How to train and retain remote workers

Even though the economy has slumped to its lowest level in living memory, contracting more than 20 per cent quarter-on-quarter, this does not mean Britain has shut up shop completely; quite the opposite.

To survive and to thrive, businesses are open and looking for ways to compete and, even in an economic downturn, competing often means getting the right people in place to drive that much-needed growth.

And that means being prepared to hire, train, retain and engage employees - even if they are not returning to an office environment this year. 

There are many businesses who have hired during the lockdown - and some members of the team may have never met their new colleagues in person. 

So how can companies put structures and training schedules in place to keep employees feeling engaged and part of a team, given the usual ways have to be adapted for a remote working environment?

St James's Place is one of the companies which have continued to hire during the first half of 2020 and according to Shaun Godfrey, head of academy marketing and engagement, much of the blended format of training St James's Place Academy had been doing before was "fast tracked" to meet the needs of a lockdown world.

He says: "Covid-19 prompted many businesses to integrate technology to upscale and accelerate learning and continue to deliver training sessions.

"The Academy had already been delivering training on a blended basis before Covid-19, so we decided to fast track this style of learning and quickly invested in commercial Zoom and GoToWebinar licences, to enable us to upscale our training."

He says one upside of the crisis was that people had more time to dedicate to their own training and development, so the virtual sessions and webinars had been "well attended". 

Moreover the training was not just on the technical aspects of the job but also on soft skills and transferrable skills.

Mr Godfrey explains: "St James's Place Academy has run a series of nearly 45 webinars on a range of subjects from networking to develop clients in a virtual world, to running a virtual meeting successfully."

The attendee needs to be attracted to the environment and to the subject they are learning, so they give it their full attention. -- Gill White

Similarly, Foster Denovo's bespoke training academy for junior advisers took the training tools online to help all new advisers, regardless of their experience or level. 

Helen Bogdanovski, head of talent acquisition for Foster Denovo, says: "As we entered the market downturn, we have continued to use training tools to ensure all new advisers are equipped adequately to continue giving a positive service in the current environment."

Foster Denovo's training programme, called Quantum Leap, has been running twice a week virtually; the company also started a forum for its mortgage advisers to discuss the fast-paced movements in the market. 

Getting the format right

Is everything to be done over the internet - as so much of our lives has been the past few months? Gill White, learning and assessment director at the Chartered Insurance Institute, says this might sound like the answer, but it is not.

She comments: "A mistake that many organisations make is they simply try and deliver the classroom over the web. This has proven not to be effective, however."

Ms White explains that for the brain to engage properly, four factors need to be in play. These are those set out by David Rock of the Neuroleadership Institute, whose theory is known as the AGES model - attention, generation, emotion and spacing. 

She says: "The attendee needs to be attracted to the environment and to the subject they are learning, so they give it their full attention. 

"This means, for a virtual world, you need to create an exciting platform that is interactive and contains different elements, such as animation, cartoons, videos, etc."

But the 'emotional engagement' aspect is where many fall down, which means "dry, text-heavy e-learning fails to generate true learning", Ms White says. Therefore, being able to talk to colleagues and the training will "anchor" the learning process.

And this means trainers need to develop a virtual learning space, talking more slowly, engaging more with surveys, quizzes and break-out sessions.

Ms White adds: "Put all these things together and you'll have delighted, engaged customers who can learn effectively and apply the learning immediately."

Peer support

This reflects what the Human Givens Institute has described as the nine emotional needs that affect us psychologically; if one or more of these states are not met or have been stripped from us, then human beings are likely to struggle mentally and emotionally. 

When you consider these nine needs, and how Covid-19 has disrupted many of them, it is easy to see how the pandemic can affect staff members significantly. According to the Human Givens Institute, the nine needs are:

• Security — safe territory and an environment which allows us to develop fully
• Attention (to give and receive it) — a form of nutrition
• Sense of autonomy and control — having volition to make responsible choices
• Emotional intimacy — to know that at least one other person accepts us totally for who we are, warts and all
• Feeling part of a wider community
• Privacy — opportunity to reflect and consolidate experience
• Sense of status within social groupings
• Sense of competence and achievement
• Meaning and purpose — which come from being stretched in what we do and think.

So to help new members of staff feel they have a sense of status, a sense of achievement, meaning and purpose, as well as forging relationships with other team members, the need for training that goes beyond a simple webinar is clear. 

The personal touch matters, remote or not. Foster Denovo's Ms Bogdanovski explains. This is why new advisers each have a business quality executive assigned to each one, to help them "through the suitability aspects of their new cases, while ensuring they are comfortable with, and working within, Foster Denovo's policies and procedures.

"We also place new advisers in a mentoring group, which meet regularly, with virtual meetings fortnightly", she adds. Before the pandemic, they would have normally met face-to-face once a month.

St James's Place's Mr Godfrey advocates continuing to focus on the "core development needs" of employees throughout their careers, Covid-19 or no Covid-19.

He says this focus on tools and training to support individuals' personal and professional development will feed through to the end client.

"Technology has been thrust to the forefront of the adviser/client relationship, and being able to nurture and strengthen these relationships, and make them feel personal despite the virtual limitations, is an important aspect of an adviser's training", he comments. 

This is why the company has created a series of 'client events' for trainees passing through the St James's Place Academy to invite their existing and potential clients to. These cover such topics as 'investing in the current climate'. 

By continuing to invest in staff training, especially staff new to the financial services world, despite the limitations of the pandemic, companies and individuals will feel part of a team working together for a long-term goal.

Leigh Tarleton, director and IFA at Beaufort St Helens, hired two graduates recently and comments: "We have two young people joining our profession who are eager to learn, accustomed to studying and able to absorb new information quickly.

"They are naturally advanced in the use of technology - a critical advantage when working remotely - and have lent a certain youthful vibrancy to the working environment."

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com