How can e-learning help organizations overcome labour shortage challenges? That’s the question we want to answer in this article! Let’s look at the topic using highlights from the labour shortage going on in Quebec and the rest of Canada.
Labour shortage: a worrying challenge for organizations
According to the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, in the first quarter of 2021, one-third of organizations surveyed expected to experience a labour shortage (34.1%) or issues recruiting and retaining qualified employees (33.2%) in the following three months.
This issue affects some sectors more than others. The businesses most concerned with the lack of workers are in the construction, retail, transportation, warehousing, hotel and food services sectors.
(Table available in French only.)
The primary cause for labour market scarcity is a sustained decline in the labour force in Quebec and Canada. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that many baby boomers are retiring.
A BDC study shows the strategy companies are preferring to counter this shortage is to hire less qualified or less experienced workers and then train them in-house.
Developing skills on the job through e-learning is therefore a solution in this case.
E-learning, a flexible and self-guided solution for quick training
One of the reasons labour shortages are a barrier to organizations is that they increase existing employees’ workloads. Once they are hired, new employees are quickly put to task to restore a balanced workload. A training pit stop, therefore, is essential to guarantee their success.
E-learning perfectly meets the need to train new employees quickly thanks to the flexibility of its on-demand format. As soon as they are hired, new recruits can independently browse a training course catalogue and acquire a solid foundation upon which they can rely to start their onboarding.
Because it is complementary to mentoring sessions, online training enhances them. In fact, since the employee already learned basic and general notions in the online courses, a mentor’s teaching can then focus on working knowledge, on challenging work tasks or simply to make time to learn how to work together.
In the end, welcoming and onboarding a new employee into a team that is feeling the pressure due the shortage can become significantly easier using e-learning.
Sources :
https://statistique.quebec.ca/fr/produit/publication/attentes-entreprises-quebec-premier-trimestre-2021-contexte-pandemie-de-covid-19#faits
https://www.bdc.ca/fr/a-propos/analyses-recherche/penurie-main-doeuvre
Contact us
Has this article piqued your interest? Do you want to discuss e-learning solutions tailored to your needs? Get in touch now using the form below!
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and the Terms of Services apply.
