Continuing professional development (CPD) provides a structured approach to workplace training and development. For many professionals, some form of CPD is required to keep skills and knowledge up to date. With limited time both inside and outside the workplace, and with HR and Learning and Development (L&D) budgets under constant pressure, workplace training that meets CPD standards can help employers meet business objectives, while satisfying the personal and professional goals of employees.
The ethos of CPD is the intentional maintenance and development of the knowledge and skills needed to perform in a professional context. The areas of study or topics can be sector-specific or technical and also cover general management and communication skills.
Professionals in regulated industries such as law, healthcare and accountancy, have to maintain their CPD to retain their licence to operate. In fact, the CPD Research Project estimates five million professionals are required to undertake CPD training every year, which equates to 13 per cent of the UK’s workforce.
Aligning training with business goals
Structured accredited training through CPD at work gives employees a development resource, and companies and organisations can reap the benefits of a continuously developing workforce.
A structured training approach can also help line up training and business goals. A recent survey of 100 UK HR decision makers by Rosetta Stone and the CPD Standards Office revealed that 30 per cent of HR experts believe improvement is needed to better align L&D with business objectives.
One skills area where businesses recognise they have a development need is language proficency. With more organisations operating in multiple markets, the need for language proficiency has never been greater. An earlier study found that 87 per cent of polled executives from the UK and Germany identify there is more than one critical language in use in their organisation, yet almost two-thirds believe their employees need to improve their language skills, demonstrating a clear gap that needs to be addressed.
Quality standard
As international trade continues to flourish, CPD in the form of language training is increasingly relevant and valuable. CPD-certified language training provides standardisation and the assurance that there will be a consistent level of quality across the enterprise, lowering an organisation’s risk.
Language training brings many benefits to employees and businesses including improved communication with customers, suppliers and colleagues. It also builds employee confidence in communicating across language divides. Amanda Rosewarne, Director of CPD Accreditation and Research says: “A CPD led approach to language learning can improve an individual’s career prospects, provide greater work engagement and create a wider scope of learning possibilities. Language learning will continue to become a cornerstone within organisations’ training budgets, as well as formally recognised CPD activities within regulatory environments.”
As language is a bridge between cultures, language learning enables more than just wider, more enriched communication; it gives learners an understanding of different cultures, allowing for better business relationships with others inside and outside the organisation.
For international businesses with offices spread across the globe, the practicalities of providing on-going language training can be a challenge. In this situation, digital-based CPD is ideal.
Businesses are now more connected than ever digitally and the demand for CPD and training to be undertaken online is increasing. ‘Digital CPD’ makes learning accessible with the ability to reach all corners of the world. For HR and L&D departments rolling out training programmes to an internationally spread workforce, it is an attractive option.
