Why Do You Need a Construction eLearning Platform to Upskill Your Workforce?

How do you identify and impart the skills your employees will need to deliver work in the future? Do you leave it to chance or have a plan?

In any case, you need to come across a learning management system (LMS).

An LMS is a must-have tool to upskill your employees. In other words, an LMS equips your team to address the evolving demands posed by the industry. In my research, I found these interesting facts from two different Gartner reports.

1. The technology optimizes learning outcomes and experience by 3.3x.
2. Online learning solutions boost 28% of skill preparedness among learners.

Gartner’s analysis signals the growing significance of eLearning in construction workforce upskilling.

The Importance of Upskilling in Construction

As part of my research, I analyzed the data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Associated Builders and Contractors. Both prove why upskilling is vital for the survival of construction players.

Let’s look at what each one says.

1. Shifts in workforce age demographics are commonplace. However, the construction industry is aging faster than it can replace older workers. According to the USBLS, employees above 55 comprise 23% of the construction workforce.
2. Project demands in construction are rising, and the skills gap is widening. Contractors are operating with a shrinking pool of talent. ABC says construction companies will need to hire more than half a million workers in 2024 to meet the growing demand for labor, on top of the normal hiring pace.

My Take Away

A large cohort of retiring workers is mounting the skills gap in the industry. With fewer younger workers, construction companies must now invest in upskilling.

And How Does Upskilling Help?

Upskilling equips your construction workers to:

1. Gain new skills and knowledge through continuous training.
2. Match the evolving job demands and trends in the industry.
3. Make your workers more qualified for better jobs.

The Current State of the Construction Industry

As I said earlier, the construction sector is experiencing an ongoing labor shortage—the biggest I have ever seen in my career.

Here is what the current situation looks like:

1. Construction players are operating with a limited pool of skilled workers. This is driving up labor costs and hourly wages.
2. Schedules get squeezed, putting a heavy amount of pressure on existing workers. This ruins work-life balance and productivity.
3. The demand for skilled construction workers is at its peak. Added to this is a lack of qualified candidates to fill the vacant positions.
4. A large aging workforce is taking away years of experience and knowledge. Club this with a lack of interest in trade careers among younger generations.

How can construction companies address the escalating talent retention issue?

Based on my analysis, I recommend these two ways:

1. Invest in upskilling your existing workforce. Do make a provision for the same in your budget.
2. Create a flexible, efficient workforce with construction eLearning accessible anywhere, 24/7.

Benefits of Upskilling Your Construction Workforce

Workforce upskilling enables construction companies to:

1. Maximize productivity and efficiency on construction sites. Build a competent team that can meet the demands of modern construction projects.
2. Ensure your employees’ skills are relevant and valuable to your company.
3. Increase your workers’ competitiveness. It helps your company stay ahead of competition.
4. Attract and retain top talent with unique training opportunities. Reduce employee turnover.
5. Create a positive company culture. Help your employees feel valued and appreciated. Boost the morale in your organization.
6. Employees stay longer when you commit to their development and career growth.
7. Make employees more adaptable and resilient to industry changes. Allow them to learn new skills faster and transition to different roles as needed.
8. Construction sites are generally hazardous. Upskilling helps reduce the risk of workplace fatalities, injuries, and accidents.
9. Provide workers the tools and knowledge needed to excel in their roles.

Continuous training drives professional growth, instilling a sense of accomplishment among your team. It leads to higher motivation and a more positive attitude towards work.

Using Learning Management Systems (LMS) in Construction Training

With a construction LMS, you can train your workforce on the most in-demand skills in a less intrusive way. A flexible, modern LMS helps build a safe, skilled, and productive construction workforce.

Advantages of Using LMS for Construction eLearning

With a construction eLearning platform (LMS), you can:

1. Create and deliver custom training content.
2. Organize and store all your training materials in one place.
3. Personalize training based on your skilling needs and employee interests.
4. Track learning progress and course completion rates in real-time.
5. Conduct tests and quizzes to assess the knowledge gained.
6. Mentor learners and provide feedback for improvement.
7. Help employees learn on the go with a mobile LMS app.

Construction Training Online: The Rise of eLearning

In their 2023 Workforce Survey, ABC highlights the rise of construction eLearning. The survey found an increased use of online training programs in the last year to attract talent.

Construction eLearning is on the rise due to several reasons, including:

1. The distributed nature of construction projects.
2. The need for employees to maintain their certifications and licenses
3. Employees need to conform to evolving health and safety regulations.
4. In-person training taking workers’ time away from job sites.
5. Contractors struggling to meet deadlines due to shortage of skilled labor.

Key Features of an Effective LMS for Construction Training Online

An ideal LMS helps you create, deliver, track, and manage eLearning courses end-to-end. 

Let’s dig deeper into the three key features that make an LMS ideal for construction training online.

Interactive and Engaging Content

When will you term a piece of training content interactive and engaging?

Only if it captivates and educates the learner. To achieve this, modern LMS systems use several techniques.

1. Virtual Reality: How about learning complex machine controls in a risk-free environment? Create a machine simulator using VR. Say goodbye to training workers in hazardous real-world situations.
2. Augmented Reality: How about providing live instructions to your on-site crew from anywhere? Your manager can start or schedule a remote session with the crew from any device. All made possible by AR.
3. Gamification: Who doesn’t appreciate getting rewards and perks for achieving learning milestones? Apply gamification techniques to motivate learners with virtual rewards, points, redeemable coupons, etc.
4. Interactive Elements: Let learners engage with your content. Make your courses more vibrant with short puzzles, quick games, and snappy quizzes. The more learners interact with your content, the faster they learn the concepts.
5. Multimedia: Make your eLearning courses more versatile. Add more color and flavor by using a mix of audio, video, image, text, and more. Deliver your courses in the best formats to arouse interest among learners.

Customizable Training Programs

Construction training online cannot always be “one size fits all.”

Prepackaged training meets only 20% of your objectives. But customized training meets more than 60% of your skilling requirements. So, it’s imperative to choose an LMS that allows you to customize training as needed.

What can you achieve with customized construction eLearning?

1. Develop skills that are relevant to your organization and projects.
2. Align training to match your business goals, vision, and standards.
3. Personalize learning for each employee based on their needs and interests.
4. Tailor your own training materials, expertise, and resources.
5. Use relevant examples that your employees can connect with.

Mobile Accessibility for On-The-Go Learning

“A minute saved is a minute earned.” And that’s what mobile learning helps you with.

I have analyzed an average onsite employee’s workday for many months. It’s surprising to see that only 40% of their working time gets devoted to actual work. The remaining 60% gets lapsed in running errands like searching for machinery or equipment, shifting materials from one point to another, or cleaning up a construction site.

Even if 10% of the 60 gets allotted for construction eLearning, it will make a huge difference to your business.

Mobile learning is not a nice-to-have, it is a must-have.

1. Enable mobile learning for your frontline construction crews. It allows them to pursue learning from anywhere, at any time, using their own mobile devices.
2. Encourage learners to meet training goals without interrupting their work schedules. They can access courses and complete tests even during non-working hours.
3. Include more self-paced eLearning courses. Make training burden-free and enjoyable for your construction workforce.
4. Manage your on-site construction crew’s training on the mobile LMS app. No need to insist workers at job sites attend in-office training.

Global Impact of LMS on Construction eLearning

Learning management systems revolutionize construction eLearning creation, design, and delivery. An LMS is a must-have for Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Companies that adopt an LMS for construction training online have:

1. Lower accident rates
2. More productive on-site workers
3. Reduced employee turnover rates

Case Studies: LMS Success Stories From Around the World

We heard a lot about LMS in construction training. Now, let’s see some real-world stories.

1. Skanska

Skanska is a leading influential company in the construction space. When a routine assignment turned complex for a team at Skanska, they realized the need to kick off an organization-wide change.

Skanska implemented a cloud-based training system. Their goal was to continuously track capability development along the employee life cycle. The LMS allows supervisors to monitor progress as employees take classes and align the content to each individual’s development plan.

2. Fluor

Fluor Corporation is a global construction leader headquartered in Irving, Texas. They needed an effective way to train their employees across time zones and work schedules.

Implementing a modern LMS, Fluor gave their employees a single point of entry for all training materials regardless of topic. LMS implementation helped Fluor streamline their training globally.

Trends and Innovations in Construction eLearning

Construction project requirements are changing. So does construction eLearning. Like the scaling demand for green buildings and sustainable properties, construction eLearning is influenced by a wave of trends and innovations.

Here are some of the top trends impacting construction training online.

1. Smart digital tools like Building Information Modeling (BIM) systems. BIMs enhance the design, construction, and management of buildings.
2. AI, automation, robotics, and 3D printing. Revolutionary technologies that prepare employees for the future of construction.
3. Sustainability and green building practices. Teach employees about energy-efficient designs, sustainable materials, and the need for lowering environmental impact.
4. Big data and analytics to make informed decisions. Elevate your workers’ decision making skills by teaching them how to collect, analyze, and interpret data.
5. AR and VR. Provide immersive, hands-on training experiences without the physical constraints of traditional classrooms.

Implementing an LMS for Construction Training Online

Learning is a non-stop activity in the construction industry. To ensure continuous learning and professional development, you need an LMS.

Steps to Get Started With an LMS

A little planning goes a long way.

Look into these LMS pre-implementation steps before diving headfirst.

1. Assess your LMS needs. Find out why you need an LMS. Is it to address training gaps, compliance challenges, or scalability issues?
2. Take stock of your existing training materials and system. Are your training materials up-to-date? Can they be uploaded to a new system easily? Do you have other systems that the new LMS should integrate with?
3. Identify your training needs and goals. Define what you want to achieve with LMS implementation. Is it to improve employee skills, reduce training costs, or enhance compliance? Who will use the LMS and what are their needs? Create a requirement list for the LMS.

Self-assessment is the best way to get started with LMS implementation. It boosts your clarity and confidence, enabling you to reach out to stakeholders and potential LMS vendors.

Overcoming Common Challenges

We are at the brink of an eLearning revolution. Yet, construction training isn’t devoid of challenges. I find three problems more awful than other snags.

1. Systematic training and retaining of qualified employees. Many contractors are willing to offer regular, comprehensive training, but they don’t know where to start. Acute labor shortages also make systematic capability building a significant hurdle.
2. Implementing a long-term capability-building program. A lion’s share of construction work is done by staff hired on-demand. Many companies lack the strong incentive to build long-term skills.
3. Leaders focus more on short-term priorities and troubleshooting. Leaders try to complete work on time and on budget. As a result, they pay less attention to the long-term sustainability of the business. Hard skills-focused training will only boost the technical proficiency of employees. They don’t acquire the soft skills needed for negotiating with counterparties, tackling unforeseen issues, communicating with the business, and resolving conflicts.

To solve these three challenges, construction companies should:

1. Integrate skill-building efforts into day-to-day people development. Include clear career paths and correlate training. Align training your strategic priorities.
2. Design a training curriculum that adopts a mix of hard and soft skills. It will help employees adapt to the evolving nature of work, as it is today.
3. Use virtual tools that can encourage dynamic interactions. Virtual workshops and instructor-led virtual sessions offer both intensive learning and valuable network-building opportunities.

The Future of Construction eLearning

Success in the construction industry rests on the shoulders of its skilled employees. Being a people-dependent sector, training is of utmost importance in construction.

The World Economic Forum’s Shaping the Future of Construction report states what an effective training system is.

According to WEF, the best-designed digital training system:

1. Adapts training to prepare employees for the organization’s current and future needs.
2. Exploits technology, by adopting eLearning and tracking learning progress.
3. Customize training for each employee. Make every staff a part of organizational training.

Undoubtedly, we can say eLearning is the future of construction training.

Long-Term Benefits of LMS for Upskilling

To sum up, here is a quick snapshot of the benefits of using an LMS for upskilling.

Using an LMS for upskilling, you can:

1. Establish a consolidated approach to training. Make training centralized, consistent, and continuous.
2. Gain tangible return on investment. Link training to performance and track how your team performs.
3. Preserve years of valuable institutional knowledge that often get lost due to employee turnover.
4. Online learning is more practical and economical to train remote employees. Employees can access courses, whether they’re at the office or on a hammock in their backyard.
5. An LMS simplifies and reinforces your employee onboarding process. Making a great first impression kicks the employer-employee relationship off on the right foot.

The value and benefits of an LMS increases with time. As your training needs evolve, you can add new training modules, courses, and materials to the system.

How Does Skill Lake LMS Help Upskill Your Team?

The key to the revival of construction training is using smart learning technologies. Being a modern skilling suite, Skill Lake helps onboard, upskill, and reskill your employees to ensure optimum performance. Skill Lake blends people development and technology to offer the best learning experience possible.

Bowled over by the benefits of an LMS, but not sure what to do next? Contact us today to discuss your organization’s training needs.