Upskilling the workforce is no longer a nice-to-have. The new generation at work, technology advancement, increasing automation and influence of the leadership shifts the skills needed at the workplace swiftly. Businesses have to create time, space and hunger for their employees to develop continuously so they stay relevant and competent in their industry.
While there is an increase in the need of upskilling there is also an increase in the available diverse professionals who can train our workforces. This can seem like good news at first. However, we still have a gap in accessing those vetted professionals in an easy way. Many businesses rely on word of mouth and trial & error for their learning and development strategies.
That is probably the number one reason the training is seen as a burden to employees. They are hit with – what might seem as – random offers. Training is often mentioned as not worth it because of the low ROI. The root causes behind it are not working with the right expert or not building one training on another.
Increase in number of available external talent
2020 and 2021 have become a turning point for many people. Pandemic played a huge role in testing different work styles that some of us enjoyed and some of us hated. The trust towards the employers was also tested during this time. Many of us have made decisions about what we want to keep in our work lives. Partially due to great reshuffle and partially due to technical availability there is an increasing trend for becoming a freelancer overall in every industry. Especially for knowledge workers there is a huge shift towards being a consultant, trainer and a coach. According to the freelance marketplace Upwork, the number of full-time freelancers grew from 28% in 2019 to 36% in 2020. It’s estimated that by 2027, 86.5 million people will be freelancing in the United States.
Another parallel trend is that in companies we see a tendency to bring an outside talent for new skills. There are several reasons for this. They don’t have an internal expert at hand, the topic is very new to the business or they want to bring an outsider who has a fresh perspective on the topic.
Also working with coaches has skyrocketed during pandemic due to the emphasis needed on the wellbeing of employees. It is proven coaching can solve deeper issues within team and individual leaders and increase productivity while increasing the wellbeing of the employees.
As there is a huge growth on both ends, Workplace Experts is raising the bar to become the platform to bring these parties together and find each other much easier than before.
What is changing at Workplace Experts?
We are committed to make Workplace Experts an Upwork (best external talent hiring platform) for Learning and Development professionals, specifically for facilitators, trainers and business coaches. Here are some of the important changes WeWent have done to our model and platform.
New Expert profiles:
Now on our platform you can not only find workshops but also Experts. Their detailed profile will give you a clear idea of their expertise and how they can help you. You can look at their portfolio, watch their videos in action and contact them on the platform or on their preferred channels.
The expert profiles catered for Learning and Development needs in mind which is the big difference to looking at a Linkedin Profile or an Upwork profile of a freelancer.
You can watch here our People and Culture lead Aleksandra Potrykus explaining how you can get the best out of our experts.
Experts network:
Now we have created an Expert network where we are in a continuous collaboration with all our Experts. They become a yearly member of our platform with network benefits and we no longer base our earnings on the sales made. This provides a more sustainable approach to all parties.
Full focus on future skills:
We have removed anything that derailed us away from helping workplaces transform. That means our focus on learning and development of future skills is our main aim. We reworked our website and our offerings to also focus on the healthy transformation of organizations.
Why are Workplace Experts best in creating an L&D marketplace?
Workplace Experts has been around since 2017 and worked with over 200 experts and 100 different companies to this date. Our learnings showed us that to transform workplaces we need to help both organizations and experts.
It was clear that L&D Experts need to be in the radar of big-size companies, become more visible and focus on their expertise rather than spend time with complicated operations and help each other. With our network approach we help our experts with their marketing and they give each other peer support in big agency quality but with the nimble mindset of entrepreneurship. This way we keep the high quality offers from our experts. We also nurture a healthy diversity in all aspects.
We are partnering up with world class companies such as Miro to equip the Experts with the best tools for their workshops.
All the Pro Experts get to connect with Shake up the Workplace Ecosystem and benefit from the latest trends of the future of the workplace and can sit at the table with the business leaders.
What is in it for Organizations looking for Experts?
By using Workplace Experts you have a vetted diverse talent pool available at your fingertips for your next upskilling or coaching need. You have many filtering options such as keywords search, category search, language and location search. The platform makes it easy for you to find, review and get in touch with the experts you need even in a short notice.
All the experts who are listed on Workplace Experts are independent and you will be supporting a small business instead of a big consultation firm.
If you need, we will build a team for you to support your custom L&D needs.
Recommendations to L&D Professionals working for corporate organizations
We know it might feel very lonely out there. Your team might not be big but your job is more important than ever in these times. Here are a couple of recommendations from us who deliver many L&D workshops across industries.
- Always iterate significance of Life-long learning and Positive Learning culture as part of your strategy
- Ask your employees their needs or confirm your strategy with them via focus groups or surveys
- Support your online and on-demand courses with live workshops for at least top 3 skilling needs identified for your business per year
- Have a balanced L&D strategy that offer combination of trainers, facilitators and coaches for the needs of teams
And stay always up to date with what is going on in the world. Our experts are doing exactly that within their network. Engaging with them will bring you the outside world perspective along with solutions you might have not thought of.
Workplace Experts is a L&D talent marketplace for your corporate facilitation, skills training or coaching needs.
You can simply check our platform to review the talents and their incredible workshops now or get in touch with us to know about our Spark & Grow programs, “Outside in” sessions and “L&D taster” sessions.
