessions, and breakout rooms. Activating employee enhances learning performance and shifts part of the education burden from trainers and managers onto peer networks. Better yet, it tightens social connections across your organization, boosting employee satisfaction and retention.
4. Enriching news articles
Training needs to be customized for different groups of learners and tied to roles for maximum relevance. Setting up news articles on Absorb Engage gives learners timely and vital information in a “journal” format. It enriches their learning experience and helps them perform better in their functions.
By publishing and refreshing articles regularly, you educate employees and make them feel valued. Learners not only stay up to date on topics and issues that are applicable to their work, that information comes “special delivery”—through their very own personalized newsfeed.
5. Taking the pulse with polls
Polls are an easy and fun way for learners to provide direct input and for L&D teams to get real-time insights on the learning process. With Absorb Engage, you can push polls to specific groups of learners to get feedback on courses, to gauge understanding, or to check opinions. Sharing poll results with learners right after they’ve participated makes their involvement visible and shows they’re part of a bigger whole.
6. Interactive social tiles
Another way to boost engagement is by leveraging popular social media platforms and content. Social tiles on Absorb Engage place social content feeds, such as X, Facebook, Slack, or portal-specific social feeds, directly on your LMS. Content from learning teams can get the conversation started, then learners can use social tools to take the baton, by liking, sharing, commenting, and replying to each other in real time. Those conversations make learning impactful and memorable and build lasting connections between people and teams.
Expand your learning toolbox with Absorb Engage
With Absorb LMS, social learning features are part of the package. Leaderboards, polls, and targeted news articles are easy to set up and deliver to learners directly on your training portal. Track how employees engage with Absorb Engage features to drive learning progress and performance even higher.
Engage every single learner at your organization and make your learning programs more effective through interactivity, gamification, and social learning. Take a deeper dive into our social learning suite on our Absorb Engage features page, where you can connect with a representative and sign up for a free demo.
