Does a surge in weekend training form part of the next normal?

What we regarded as normal working patterns have been almost totally eroded in the months since the lockdown began.

It feels as if the conventions of five days a week in the office and the hours of 9 to 5 are gone for good.

COVID means permanent change?

Many commentators believe the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we all work forever.

In the last few months, according to an IRIS customer survey, 96% of respondents were working remotely, and 68% operating flexible hours.

Weekend becomes time to train

And there’s another interesting trend we’ve begun to notice at IRIS – a surge in training activities on weekends.

There’s been a large rise in the number of customers who have been enrolling and registering for IRIS Training Centre, which we launched in February.

In total, there have been 355 enrolments and registrations on weekends from the start of April to the end of June.

Prior to the lockdown, we saw little or no activity at the weekends. Indeed, that was the case for the training centre’s predecessor IRIS OpenLearning.

When did training peak?

The three highest weekends were:

1 May 9/10 – 61

2 April 18/19 - 60

3 May 30/ 31 - 57

What does it show?

It seems reasonable to suggest that this increase in training-related activity is further evidence of how working hours and patterns are changing. It may also show that during the peak phase of lockdown, customers were trying to find useful ways to occupy themselves, with so many restrictions still in place at that time.

And with the continued need for many staff to stay away from the office to limit the risk of infections, combined with a growing desire from employees to work more remotely, conventional hours will surely continue to shift.

Could this mean we continue to see more learning taking place over the weekend?

What does IRIS Training Centre offer?

As many customers have already been deciding, if you’re going to invest some time in training, then IRIS Training Centre is a great place to go to do it.

You can find a huge range of free CPD accredited courses covering the many solutions in the IRIS Accountancy Suite

Helping staff in day to day work

The courses are an easy way to introduce your staff to our software and to ensure they have the essential knowledge to use our tools effectively in their daily work.

Our training also enables staff to keep up to date with the full range of functionality, the latest new features, and upgrades released throughout the year. Plus, we provide supplementary user guides and scripts.

We also offer access to training for our payroll and HR software, should that be of interest. Our online HR software for small businesses, IRIS HR Pro, can be upgraded with training management software whereas IRIS Cascade HRi has a training software add-on, perfect for large businesses.

Want to learn more? Visit the centre here and register here.