About 66% of learning & development professionals feel that their role has become more strategic post the COVID-19 pandemic, as organizations look to fill skills gaps internally, revealed ‘Leading with Learning’ report.

While learning & development has always been an integral part of most organisations, 66% of L&D professionals feel that their role has become more strategic post the pandemic, as organizations look to fill skills gaps internally. Additionally, 68% of L&D professionals feel that the level of urgency around launching L&D programs has risen significantly, post the pandemic.

Senior leadership teams have truly recognized the value of learning post COVID-19 as findings show that 68% of L&D professionals feel managers are actively promoting learning resources to their teams. In addition to reskilling their workforce, CEOs appear to prioritise learning for themselves as 70% of L&D professionals report that their CEOs are active learning champions today.

With most organizations reshaping themselves to welcome the new world of work, L&D professionals are focused on cultivating resilience and adaptability among employees. Findings support this by stating that 69% L&D professionals globally believe supporting the mental health and well-being of employees is a new part of their role since COVID-19. Additionally, 74% L&D professionals also report that their focus is now on rebuilding or reshaping their organizations for a post COVID-19 world.

Group learning has shown an uptick across the globe  as 75% of L&D professionals expect an increase in social learning, enabling learners to engage with colleagues, instructors and fellow learners around topics and course content. Further, 78% L&D professionals also say that they are going to have more virtual/online training after COVID-19.

As per the survey, here are the top 5 challenges faced by L&D professionals globally in the current times: Helping leaders and managers lead through change (51%), keeping employees motivated and productive (44%), transitioning in-person trainers into virtual trainers (38%), helping employees to transition to work from home (37%), and meeting the emotional and psychological needs of employees (34%).

LinkedIn surveyed 864 L&D professionals globally in May 2020. For this survey, LinkedIn has defined L&D professionals as L&D and HR professionals with L&D responsibilities who have some influence on budget decisions at organizations with over 200 employees.

Amongst the countries surveyed were - United States, Canada, India, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland.