COVID-19: It’s not all doom and gloom! New research reveals optimism amongst training professionals

Since the coronavirus pandemic really began to affect our working lives towards the end of March, we’ve been keen to understand how it has affected everyone in the training sector to learn how we can best support training providers and staff alike.

We are therefore very pleased to be able to share the results of our survey, ‘How has the coronavirus pandemic affected you?’. The responses received, from 1,597 training professionals from all disciplines across the UK, have been really honest and upfront, giving us a fantastic insight into the current situation for those working in the sector and how we can support them through this difficult period.

Business as usual

Happily, the results show a fairly positive picture! With the majority of respondents continuing to work (albeit with slightly different working conditions), it seems that it’s ‘business as usual’ for the training sector. Most people are utilising remote working technology to continue operating as normal.

Of the people surveyed who remain in employment with no change to working hours, 25% reported business as usual with a further 50% stating they have had to make adjustments, but are back on track now.

A vast majority of respondents identified themselves as training staff, and have been able to continue delivering to learners with minimal interruptions due to technology like Zoom and Skype.

Employee engagement

Employers in the training sector have also mainly been supportive of their staff, with most survey respondents claiming that their employer has taken specific steps to keep them engaged and motivated. This has led to 75% of staff who responded to our survey feeling just as motivated as they were before the pandemic.

Not forgetting freelance and furlough

Of course, not all of the survey participants are currently working – some are without employment, others work freelance, and 20% are on furlough. Whilst far from an ideal situation, most respondents who have been furloughed agreed with the decision, as they would have been unable to continue with their roles in the current climate. This again suggests that employers in the sector are doing all they can to continue operating as normal, other than where absolutely necessary.

Look out for a series of upcoming articles from us exploring these topics further, and presenting the findings from our survey in greater detail.

We also received lots of suggestions as to the kind of support that training staff need during this turbulent period, and we will do our best to feed this back to employers and aid them with implementing new developments.

If you didn’t get chance to complete our survey or have further comments to add, please don’t hesitate to comment below or get in touch with us.

Sarah Burns, GPRS Recruitment