Campaign for Learning gearing up the nation for another Learning at Work Week

Campaign for Learning will be celebrating the 24th Learning at Work Week, from 16^th-22^nd May. The theme, Learning Uncovered, is focused on raising the profile of lifelong learning at work and encouraging everyone to uncover and share their learning power.

The national celebration is calling on employers across the country to promote a learning culture for all in their organisation. The Learning at Work Week website has everything employers need to create great activities with impact, from an ideas generator and planning advice, to promotional materials and free resources from national partners.

Businesses this year are already empowering colleagues with thousands of learning opportunities on topics such as digital skills, sustainability, wellbeing and internal career paths. Some of the UK’s largest organisations are already gearing up to celebrate:

• During Learning at Work Week Co-op will be spotlighting their Personal Growth Offer, Apprenticeships, mentoring and coaching, learning partnerships, and their dedicated Learning and Development hub alongside sharing colleagues’ stories.  The aim is for all colleagues to know how to access resources in a way that works for them and their learning style. At Co-op it is important that everyone is given the opportunities to unlock their potential and try new things so having a focus on colleague development is key in nurturing internal talent and having skilled and confident colleagues within a positive learning and workplace environment. 
• Aligned with the theme of Learning Uncovered, Britvic, an international soft drinks business will be connecting their mid-year performance conversations, with quality development planning and using Learning at Work Week as the perfect catalyst for their colleagues to discover, and get a taste for, the huge range of developmental opportunities, tools and resources available. The aim is for employees to see the benefits in personal and professional growth, in engagement in the business and in everyone’s wellbeing.
• Channel4 have also been sharing their plans for the week:

“Learning at Work Week is bigger and better than ever before at Channel 4. It’s not just one week, it’s two!

“We listened to our people who asked for even more opportunities to grow and find out more about the organisation, with more than 40 workshops now available across ten days of learning.

“It starts from the top too, thanks to our Exec team, who are all taking time to run their own sessions, focused on how important a desire to learn was in their career progression.

“There’s also a big emphasis on our young learners and apprentices, ensuring they can get a full understanding of how Channel 4 works and insight into how they can contribute to the business’ success. Our ‘show and tell’ sessions profile each department and how what they do is so important to the channel. As well as hosting webinars that Campaign for Learning have put together.

“Making sessions accessible is crucial, so people can join wherever they’re working via our new digital platform ‘The Learning Hive’, where everyone is encouraged to take ownership of their development with all our learning materials available in one easy-to-use system. There are a whole host of hybrid events too, which allow for face-to-face interaction.

“That’s a lot to cram into two weeks, so we’ll be sure to run week-long editions at other points through the year as well. Let’s learn, baby learn!”

Employer-led events for Learning at Work Week demonstrate the importance of lifelong learning and how it helps both organisations and people respond positively to change. Learning at Work Week is about uncovering the learning potential in all of us. Organisers around the country will be running sessions to help their people unlock their learning power – from tasters of bite-size learning to using coaching techniques, from discovering new qualifications and apprenticeships to finding new career journeys.

There’s still time for your organisation to take part. There are activities running through the week including free webinars from the Campaign for Learning and Learning at Work Week national partners. To get started, use the five simple steps and ideas generator at www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/five-steps.

Julia Wright, National Director of Campaign for Learning, said:

“Our organisations have immense learning power. They have a wealth of knowledge, skills and experience that their people have gained from work, life and learning. A big element of Learning at Work Week is the opportunity for everyone to collaborate on learning and share what they know. Learning at Work Week events will uncover colleagues’ ‘hidden powers’ and amplify learning through internal talks and workshops, masterclasses, Q&As and social media.

“As the World Economic Forum highlights ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ technologies will have a massive impact on our jobs and work affecting millions of people. Events like Learning at Work Week give us a space to explore what this means and the lifelong learning we need to navigate these changes and thrive.”

Kerry Jary, Learning & Development Campaigns Manager at Co-op, said:

“Having joined Co-op’s L&D Leadership team in March, I was keen for us to take part in Learning at Work Week this year as part of my work in further engaging our colleagues with the importance of self-development. 

“For me, this year’s theme “learning uncovered” is all about unlocking our colleague’s potential and giving them the tools, they need to develop. This is a good opportunity to continue promoting a lifelong learning culture across the business and signpost colleagues to the fantastic array of resources we have available to support them.

“We believe this helps our colleagues find a sense of belonging at Co-op, to stay with us and see opportunities where they can progress, try new career paths, develop their skills and experience and help us achieve our mission of Co-operating for a fairer world.”

Andy Surridge, Head of Learning & Capability at Britvic, said:

“This year we revitalised our commitment to dynamic personal growth and career development. Our progress in transforming the range of opportunities our colleagues asked for, and their response to them, has been amazing.

“Whatever their role, wherever they work, Learning at Work Week gives us an excellent excuse to discover, and have a taste, of the incredible support that is available. We encourage everyone to carve out a little time to spend on themselves in this week, get involved and learn something new!”