How To Develop GDPR Compliance Online Training Courses For Your HR Team
Now that the GDPR regulations are in place, HR teams are starting to fully realize the impact on their processes. Alongside customer-facing departments, HR departments are hit heavily by the regulations. The sheer number of different aspects of employee data held within spreadsheets, systems and communication tools is overwhelming. eLearning is a fantastic resource for GDPR compliance online training because it is so flexible. It can be repeated, if necessary, and can be completed at the pace of the corporate learner. In HR, that is invaluable – you had enough work to keep you busy for a hundred years, even before GDPR! If you need a refresher, or to re-examine your processes for compliance, these are the most important places to start. There are three key GDPR impact areas within HR processes: recruitment data, employee data, and payroll.
Developing GDPR Compliance Online Training That Works
GDPR compliance online training is a challenging subject. On the one hand, it’s essential: everyone has to complete the training. There will be a compliance obligation for 100% completion. But as we all know, being obliged to complete an online training program doesn’t ensure that we understand the content.
In fact, it’s more likely to trigger a negative response: I’ve got to do this, but I won’t do it well. That means that eLearning designers have a difficult task on their hands. Regulation-heavy online training must be balanced with making the subject feel valuable and the training useful. Luckily, there are plenty of ways that you can develop online training that not only embeds the message, but engages the corporate learners too:
1. Put It In Context: Why It Is Important
There is nothing worse than feeling like you are wasting your time! Use your pre-training communications to explain the background to GDPR compliance online training. Appreciate the time pressure this puts on teams, acknowledge and respect their commitment.
You can even host a pre-course event to give employees a brief overview of what’s to come. For example, explain how the new regulations will impact their work duties, as well as how they’ll need to adjust their work practices accordingly.
2. Focus On Understanding Terms
There is a lot of new language involved in GDPR, which HR teams will need to be able to employ. Text-rich online training content rarely has the desired impact. Training on new terminology is the ideal opportunity to use a game or a quiz. You can even roll these out as microlearning online training modules that encourage light-hearted competition!
Give employees ongoing support resources so that they can refresh their memory periodically. You should also include the GDPR guidelines in their original form to give them a frame of reference.
3. Keep It Interesting
Use real-world examples wherever possible to help corporate learners imagine how they will apply their GDPR compliance online training. If everything in an online training course is hypothetical, there will be no emotional connection from the corporate learner. This will make it very difficult to commit to memory and will negatively impact adoption.
Personal anecdotes and real-world examples help them relate to online training and avoid some of the most common pitfalls. For instance, the story features an employee who fails to report a data breach within the allotted time. Explain what happened, why, and how this negatively impacts the company’s reputation and standing.
4. Make It Interactive
Use your LMS features appropriately to create a two-way experience. One-sided learning has no place in online training, especially in regulatory subjects. Create hyperlinked infographics, so they get a general overview of the regulations but can still click-through to learn more. Demo videos are another great way to show them the GDPR protocols in action.
5. Make Expectations Clear
From the outset, corporate learners will have questions about GDPR compliance online training. How much time is this going to take? When will I know everything I need to know? Why am I doing this? How does this apply to me? Keep all these questions in mind as you design your learning objectives and communication materials.
You should also ask for their input to create more personalized online training content. For example, conduct surveys beforehand to disclose their perceptions of GDPR and how it will affect their job roles. Then use the data to dispel common myths and offer greater clarity regarding real-world application.
6. Focus On Assessment
With GDPR, compliance is everything. There’s no getting away from it – you’ll need a formal assessment, and probably a certification. That doesn’t mean you wait until the end of the online training course to check their understanding. After each chunk of online training content, apply the brake and let corporate learners digest what they just read.
Use an interactive element where corporate learners get to try out their new skills. Then the assessment will just feel like covering old ground – no stress. Lastly, you might consider investing in an LMS that offers certification management to safeguard yourself in the event of an audit.
eLearning technology was made for GDPR compliance online training. Anyone who has had GDPR compliance online training in a hot, stuffy training room with a group of bored, disinterested colleagues will agree. There is no comparison.
Conclusion
GDPR compliance online training can be interactive, with a light hand and a check for understanding. It can give you an opportunity to role-play or try out what you’ve learned. You can complete it at a time that suits you (on the sofa, with snacks!). Best of all, you can come back to it at any time for a refresh. How many people have training policies sitting in folders in abandoned cabinets? Design your GDPR compliance online training to be appealing, engaging and easily accessible to even the most time-pressed HR employee.
Our online directory features the top LMS platforms for GDPR compliance training for your HR team. You can even narrow results by features, pricing model, spec support, and other essential selling points, as well as evaluate user reviews.
