6 Ways To Cut Microlearning Training Costs Without Cutting Corners

Microlearning Costs 6 Ways To Reduce Them
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Summary: Training your team isn’t cheap, but it’s always worth the investment. Especially if you know how to stretch resources with a microlearning training strategy that’s cost-effective and learner-centered.

6 Tips To Cut Microlearning Costs

Employees know when a company gets stingy with training resources. The courses start to show signs of aging and all the "new" activities are subpar. But there are ways to save money and still retain the quality, particularly if you develop a microlearning training strategy that recycles assets and centers on relevant performance gaps. Staffers appreciate the continual support and it will show in the workplace. An increase in productivity, a reduction in compliance breaches, and a spike in employee retention are just a few of the bite-size learning benefits, and these tips can help you cut microlearning training costs without cutting corners.

eBook Release: Maximizing Microlearning: How To Leverage Bite-Sized Support For Remote Teams
eBook Release
Maximizing Microlearning: How To Leverage Bite-Sized Support For Remote Teams
Actionable tips to deploy your own microlearning training program to stretch available resources!

1. Reuse Existing Training Materials

It’s time to get creative and devise new uses for those shelved resources, like that webinar that’s been collecting dust for a year or courses that contain all the essentials but are too long to be classified as bite-sized. Stretch your microlearning budget through the power of upcycling. Take stock of your assets to see what you’re working with and identify prime candidates. The entire activity may not be salvageable, but you can break it up and use certain elements such as video clips or images that tie into the current training goals.

2. Focus On A Single Objective

This tip is usually associated with cognitive overload. You center on a single objective to keep things simple for the mental schema so that employees remember the key takeaways. However, it’s also a profitable perk for your organization. Don’t try to cover too much ground and only include pertinent details. Center on a singular goal, gap, or objective instead of cramming multiple subjects into one activity. That way, every microlearning training resource serves a distinct purpose and is easier to maintain. When rules change, you just have to adjust that tutorial or demo instead of modifying an entire section of the JIT library.

3. Host More Live Events

I know what you’re probably thinking. How does adding even more to my L&D plate reduce costs? But let me explain. Live events serve a dual purpose. Those attending the live event interact with peers and instructors in real time. However, you can also break up the webinar into smaller video clips to reduce your microlearning budget. Include time stamps in the original script to indicate where you’ll divide the footage after the fact to make life easier on your team. Also, host more unconventional live events on social media. For instance, impromptu Facebook Q&As that only last ten minutes but cover all the need-to-know information.

4. Re-evaluate Your Training Library

The costs may be piling up not because of new content development but problems with existing microlearning assets. For instance, outdated demos or infographics that are no longer relevant, or simulations that have been amended and expanded so many times they’re more like a meal than a bite-size snack. There are numerous ways to analyze the repository. Start with LMS reports looking for activities with low engagement or completion ratings, then delve deeper to find out why the resource is lacking and how to improve your design. If necessary, take it out of the rotation for a while to do more thorough maintenance. Irrelevant resources only weigh down your library and add to employee confusion. Another option is to survey your team and identify their micro favorites and flops.

5. Encourage Employee Contributions

There may be a valuable training asset you’ve overlooked. Employees are a treasure trove of knowledge. Everyone has their strengths and talents to share with the team. So, encourage them to develop microlearning training and impart their expertise. You may still have to hire a microlearning content provider to fill in the holes. However, employee contributions can help reduce spending and boost participation. They’re not just passive observers but active content creators. Their peers benefit from their unique backgrounds and the creators reinforce their knowledge base as they must sum up the information and understand the context behind it in order to develop content. Make sure there’s an admin to review the resource before uploading. Their job is to verify accuracy and brand alignment.

6. Include Social Learning Support

Social learning is free to implement if you know which tools to employ. Granted, there are some platforms that involve hosting fees, etc., such as online discussion forums on your own domain. Here are just a few social learning support tools you can use to cut microlearning training expenses without sacrificing quality:

  • Live chats. Many LMSs now have built-in live chats to facilitate knowledge sharing. Employees can hop onto the system to get guidance from peers (AKA in-house experts) or even instructors who happen to be online at the time.
  • Peer coaching mini-sessions. Set up peer coaching groups and schedule weekly mini-sessions. This gives them a chance to catch up and provide feedback, as well as address new challenges or obstacles they’ve encountered on the job.
  • Social media pointers. Post daily social media tips and tricks to help remote workers improve performance. It can even be in the form of a reflective question that prompts them to evaluate their own behaviors and habits.

Conclusion

Cutting corners and compromising on quality is not an option for organizations that need to mitigate risks and retain their top talent. So, use these tips to cut costs and still maintain the high-quality content that your employees expect. The first step is evaluating assets you already have through a repurposing lens, as well as putting your existing library under the microscope to see if it’s up to par or needs some minor adjustments. Then fill in the gaps with employee contributions, social learning activities, and live event recordings.

Another great way to cut costs is to hire microlearning content providers who know their stuff. It may seem counterintuitive to spend money by outsourcing the project. However, their expertise can help you prevent costly mistakes and speed up the development timeline.

Download our eBook Maximizing Microlearning: How To Leverage Bite-Sized Support For Remote Teams to improve engagement and reduce on-the-job mistakes.