Here's how to provide everyday learning moments in construction

For both employers and employees, it is nice when people continue to learn in the workplace. Therefore, some SME employers are looking for ways to promote learning. To support them and stimulate learning on the shop floor, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment is launching the campaign "Learning on the shop floor pays off handsomely.

That workers are open to learning at work is evident from TNO and CBS's National Survey of Working Conditions (NEA) (2023). As many as 92% consider learning at work (very) important. Yet there is still room for improvement, especially in SMEs. For whereas in large companies, with more than 250 employees, almost half of the employees learn a lot from tasks and colleagues, in SMEs the figures are 37% (tasks) and 39% (colleagues).

New campaign

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment is launching a campaign to inspire SME employers how they can easily create accessible learning opportunities. Learning on the shop floor does not require the introduction of complicated and time-consuming processes. It can be done with small actions, such as encouraging knowledge sharing, providing feedback and ensuring a challenging and varied range of tasks.

Under the theme "Done today, learned today," the campaign focuses on different learning moments, such as the Watching moment, the After-Conversation moment and the So-can-I-do moment. These daily learning situations create more job satisfaction and a more successful company.

It delivers a lot

TNO research shows that employers who encourage informal learning in the workplace benefit in the long run. For example, innovation capacity almost doubles: 52% of employees think about innovations, compared to 31% who learn little informally. And when employees learn a lot informally, their knowledge and skills align better with employer needs than when they learn little informally. And in a tight labor market, you are an attractive employer for both your current employees and new talent.

Employees who learn on the job are almost twice as likely to be satisfied with their jobs. Learning also improves their work ability, productivity, chances of promotion, income and position in the labor market. Moreover, employees are more engaged in their work and informal learning has a positive impact on energy and job satisfaction.2 

Quick scan for tips

To give SME employers in the construction industry additional tools for developing a learning culture within their company, the Quickscan Learning Culture has been developed in collaboration with TNO and Windesheim. You can download it for free at mylearningculture.com do. This will help you find out how your company stands on learning at work and give you tips on how to develop that even further.