Supporting Remote Work With an LMS: 5 Big Benefits for Any Business

Utilizing a business LMS to deliver training and professional development is the new norm. Post-pandemic, besides the obvious ability to connect employees at a distance, which can be particularly helpful for companies with multiple locations or global scale, there are many additional benefits to transitioning from traditional training to an eLearning environment. These include:

• Employers can conduct more accessible trainings that learners can access, as well as other types of engaging content and resources, from any device at their convenience.
• Businesses with multiple locations can save significant time and money by managing onboarding, compliance, and other training programs in an online format.
• It provides the opportunity for learning managers to incorporate a variety of learning approaches such as microlearning, video-based learning, and simulations for more engaging and impactful courses.

If your organization already employs an LMS for these purposes, you also have access to a powerful tool that can support remote work environments beyond just training and development. A flexible and interoperable solution, the LMS can help you support, educate, and connect your remote team.

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Why LMS Platforms Are Ideal for Remote Work

Cloud-based LMS options already have the main framework you need to supercharge remote jobs. These advanced software systems can hold immense amounts of organizational data, including videos, images, documents, records, and SCORM files. In addition, a good LMS will allow you to track and manage employee progress through required learning or activities.

Finally, many open-source LMS platforms like Open LMS and Totara Learn provide features that accommodate organizational communication, such as forums, as well as interactive learning tools (gamified learning, augmented reality, and much more). With some adjustments, organizations can use these solutions to coordinate team efforts while working remotely.

Why Remote Employees Need Ongoing Support

Working from home can be beneficial for employees and businesses alike, particularly as hybrid offices are so common after the pandemic. Companies can continue serving their clients and workers can enjoy greater flexibility. However, remote jobs also come with a few challenges: lack of personal motivation, time management troubles, communication difficulties, and loneliness.

Leveraging the organization’s LMS platform wisely can help L&D professionals and HR managers better connect and engage employees that are working from home. Here are some of the benefits an LMS provides for remote environments:

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1) Collaboration & Positive Wellbeing

One of the top things employees tend to miss about working in an office is the regular interaction with coworkers. Even if people typically handle their job duties alone, the impromptu brainstorming, casual conversations, or even friendly greetings that happen throughout the day can have a positive effect on an employee ’s emotional outlook and provide added value to working at your organization.

2) Employee Interactions

An LMS can provide opportunities for interaction on forums or in company-wide activities. For example, your company might likes to use its LMS as a culture-building tool where it frequently provides company-wide initiatives that are managed through the LMS like job swaps and more. In this way, the LMS can ensure that employees still enjoy human interaction and connection with their colleagues while working from home.

3) Convenient Contact

Thanks to online, cloud-based training solutions, reaching groups of employees and individual team members is easy for L&D managers. Whether this means submitting to forums, encouraging video conferencing sessions, or providing interactive training materials, the platform is accessible anytime and anywhere.

4) Engaging Professional Support

Personalized, relevant training activities via the LMS often provide more tangible, engaging, and measurably successful learning experiences. The ensuing boost in skills or knowledge is often accompanied by a mirrored boost in morale, confidence, and performance, motivating employees with professional development that supports their success. Keeping up with corporate training programs can have an energizing effect, reminding workers what to prioritize and encouraging them to continuously improve their performance.

5) Team-Strengthening Activities

Many businesses organize group training sessions. The opportunity to socialize and learn with other people can have an excellent impact on employee satisfaction and productivity. These sessions also provide a chance for employees to realign their daily activities with the company mission. Virtual training sessions can be conducted across departments and locations through the LMS, allowing you to better connect organization members through engaging L&D.

Furthermore, one of the biggest benefits to offering LMS-based training during remote working situations is that it allows L&D managers to monitor the ongoing needs of employees. LMS platforms offer significant flexibility for course design so professionals can create tailored instruction for any situation. With an LMS, you can address time-sensitive issues and provide helpful guidance that makes a difference precisely when it’s needed.

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How to Maximize eLearning Experiences and Remote Collaboration

The principles behind effective eLearning and productive work from home are virtually identical. This means that L&D professionals are well prepared to keep company teams running smoothly, even in a remote working environment.

Here are a few effective tips:

i) Track Progress

For eLearning and remote projects, administrators need to stay on top of employee progress. Use LMS reporting tools to track timely completion of goals and identify if there are any overarching areas of struggle that may need to be addressed.

ii) Confirm Attentiveness

Another helpful feature of LMS software is the ability to check that team members are engaging with your training content. Organizations can collect both formal and informal learning data through their LMS in order to track and report on the effectiveness of their L&D programs. The result is increased information retention and more successful training programs.

iii) Encourage Healthy Competition

One way to keep people motivated is by incorporating gamified content into your learning strategy. For example, grouping individuals into various teams can provide a sense of camaraderie and helps employees engage with one another. Using badges, points, certifications, or leaderboards to recognize achievement can help employees maintain their forward momentum by inspiring self-motivation as well as some friendly competition with colleagues.

iv) Set Realistic Goals

It’s easy to get ahead of yourself with big goals for your LMS. However, you need to set realistic expectations when it comes to L&D and at what level you expect your employees to engage with the LMS. Implement processes that make ongoing L&D an achievable goal, and keep in mind the bandwidth of your employees. With other responsibilities to juggle, make it easy for employees to use the LMS and incorporate the system into the culture of your company. This can include managers using hierarchies, role-based learning plans, and competency-based education in order to create personalized learning experiences and setting clear, manageable goals for employees.

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Using a Business LMS for Your Training Needs

The features of your LMS can be fine-tuned to adapt to the specific goals and/or needs of your organization. With the help of LMS professionals and the flexibility of an open-source solution, you can create an eLearning program that effectively supports remote work.

Additionally, an LMS can help companies weather the unexpected. With the help of cutting-edge LMS technology and high-touch eLearning support, an LMS can help companies future-proof their eLearning programs and other processes.

Note: A version of this case study originally appeared on the eThink Education blog. eThink is now part of Open LMS and some details of the case study have been updated accordingly.