Do Employees Value On-The-Job Qualifications? – The CoursesOnline Report

According to research recently published by Statista that looked into the time employees from around the world spent engaged in online learning per week, the average learner spent an average of 1.6 hours per week learning via digital methods.

With online learning taking up such a significant portion of time at work, it got us here at CoursesOnline wondering how people really feel about the learning and qualifications that they need to undertake in order to enhance their careers.

To find some answers, we put together a survey that asked 4000 employees from across the UK the following three questions in order to gain a better understanding of their thoughts towards studying for professional qualifications.

This survey was open to anyone to respond and encompassed respondents from all backgrounds, so long as they had experience of studying for qualifications for use at work. Our key findings are as follows.

This survey was open to anyone to respond and encompassed respondents from all backgrounds, so long as they had experience of studying for qualifications for use at work. Our key findings are as follows.

Given that studying for qualifications is often a time-intensive task that draws learners away from their other personal and professional responsibilities, it’s not surprising that there is such a large negative perception towards them. 

However as the majority identifies, the rewards on offer very much reinforce the concept of short-term pain for long-term gain. No matter the industry that you operate in, it’s virtually a guarantee that having more qualifications will almost always open more doors and increase the salary that you can command.

Therefore if you find yourself in a situation where you want to study for a particular qualification but don’t think that you have the time to do so, the simple solution is simply to discuss things with your employer or your manager if you have one. 

State your business case for prioritising studying over your usual tasks and highlight how the knowledge and skills that you acquire will enable you to be more productive and provide greater value to your organisation over time.

Even if your employer is willing to give you the time to study but doesn’t have the money to pay for your training, there are a number of grants available that you might be eligible for that can provide the necessary funding.

In terms of employment sectors, the sectors that felt that the qualifications were most worthwhile were as follows:

On the other hand, the industries that felt the qualifications were least worth it were:

In order to progress upwards within many organisations, studying for qualifications is a valuable tool for helping to drive your progress. However, it should be noted that they are not the be-all and end-all – they still have to go hand in hand with good work performance and a positive mindset towards improving your output.

From the survey results as well we can see that around two-thirds (67%) of respondents agreed that their levels of professional qualification had an impact on their job search, for better or for worse. 

Interestingly, age was a dividing factor when it came to responses to this question. Of those aged 21-24, a combined 80% stated that their level of qualification had some impact on them getting the role that they wanted, and 70% of those aged 25-34 had similar feelings. Older age groups though did not find that their level of qualification had such an impact, with around 60% of respondents saying that their qualifications were irrelevant to them getting their chosen role. 

One of these younger employees is Annie, who works as a Digital Marketing Executive at the agency Imaginaire. Her degree, whilst not even in a subject related to marketing, nonetheless provided her with “years of knowledge, resources, and an initiative that I don’t feel that I would have developed otherwise”. In her case, just the process of getting her university qualification greatly aided her employability by opening her eyes to new approaches to working.

Respondents from the below three industry sectors agreed the most with the statement that their qualifications had come in handy when securing a job.

In contrast, those sectors that broadly disagreed with this statement were:

Not getting the grades you need on results day then facing this fast-paced situation can make clearing a stressful time. That’s why it’s important to look after your wellbeing throughout. 

It’s worth remembering that many other people across the country have been in this situation before and been able to get on enjoyable and satisfying courses, even if they weren’t their first choice. 

If you want to improve your wellbeing during the clearing process, here are some things you can do to make yourself feel better and reduce stress:

Perhaps the most interesting result from the survey though was that only 11% of respondents identified professional industry qualifications as their preferred source of learning for work. On-the-job learning was the winner here with 36% of the vote and echoes previous research that highlighted the popularity of this approach.  

This raises the separate question as to how the providers of professional qualifications can tailor their learning materials so as to include a practical element. With solely theoretical approaches clearly not proving the most popular and likewise for second-hand sources of knowledge such as discussion with colleagues and online sources of expertise, other options need to be thoroughly explored.

An example of how such blended learning approaches can work can be seen in the case of Emma, who studied a teaching assistant course with the Open Study College. In her own words, “I am quite old fashioned in the sense that I like to speak face to face with people”, so learning solely from a book or computer wouldn’t be the best approach for her.

By instead seeking out a qualification that included a sizable work placement of one hundred hours, she was able to complete her qualification and is now aiming “to do some supply work in local schools to gain as much experience as I can in different settings.”