Continuing education: The key to success

Working in a home office brings many opportunities wit it as well as risks and can lead to professional stagnation.
It is therefore important for both employers and employees to analyse which skills employees need in the home office, how to react to the constant challenges of globalisation and digitalisation and how to create incentives for the professional future.

List of content:

1. Home office skills
2. Distinction: continuing education vs. advanced training 
3. The indispensability of continuing education 
4. Tips for continuing education at home 
5. The key to success  

1. Home office skills

In the course of their professional career, everyone, sooner or later, faces the question of what their future should look like. Although many do not have clear ideas, it is clear that after starting a career, further training is often necessary in order to advance and be successful in the long term. 

In the last three years in particular, however, there have been major changes in the world of work due to the Corona pandemic, advancing globalisation and digitalisation as well as the (partly involuntary) trend towards home office. 
The resulting changes demand that, in addition to technical know-how, especially in the home office, soft skills are increasingly needed, such as strong communication skills, the ability to deal with criticism and conflict, flexibility, creativity or a certain degree of organisational ability. This is no problem for some employees, but a real challenge for others. 

The sometimes more difficult working conditions can lead to a loss of performance and motivation, which can be a particular hindrance to the pursuit of further education and training. 
In addition, in most cases employees have to take care of their own continuing education and training. This requires a willingness for lifelong learning and successful self-management, which in turn requires a high degree of ambition and stamina. 

2. Distinction: continuing education vs. advanced training

The terms continuing education and advanced training are often understood as synonyms, although they represent different forms of knowledge enhancement.
While advanced training aims at attaining a higher level of the current job, the continuing education, on the other hand, does not have to be directly related to the current job. 

Continuing education is more about gaining additional qualifications and competences and/or even retraining. In this context, continuing vocational education builds on the existing level of knowledge and deepens or expands it through new learning units. 
Common examples of advanced training are training courses, retraining, master craftsman courses, language courses or even catching up on school-leaving qualifications as well as participation in leisure-oriented educational programmes.
Furthermore, continuing education can be roughly divided into three types: general and political continuing education, vocational continuing education and continuing education at universities.

The main advantages of continuing education are the frequent state subsidies and the receipt of a diploma or certificate after successful completion. Particularly in the rapidly changing labour market and the constantly new challenges, the deepening or learning of competences is essential. 

3. The indispensability of continuing education 

Acquiring additional qualifications within the framework of continuing education measures is very conducive to success and is in the interest of both the employee and the employer. 
From the employee's point of view, continuing education primarily serves the purpose of qualification and competence enhancement beyond one's own job, whereby new occupational fields and activities can be discovered and career opportunities on the market can be increased. In addition, the pure increase in knowledge and, of course, the prospect of a salary increase are important motives for participation. But continuing education is also suitable for unskilled workers who have only been semi-skilled, or for the unemployed, for example, or for parents returning from parental leave, in order to make it easier to return to work.

In the meantime, further training is compulsory for employees in most companies or, as for example in the therapy sector, necessary in order to be allowed to perform the job at all. 
Taking into account the rapidly changing technological progress, global development and an increasingly flexible working world, the need for social and inter-professional skills is growing. Especially key qualifications such as speaking another language, the ability to work in a team or communication skills are imperative. 

4. Tips for continuing education at homee 

The previous paragraphs have shown that continuing education measures can be of different kinds and can be carried out both formally in special continuing education institutions and non-formally, at the workplace.
The following suggestions explicitly refer to training from home.

• Online learning platforms / E-Learning-platforms
  Online learning platforms are particularly suitable for training at home.
  Depending on the platform, a variety of courses can be completed from the comfort of one's home, either for free or for a fee. The advantage here is that the courses can often be completed at one's own pace and various quizzes can be taken to test knowledge. After successful completion, depending on the platform, a certificate of completion can even be issued, which can be included in the CV.
  Example platforms are Udemy, Skillshare, LinkedIn Learning, Hubspot, Teachable, Uscreen, Thinkific, Podia, Coursera and many more. 
  
  
• Online seminars / webinars 
  Online seminars are also a great way to pick up new knowledge. Find out more on LinkedIn or at renowned companies that offer webinars. Very suitable are, for example, IHK seminars in which experts report on their everyday work and share their experiences and know-how. By the way: desk.ly also recently started offering webinars where you can learn a lot about desk sharing and our cloud solution! 
  
  
• YouTube and social media
  YouTube videos, for example, are an informal way of acquiring new knowledge. Here, too, experienced entrepreneurs share their knowledge in numerous videos. You don't get a degree or certificate, but you can still get useful impulses and suggestions. The same applies to books and specialist reading.
    
• Bücher und Fachlektüre
  Non-fiction books, biographies and experience reports are good for reflecting on your own behaviour, needs and wishes. Self-help books or guidebooks allow you to take on new perspectives or benefit from the experiences of others. Especially for acquiring and expanding soft skills in the digital world of work, there is a lot of reading material on topics such as self-leadership, motivation and organisation.  

In addition to the options presented, there are a large number of platforms and private providers on the internet. It is recommended to always carry out independent research to convince oneself of the suitability or to approach the manager about possible internal offers.

5. The key to success 

It can be stated that continuing education training is of great importance for both employers and employees. For employees, this is primarily to assert themselves against the competition on the market, and for employers to ensure that they have qualified skilled workers in the company in the long term.  

In combination with the use of our tool, it can be ensured that employees plan their flex office well, for example, that they regularly come to the office to take part in on-site training in addition to private training measures. 

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