An aging workforce, high employee turnover, and economic uncertainties are reshaping the manufacturing industry. To stay competitive, transferring knowledge to dynamic, younger talent is more crucial than ever.
With the pressure turned up, workforce development and training professionals everywhere need to get creative to attract, engage, and retain a new generation of employees. Delivering compelling and personalized learning that resonates with the expectations and working habits of a younger workforce is key. Bridge LMS can help. This all-in-one learning and performance solution goes beyond knowledge transfer to inspire growth in today’s entry-level staff.
Read on for four key ways Bridge empowers you to make training engaging for the new generation of manufacturing talent.
1) Personalized Learning: Attract and Engage Technologically Savvy Employees
Younger generations expect more from their employers than a paycheck alone. They want opportunities to grow. Many seek out employers that have embraced Industry 4.0 and will help them put sought-after digital skills on their resumes.
This can be easier said than done, for both employee and employer. When you’re helping staff acquire niche digital skills in a rapidly changing technological environment, a broad, one-size-fits-all strategy won’t work. Today's manufacturing professionals need to be able to pivot rapidly when technology shifts or the industry evolves.
The good news is that a personalized learning journey can offer you all the speed and flexibility you need to keep your workforce sharp and competitive. Bridge is the ideal solution for individualized, custom training. Here's how it helps you chart the course to mastery of sought-after, smart manufacturing skills:
- Development Plans automatically recommend relevant courses based on each employee’s skills gaps and career ambitions.
- A rich and ever-evolving content library from our partners at OpenSesame ensures you can access the latest courses and never have to scramble to deliver learning on rapidly changing technologies.
- Bridge Analytics empowers managers with insights into employee progress. Leaders can easily see if learners have completed their training and how they’ve performed. This keeps learning on track while bolstering the manager-and-report relationship to encourage knowledge transfer between generations.
Did you know? 80% of manufacturers agree that digital skills are harder to acquire via hiring activity because of competition from other industries.
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2) Blended Learning: Meet Employees Where They Are
Your workforce’s needs are diverse. Some employees will be on the shop floor, others may be in an office, or out in the field. Different learning preferences and personalities naturally come into play as well, impacting employees' level of engagement with training.
Relying on a single modality isn't an option. To attract and retain fresh talent, you need to offer a variety of training options that reduce psychological barriers to learning.
Bridge offers a complete blended learning environment that couldn't be easier for learners to use. Self-paced eLearning models give employees a sense of agency. They can easily pick up and put training down when and where it suits them rather than being forced to adhere to someone else's schedule.
Bridge’s clean and intuitive style makes it easy for digital natives to consume learning content. You can easily offer fully branded courses via a simple interface, creating a seamless, friction-free experience for every learner.
Having all content—including digital modules, in-person training sessions, or virtual instructor-led classes—organized and scheduled on a single platform reduces cognitive load and helps employees easily keep track of their training.
Did you know? 91% of manufacturers say their organization is taking on more workforce training responsibility because of the severity of the skills crisis.
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3) Skills Gap Analysis: Target Training Where it Counts Most
As a younger cohort of workers enters the manufacturing field, you’re likely to encounter new starters with skill sets that don’t precisely resemble those of your existing workforce. To upskill this talent, you need complete visibility over the existing skills within your organization as well as the broader industry.
Bridge's AI-powered skills database is the answer. It empowers you to:
- Take advantage of a database of over 30,000 skills to build your talent strategy and skills taxonomy.
- Save your team hours of manual admin and research by automatically mapping skills to job roles with AI tagging.
- Provide personalized learning recommendations based on skills gaps to ensure younger generations feel seen and valued within your organization.
Did you know? 70% of employers expect reskilling and upskilling to improve talent retention and enhance competitiveness and productivity before 2030.
4) Mobile Learning: Empowering the Next Generation On the Shop Floor, On the Go, or In the Field
Younger generations have come to expect the convenience and flexibility their smartphones offer in every aspect of their lives. Learning experiences should be no different. You need an app that provides workers with an engaging, easy-to-use option that aligns with what they expect from their lifestyles and allows them to train wherever they are.
Bridge's mobile app is available for both iOS and Android and makes it easy for learners to complete training anywhere, anytime, even when they don't have internet access.
- Offline capabilities ensure that learning continues whether your staff is on the shop floor, commuting, or working out in the field in remote locations.
- Push notifications keep learners informed about upcoming or overdue training to boost engagement and ensure learning stays on track.
- Like the desktop version, the app supports individualized learning journeys, meaning you can offer younger members of staff a sense of empowerment and self-improvement, rather than stale, irrelevant training.
- Integrated performance management tools mean coaches and managers can keep the professional relationship going, wherever either party happens to be. Setting up and conducting 1on1s and meetings couldn’t be easier.
Ready to Engage the Next Generation of Manufacturing Talent?
We'd love to show you how the right learning solution can attract and retain younger talent even in today's challenging skills landscape. Book a custom demo today.
