How to Design Location-Inclusive Employee Training for Flexible Workplaces

As remote and hybrid work becomes more widely adopted, learning & development providers (both internal and external) need to make sure the learning experiences they’re delivering are location-inclusive, meaning that they are accessible, relevant, and effective regardless of where the employee is based.

For learning and development to fulfill its purpose of driving better business performance by developing employees’ capabilities, the solutions it delivers must be tailored to meet the evolving needs and challenges of an increasingly flexible workforce. This includes facilitating learning experiences that can transcend physical boundaries, and providing content that promotes effective communication, productivity, and resilience in a remote or hybrid work context.

Reasons to Develop Location-Inclusive Employee Training 

Greater Relevance: When employees in flexible work environments see their own experiences reflected in learning content, they can more quickly and accurately apply what they learn. 

Equitable Access: Designing a learning experience that is accessible to all employees, regardless of their location, keeps geographical or logistical barriers from limiting employee growth opportunities. 

Measurable Impact: Knowing whether employees are remote or co-located gives you greater insight into how their experiences differ, and the impact those differences have on outcomes. The more insight you have, the better experiences you can design. 

More Inclusive: Providing learning experiences that accommodate the unique requirements of every team member, ensuring access to the resources they need to thrive in their role, leads to a more inclusive work culture.

Reduce Proximity Bias: Eliminating learning content that perpetuates proximity bias, plus helping employees recognize and address it, reduces its negative impact on remote employee experience. 

How to Design Training for the Flexible Workplace 

Use the following guide to create location-inclusive employee training and learning programs. 

Gather data

Gather information about the flexible work options available to your audience, like: 

• Location flexibility, including fully remote, hybrid work arrangements
• Schedule flexibility, including condensed workweeks, shared core hours, work whenever policies 

Identify gaps

Analyze organizational and training data to identify any gaps that exist between outcomes for remote versus in-office employees. 

Include work flexibility as a characteristic in learner personas

Based on the data you gather about what flexible work options are available, add flexibility as a characteristic in at least one learner persona you use to develop content.  

Promote effective remote work practices

Promote effective remote work practices by developing learning experiences designed to build remote-first competencies, and by modeling digital-first practices. 

Enable equitable outcomes

Provide guidance on how employees can achieve desired outcomes regardless of location. 

Provide examples that include flexible work scenarios

Provide examples of skills and behaviors in all relevant work environments (in-office, hybrid, remote). Learning content should address the unique challenges and needs of remote and hybrid scenarios. 

Remove content that perpetuates anti-flexibility biases

When developing content, check to ensure that examples, scenarios, and don’t perpetuate anti-flexible biases and behaviors, such as: 

• Proximity bias
• Productivity paranoia 
• Micromanagement
• Anti-remote sentiments

Balance sync and async modalities

Choose learning modalities that are accessible to all employees, regardless of where they are located. Asynchronous modalities will make learning experiences more easily accessible, while synchronous modalities provide opportunities for connection. Be strategic about which modality you use—use a framework like the Placeless Taxonomy to help determine whether to use synchronous or asynchronous methods of delivering learning. 

In today’s increasingly flexible work environment, location-inclusive employee training is essential. Preparing employees to adapt to various work settings, be it remote, hybrid, or in-office, is a critical step towards driving business performance. Failure to design location-inclusive experiences risks perpetuating proximity bias, reducing engagement, and undermining both individual and collective productivity. It also compromises inclusivity and reduces access to growth opportunities. Enroll in Trainplaceless to learn more about how to design location-inclusive training and mitigate these risks.