What Is a Learning Management System and Why Do I Need One?

Today's workforce is agile and online. Even before the pandemic, more and more people were working remotely. Many will not return to the office. Companies need to respond to this by moving corporate training online, and by developing systems to help their employees adapt and their business move further into the twenty-first century.

Adopting a virtual learning model is key to growing your business and developing a smart, savvy online workforce who can move your business forward. The best way to do this is to acquire a learning management system.

What is a Learning Management System?

A  learning management system is a digital application or technology used to plan, implement, and assess training. Learning management systems allow instructors to create and deliver content while monitoring participation and assessing performance. It may also include interactive features such as video conferencing.

For example, an instructor might record a lecture, which students can then listen to at a time convenient to them. Students are then guided to a mini-quiz that tests whether they have retained the knowledge. If they fail, they might be instructed to rewatch the lecture, and their grades will automatically be recorded for assessment. The system might also link students to a transcript of the speech or related material. This allows for asynchronous learning, rather than pulling employees away from their desks and into a classroom at the same time. Instead, employees can do training when they have downtime between projects.

Does My Company Need an LMS?

An  LMS is most beneficial for medium-sized and larger companies with a good number of employees to train. For smaller companies, a learning management system may not be cost-effective. 

However, by partnering with a PEO, you can access their learning management system, which can be customized to your need. Here are some benefits of learning management systems for both employees and employers:

1. Employees can learn on their own time and don't have to stress about getting to training.
2. Employees don't miss training because of illness or a personal emergency.
3. The system generates reports to show everyone's progress with required training, as well as their score or grade.
4. Reports generated by the system can be used to demonstrate regulatory compliance.
5. New hires can start orientation training before they come into the office.
6. Employees can train anywhere, including at home or when traveling.
7. You can access quality courses from various training providers, rather than being limited to what is available in-house or locally.
8. You can quickly identify and assess individual and organizational learning goals.
9. Employees can have specific learning goals and track them individually, including soft and transferable skills.
10. You can analyze any skills gaps that your company is experiencing, and design trainings accordingly.
11. The system reduces negligence exposure when training and educating employees are critical to functioning of a business.
12. When required industry training is complete and verified, the results are digitally stored.

In other words, your company needs an LMS if you have a remote workforce that needs training. If you partner with a PEO, then your company’s size is not a barrier to cost-effectiveness.

What is the ROI of Having an LMS?

All of these benefits make having an LMS stand out as a way to manage your corporate training. However, these systems do cost money (generally a subscription, although some systems charge for individual courses). What kind of ROI can you expect? There are four areas in which an LMS will give you great returns:

Lower Administrative Costs

Because the system tracks learning goals, progress, and scores automatically, you don't need to have an employee or contractor do this tracking. This significantly reduces administrative costs.

Not having to send employees on training also lowers costs. You don't have to pay travel costs for classroom training that could be done anywhere. Virtual space is cheaper than physical space. Additionally, training takes less time out of your employees' day that could be spent on core activities.

Faster Time-to-Proficiency

Some people learn better from lectures, others from books, etc. With a properly-designed learning management system, your employees can learn in the way which best suits them. They can also learn on their own time, scheduling training in a way which suits them. Finally, virtual learning can combine formal and social/peer learning in a highly efficient manner.

All of this results in your employees attaining proficiency faster than with traditional classroom training.

Less Compliance Risk

If you have regulatory training requirements, using an LMS reduces your risk of compliance issues. The system records all of the training and can be set up to notify employees when they need to take a refresher or renew a requirement. Supervisors will also be notified and can issue their own reminders.

Required training is thus less likely to be forgotten or fall by the wayside, and the system will help ensure that employees stay up to date.

Decreased Employee Turnover

The more flexible training allowed with an LMS will enable employees to pursue their personal training goals, not just ones set by you. It also reduces the grumbling associated with mandatory training. By making training flexible and agile, you not only increase compliance with it, but improve employee morale. The ability to train transferable skills helps your employees look to the future and feel more valued.

All of this results in lower employee turnover and thus lower hiring and onboarding costs.

A learning management system is a way to handle your online and virtual training, which is cost-effective, easy, and accurate. It helps you stay competitive as your workforce becomes increasingly remote and mobile. You can provide employee training in a format which allows employees to learn on their own time, decreases compliance risk, and speeds time to proficiency. Partnering with a PEO that has an LMS you can use can help you gain all of these benefits at an even lower cost.