Employee training and education deliver a range of benefits, both to the individual as well as the business overall. But it’s unrealistic to expect that all employees can take on learning in their spare time and maintain adequate performance at work. Unlike most traditional students, adult learners have to juggle learning with full-time work and likely have more extensive personal responsibilities such as child care. Despite this, today’s employees still seek out learning opportunities at work. 

Employers can ease some of these challenges by exploring approaches to corporate learning that are flexible and accommodating to a range of schedules and responsibilities. 

That’s the idea behind “learning in the flow of work” — an emerging concept that’s gaining popularity among HR professionals who are finding ways to make workplace learning more accessible.

Coined by Josh Bersin, learning in the flow of work is a mode of delivering learning to employees as part of their daily work.

The idea is to provide useful and relevant learning experiences that help employees build skills without disrupting employees’ existing workflows. In practice, this could look like a variety of different things. One example of learning in the flow of work is asking employees to share recent wins or mistakes and what they learned from them. This encourages knowledge-sharing and provides a way for employees to apply these learnings in real-time. 

Another example might include implementing microlearning to help employees brush up on product updates. For instance, let’s say a clothing retailer is getting ready to launch a new line. To get their Sales Associates up-to-speed, this company rolls out a series of short training videos that get delivered to the employees right after they clock in the days leading up to the launch.

When implemented effectively, learning in the flow of work is beneficial for both employees and businesses. 

Benefits for employees include:

Benefits for businesses include: 

Now that you’re familiar with the benefits of learning in the flow of work, it’s easy to see how implementing it can be well worth the time and effort. However, it’s important to remember that this practice likely can’t address all of your organization’s learning needs. 

Certain roles will still require employees to hold degrees or other credentials that require formal learning, such as access to debt-free education. Additionally, some skills can only be developed through other initiatives such as mentorship programs and on-the-job training. These other types of learning programs can act as a powerful supplement to learning in the flow of work.

If you’re thinking about implementing learning in the flow of work at your organization, here are some things to keep in mind: 

Most teachable skills can be developed in some way via learning in the flow of work. The exception is medical procedures and other high-stakes or credential-dependent responsibilities, which must be learned and integrated via hyper-specific processes to ensure safety and compliance. 

Consider making a comprehensive list of all critical skills and competencies within your company, including any associated restrictions and required credentials, and think about which skills are well suited for learning in the flow of work adoption. 

Learning in the flow of work can be an integral and pragmatic element of your larger learning and development strategy. With the right adoption in place, your business can wield this approach to promote learning in the workplace and advance both employee and business goals and growth. 

Discover more L&D resources: When it comes to employee learning, accessibility is key. Download this resource for tips on how to address common barriers to learning and ensure your L&D programs are accessible.