Learning and development is an important business function and it has proven to be a successful method to improve employee engagement and retention. It is for this reason that employers are increasingly seeking CLOs for their organizations to lead their learning and development initiatives. Chief Learning Officers serve as an important cog in the organizational wheel of growth and success by building and implementing strategic learning and development programs and accelerate growth in the process.
CLOs are important
Employees want to learn and develop their skills as they continue to work for the organization and thus seek opportunities to hone their skills. According to 2016, SHRM’s Employee Satisfaction report, 86 percent of employees consider an organizations’ commitment to learning and development as an important criterion for job satisfaction.
CLOs stay on top of this trend and take strategic steps to ensure greater employee satisfaction.
Employee satisfaction has been on top of the priority of employers among other human capital issues to resolve.
Engagement and retention
Millennials consider L&D as an important part of organizations and see it as a crucial factor before joining an organization. Several studies have reported the benefits of employee retention and engagement due to learning and development offerings across organizations. Thus, CLOs acts as a strategic partner to improve employee engagement and retention.
Succession planning and retention
The contemporary workforce is a multi-generational workforce where millennials, Gen-Z, Baby boomers, and Gen X work together. As baby boomers leave the workplace, the need for leaders will arise.
Learning and development programs play an important role to create leaders from the existing workforce. CLOs take the charge to equip existing employees and foster them to leaders via programs aimed to impart leadership skills.
Improve productivity and propel profitability
Skilled employees are more productive and approach their work more strategically. Thus saving themselves time and resources. This free time can be used to complete other tasks. CLOs are tasked with the goal to improve employee’s productivity by training them to perform more in less time. Organizations are trying to build lean and agile teams further improving the performance of employees.
Becoming a CLO
As learning and development are becoming a strategic part of human resources, HR professionals are equipping themselves with relevant skillset and knowledge. Learning officers are expected to know strategic ways to identify individual employee skills and build suitable programs. To gain this knowledge, human resource leaders are turning to colleges and universities, while some are turning to HR certifications. Some colleges and universities offer master’s degrees in learning & development.
On the other hand, online courses and programs specialized in learning and development are increasingly popular among HR professionals as online programs can be taken at their own convenience. Online HR certifications with a focus on learning and development are self-paced so HR professionals who are employed full time can conveniently take this exam. Employers are realizing the potential of L& D programs and HR professionals need to heed.