For a long time companies have known the benefits that come with implementing an elearning program to train their employees.

Be it for employee on-boarding (which is said to result in $80,000 ROI per employee) or for teaching new skills to the workforce, robust elearning implementations have the potential to make a significant positive impact for companies.

But what about the latest trend today? What about social learning?

Similar to when elearning first came about many companies prefer to wait until the concept has been proven to some degree before dedicating resources (monetary and working hours) to its implementation.

This makes sense. Not every company has the ability to try the latest and greatest trends – the risks are too high.

87% of employees indicate that social knowledge sharing among the organization is an essential component of their working day.

When asked about formal training, only 37% indicated it was essential.

That’s a large gap and is evidence as to what employees find most valuable in terms of learning on the job. As such, it makes sense that training programs incorporate some degree of social learning.

Social learning isn’t just an informal way to train employees, it too can have a positive ROI when implemented properly.

If social learning is anything like the trajectory of elearning, we will likely see an increase in adoption over the coming years.

This is especially true if large, respected companies start seeing success in social learning programs as it will give others the confidence to move forward with it in their own organization.