For employ­ers, this time rep­re­sents a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to evolve employ­ee devel­op­ment. Lead­ers can effec­tive­ly retool employ­ee devel­op­ment to meet the evolv­ing busi­ness demands in the remote world. Take a peo­ple-first approach to cre­ate resources and strate­gies that allow your team to respond to sud­den chal­lenges with agili­ty and resilience. Move beyond a reac­tive way of work­ing and proac­tive­ly lever­age reskilling (or upskilling) resources to help pre­pare your orga­ni­za­tion for unfore­seen chal­lenges ahead. While in-per­son employ­ee devel­op­ment ini­tia­tives are on pause, explore online learn­ing and devel­op­ment pro­grams that can help. Durham-based Momen­tum now offers vir­tu­al cor­po­rate train­ing on tech­nol­o­gy like Python, Djan­go, and Git to help upskill the new­ly remote workforce.

Sur­vey your employ­ees for their opin­ions and inter­ests to co-cre­ate learn­ing and devel­op­ment ini­tia­tives. When it comes to select­ing reskilling options, empow­er­ing employ­ees with greater choice and align­ing resources to employ­ee inter­ests and pas­sions will help cre­ate a pos­i­tive work­place cul­ture and strength­en job sat­is­fac­tion. Plus, this peo­ple-first approach dur­ing a cri­sis can help posi­tion your orga­ni­za­tion to attract top tal­ent in the post-pan­dem­ic days to come.

Accord­ing to Forbes, how employ­ers treat­ed their employ­ees dur­ing the 2020 cri­sis will be a ques­tion from top tal­ent. Invest­ing in employ­ee devel­op­ment solu­tions that dri­ve dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion is not only good for busi­ness now but ben­e­fi­cial for tal­ent growth in the future. Cre­ate a con­nec­tion with cur­rent employ­ees through rel­e­vant, con­fi­dence-build­ing employ­ee devel­op­ment ini­tia­tives. Your team will be ready for what’s to come and com­mit­ted to help­ing your orga­ni­za­tion tack­le new challenges.