The work landscape across industries is in the midst of a major transformation. More than ever before, organizations of all sizes are relying on remote employees and a globally connected workforce to accomplish both daily and strategic tasks.

Earlier this year, research found that almost 50% of the U.S. workforce completes at least some remote work in the course of a regular week. Globally, trends vary based on culture and technological capabilities, but it’s worth noting that the same trend of an increasingly distributed workforce is true around the world.

This increasingly remote workforce comes with a wide range of benefits, from increased worker satisfaction to sometimes significant cost savings. But it also introduces challenges, particularly in terms of both HR management and training needs.

The Training Challenges of a Global Workforce

As we move into 2018, a number of workplace trends have become increasingly clear. Employees are striving for connectivity, collaboration, and environmental consciousness more than ever before. At the same time, differences in culture along with an increasing awareness of sexual harassment violations and other toxic issues have entered the forefront of considerations across industries.

Within a global workforce, many of these trends and challenges become amplified. Team members who work hundreds and thousands of miles away from each other will find it more difficult to connect, collaborate, and remain engaged. Enter mobile learning, a key tool to bridge the gaps that remote work has introduced.

5 Ways Mobile Learning Can Connect A Global Workforce

As its name suggests, mobile learning describes the act of gaining information through personal devices like smartphones and tablets. In the age of the distributed worker, this type of training and communication mechanism is becoming increasingly vital. It has the ability to streamline education, while also promoting connections between individual workers.

More specifically, here are 5 ways in which mobile learning services can enhance your global workforce.

1) Provide Universal Access 

Above all, the core benefit of any mobile learning education system is its ubiquity. Your training modules hosted in this fashion are accessible from anywhere, and with any device. Different time zones, or preferred methods of engagement, are no longer relevant. Simply build a learning framework, and provide it to your workforce in a way that best suits their needs.

This universal access becomes especially important considering the increasing expectations your workers have for any HR operations. Core functions need to be available 24/7, which includes the onboarding and training modules. Put simply, your workforce doesn’t have time to wait for you until they finally learn about their responsibilities. Mobile learning tailors the learning environment to them, not vice versa. 

2) Enhance Employee Engagement 

Now, your staffers want more than just a paycheck. They want to be involved in the organization’s larger goals and discussions, along with the opportunity to represent it in the community. This engagement can be difficult to produce for a remote worker, but mobile learning can help in the process.

Through your digital training solutions, you can easily distribute the organization’s core goals and objectives in a way that speaks to workers across cultures. You can also implement more participatory mechanisms that encourage each staffer to take initiative and help to drive the organization forward. 

3) Encourage Collaboration on Common Grounds 

As we enter the new year, collaboration and teamwork is increasingly key to both productivity and employee engagement. It’s the role of HR to facilitate the collaborative process both within and between multiple teams. When the individuals involved never physically see or meet each other, that goal can become a difficult challenge.

Mobile-based learning environments can provide significant help to solve that challenge. Standardized modules designed for all collaborators serve to get everyone on the same page, building a baseline of knowledge that removes introductory steps and allows for a greater role of productive collaboration.

4) Increase HR and Training Connectivity 

As discussed in a previous article, “employees worry about taking time off, shutting down their devices and enjoying earned vacation time.” Technology has enabled them to always stay connected, but also increased the responsibility to do so even outside or regular work hours.

Any solution designed to engage workers needs to be available not just from a company computer, but any device that just happens to be close by. By definition, mobile learning can solve that problem. Through portability from desktop to mobile devices, it can build the ideal environment to satisfy your workforce’s need for connectivity. 

5) Account for a Fluid Work Environment 

Contrary to popular perception, a remote workforce is not clear-cut. While increasing numbers of professionals work remotely at some point during the week, they also come back to the office for other days. They value their private space, but also work from open or closed offices. Co-sharing has become popular, but not many professionals use it full-time.

Building a training solution that accounts for this fluidity and constant movement between work spaces can be difficult. A mobile approach is the best possible solution, adding an inherent degree of transferability to your learning modules. It makes your learning system accessible, regardless of the daily processes for an individual trainee.

How to Enhance Your Mobile Learning Education Across the Globe

In theory, mobile learning is the perfect answer for an increasingly global and distributed workforce. But in practice, that can only be true if you implement a solution that is actually designed to take advantage of the benefits outlined above.

Knowledge Anywhere offers education solutions designed specifically for these types of situations. Our learning management system is optimized for mobile devices, helping you manage and educate your workforce regardless of location or device.