Tuesday
Aug162005
337 - e-Learning from Home: TRENDS Readers Responses
August 16, 2005
Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - August 16, 2005.
#337 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
50,719 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Learning 2005: Oct 30 - Nov 2 - Orlando, Florida.
e-Learning from Home: TRENDS Readers Responses
This summary compiles representative responses related to corporate policy concerning at-home access to e-Learning from our TRENDS readers in a variety of industries. All names and organizations have been kept confidential.
" � Workers are neither encouraged nor discouraged from accessing e-learning from home, though they have access to it. I'm not aware of any policy on accessing from home."
" � Hourly workers do not complete mandatory (assigned in their Learning
Plan) online learning from home. They are paid for the time spent completing online courses while at work. Sometimes they stay past their work hours or come in early but they are paid (overtime issues here too).
However, they are allowed to take online courses from home if the courses are elective."
" � Access to a company owned and operated Learning Portal is available to both salaried and hourly employees for access during and after working hours. Employees are given access to libraries of content and encouraged to participate in self-directed professional development."
" � All employees are given an e-learning license with access to a library of business, career, personal, as well as PC End User and technical computer courses, if they and their supervisor can agree upon a minimum of 20 hours of job-related courses to be completed during the normal workday, within the license period of a year via a respectable third-party provider ... Employees are free to take all other courses at home, or at work-provided PCs before/after work, or during breaks and lunches ... we do not pay them overtime, nor can a supervisor mandate, for job-related e-learning at home."
" � Our company (IT division supporting a major specialty retailer) allows all workers, including hourly people) to access e-learning from home via a network connection or the ability to download courses to a CD-ROM for use off-line. Although there are business-critical activities that are accomplished on company time, we firmly believe that associates drive their own career development. Giving them access to a wide variety of business and technical training online empowers them to self-driven learning, vs. mandated."
" � My company has no e-learning. But HR has stonewalled my offer to provide a voluntary lunchtime "drop-in" for all employees. I'd have a PC setup, a demo topic for the day that'd take only 5 minutes to loop through continuously (so people could come when they want and only "lose" a few minutes of lunch), and I'd field any questions anyone had about anything.
Turns out the reason I get the cold shoulder instead of "OK" is that at one time in the past a manager had strongly implied to a worker that they really needed to attend what was provided as such a voluntary training on the employees' unpaid time... and it resulted in a legal complaint. So all it takes is one bad apple and the lawyers to kill learning dead in its tracks!"
" � The real question from the compensation professionals is most likely "Are they really learning or just billing extra hours?" I believe there is an easy answer to this question. A standard can be established and governed via an LMS, one that reports to the HRMS and ultimately compensates the learner for only the amount of instructional content time embedded in each learning activity, perhaps with some buffer (say 15 minutes for entering and leaving the activity). The compensation would apply to only a single attempt / exposure of the learning activity remotely. Ideally, all activities should have some type of assessment
and/or completion indicator. All subsequent learner attempts and
exposure to the same learning activity would only be compensated at work, not at home. "
" � The policy we have used for home access is fairly simple � Due to possible union issues we ask that we receive an e-mail with a copy to the user's supervisor and HR office authorizing its use on personal time. Then we provide the required (URL). In some extreme cases we have had customer agencies draft a memorandum of understanding that the user must sign."
" � The resources within the website are elective, in other words, they are not "required or assigned". Working with our employment lawyers, we drafted a policy/notice that each person must agree to when they login to the site. The notice states that the resources offered within the website are to build on individual strengths. They are meant to supplement training or provide professional development. Compensation is not provided for these elective courses/resources. However, if the employee has an limited (hourly) status, and if a course is assigned by a supervisor, then
1) the supervisor must provide time, during normal working hours to take the course, or 2) if the course is to be taken outside of normal working hours, then the worker must receive prior authorization to take the course on an overtime basis."
" � Our company employs approximately 25,000 employees, and we do not suggest or require our hourly employees take e-courses from home due to the issues around timekeeping/compensation. Possible issues we are concerned about include: 1) Possible liability if employees do not notify us of time worked at home; 2) Potential for employees to inaccurately state time worked from home and be overcompensated; and 3) Potential liability if managers tell employees training is mandatory even if company policy is that it is optional."
"�This is what our attorney said: "Where an e-learning module is required we absolutely must compensate an employee for time spent taking the class.
On the other hand, where a module is voluntary and arguably is expending the employee's skill set for broader purposes than just the job, time spent taking the class is not "compensable" time and could be taken from home without concern about the pay issue". We don't have a formal policy and I suspect there are violations of this general guideline all the time."
" � We do not allow hourly employee access to e-learning while at home because it is considered compensable time � We have been audited on several occasions and this is one of the areas they examine to see where our "control points" are in place. Since our LMS and all content is only accessible inside our firewall, it allows us to ensure that employees have to be "on the clock" when accessing e-learning. In addition, it ensures that we can accurately pay hourly workers for their time "working" - which includes participation in e-learning events and courses sponsored by the company."
" � My experience has been that companies avoid offering access from home for fear of being accused of forcing workers to learn in their own time.
Thus they have made e-learning available but in a non-compulsory and non-advertised way. In two major cases with which I am familiar, the take-up has been spectacular. Workers want to learn! They want a chance to improve their qualifications and knowledge. If they can do this from home, in their own time, for only the cost of their ISP connect fees, they are happy to do so. In one case an Asian-speaking worker learned English skills and then studied English technical skills courses and got promoted.
In another case an office cleaner was refused time off to attend courses for higher skilled jobs within the company but did the courses online form home and passed and graduated to a much higher skilled job."
" � We do not have a formal policy around hourly workers access to e-learning from home as haven't offered e-learning to date. However, our restaurants are crying out for it. Plus, the need is there, especially for new hires."
Note From Elliott: Thanks to the vast number of TRENDS readers who responded to this question. As you can see, there are a range of views and policies about at-home access. We will be creating a Task Force at Learning 2005 to look at corporate policy and legal issues concerning at-home access to e-Learning. Stay tuned!
Upcoming MASIE Center Events:
* Learning 2005 - Oct 30 to Nov 2 - Orlando, Florida.
* Extreme Learning LAB - Sept 12-14 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
Complete info and registration: http://www.masie.com
#337 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
50,719 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Learning 2005: Oct 30 - Nov 2 - Orlando, Florida.
e-Learning from Home: TRENDS Readers Responses
This summary compiles representative responses related to corporate policy concerning at-home access to e-Learning from our TRENDS readers in a variety of industries. All names and organizations have been kept confidential.
" � Workers are neither encouraged nor discouraged from accessing e-learning from home, though they have access to it. I'm not aware of any policy on accessing from home."
" � Hourly workers do not complete mandatory (assigned in their Learning
Plan) online learning from home. They are paid for the time spent completing online courses while at work. Sometimes they stay past their work hours or come in early but they are paid (overtime issues here too).
However, they are allowed to take online courses from home if the courses are elective."
" � Access to a company owned and operated Learning Portal is available to both salaried and hourly employees for access during and after working hours. Employees are given access to libraries of content and encouraged to participate in self-directed professional development."
" � All employees are given an e-learning license with access to a library of business, career, personal, as well as PC End User and technical computer courses, if they and their supervisor can agree upon a minimum of 20 hours of job-related courses to be completed during the normal workday, within the license period of a year via a respectable third-party provider ... Employees are free to take all other courses at home, or at work-provided PCs before/after work, or during breaks and lunches ... we do not pay them overtime, nor can a supervisor mandate, for job-related e-learning at home."
" � Our company (IT division supporting a major specialty retailer) allows all workers, including hourly people) to access e-learning from home via a network connection or the ability to download courses to a CD-ROM for use off-line. Although there are business-critical activities that are accomplished on company time, we firmly believe that associates drive their own career development. Giving them access to a wide variety of business and technical training online empowers them to self-driven learning, vs. mandated."
" � My company has no e-learning. But HR has stonewalled my offer to provide a voluntary lunchtime "drop-in" for all employees. I'd have a PC setup, a demo topic for the day that'd take only 5 minutes to loop through continuously (so people could come when they want and only "lose" a few minutes of lunch), and I'd field any questions anyone had about anything.
Turns out the reason I get the cold shoulder instead of "OK" is that at one time in the past a manager had strongly implied to a worker that they really needed to attend what was provided as such a voluntary training on the employees' unpaid time... and it resulted in a legal complaint. So all it takes is one bad apple and the lawyers to kill learning dead in its tracks!"
" � The real question from the compensation professionals is most likely "Are they really learning or just billing extra hours?" I believe there is an easy answer to this question. A standard can be established and governed via an LMS, one that reports to the HRMS and ultimately compensates the learner for only the amount of instructional content time embedded in each learning activity, perhaps with some buffer (say 15 minutes for entering and leaving the activity). The compensation would apply to only a single attempt / exposure of the learning activity remotely. Ideally, all activities should have some type of assessment
and/or completion indicator. All subsequent learner attempts and
exposure to the same learning activity would only be compensated at work, not at home. "
" � The policy we have used for home access is fairly simple � Due to possible union issues we ask that we receive an e-mail with a copy to the user's supervisor and HR office authorizing its use on personal time. Then we provide the required (URL). In some extreme cases we have had customer agencies draft a memorandum of understanding that the user must sign."
" � The resources within the website are elective, in other words, they are not "required or assigned". Working with our employment lawyers, we drafted a policy/notice that each person must agree to when they login to the site. The notice states that the resources offered within the website are to build on individual strengths. They are meant to supplement training or provide professional development. Compensation is not provided for these elective courses/resources. However, if the employee has an limited (hourly) status, and if a course is assigned by a supervisor, then
1) the supervisor must provide time, during normal working hours to take the course, or 2) if the course is to be taken outside of normal working hours, then the worker must receive prior authorization to take the course on an overtime basis."
" � Our company employs approximately 25,000 employees, and we do not suggest or require our hourly employees take e-courses from home due to the issues around timekeeping/compensation. Possible issues we are concerned about include: 1) Possible liability if employees do not notify us of time worked at home; 2) Potential for employees to inaccurately state time worked from home and be overcompensated; and 3) Potential liability if managers tell employees training is mandatory even if company policy is that it is optional."
"�This is what our attorney said: "Where an e-learning module is required we absolutely must compensate an employee for time spent taking the class.
On the other hand, where a module is voluntary and arguably is expending the employee's skill set for broader purposes than just the job, time spent taking the class is not "compensable" time and could be taken from home without concern about the pay issue". We don't have a formal policy and I suspect there are violations of this general guideline all the time."
" � We do not allow hourly employee access to e-learning while at home because it is considered compensable time � We have been audited on several occasions and this is one of the areas they examine to see where our "control points" are in place. Since our LMS and all content is only accessible inside our firewall, it allows us to ensure that employees have to be "on the clock" when accessing e-learning. In addition, it ensures that we can accurately pay hourly workers for their time "working" - which includes participation in e-learning events and courses sponsored by the company."
" � My experience has been that companies avoid offering access from home for fear of being accused of forcing workers to learn in their own time.
Thus they have made e-learning available but in a non-compulsory and non-advertised way. In two major cases with which I am familiar, the take-up has been spectacular. Workers want to learn! They want a chance to improve their qualifications and knowledge. If they can do this from home, in their own time, for only the cost of their ISP connect fees, they are happy to do so. In one case an Asian-speaking worker learned English skills and then studied English technical skills courses and got promoted.
In another case an office cleaner was refused time off to attend courses for higher skilled jobs within the company but did the courses online form home and passed and graduated to a much higher skilled job."
" � We do not have a formal policy around hourly workers access to e-learning from home as haven't offered e-learning to date. However, our restaurants are crying out for it. Plus, the need is there, especially for new hires."
Note From Elliott: Thanks to the vast number of TRENDS readers who responded to this question. As you can see, there are a range of views and policies about at-home access. We will be creating a Task Force at Learning 2005 to look at corporate policy and legal issues concerning at-home access to e-Learning. Stay tuned!
Upcoming MASIE Center Events:
* Learning 2005 - Oct 30 to Nov 2 - Orlando, Florida.
* Extreme Learning LAB - Sept 12-14 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
Complete info and registration: http://www.masie.com
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