Ahead of the marcus evans HR Summit 2024, read here an interview with Matt Baker on what tools are needed to deliver engaging and effective employee training sessions.

1. Interview with: Matt Baker, SVP
Strategy/International, Class Tech-
nologies
“The delivery of employee training has
moved online, but most organisations
are still using platforms that were
designed for meetings rather than
engaging and interactive learning
experiences. To succeed in their
learning and development (L&D)
programmes, companies need additional
tools in order to engage learners,” says
Matt Baker, SVP Strategy/International,
Class Technologies.
Class Technologies is a sponsor compa-
ny at the marcus evans HR Summit
2024.
What are the biggest challenges
that HR leaders are facing in L&D
today?
The two pain points are skill shortages
and employee retention challenges.
According to Gallup, more than 50
percent of Australians are quiet quitting
and 92 percent are open to accepting a
new job. This shows they don’t feel
connected or supported by their organi-
sation. This is especially concerning for
industries such as healthcare.
What is the root cause of this?
According to research, it is not pay but
career growth and flexibility that play
the biggest role for the distributed
workforce that we have in Australia
today. It is not easy to support people
working from home. Australia has
always been at the forefront of remote
or hybrid working, but the post-
pandemic work environment solidified it.
What changes do we expect in the next
few years? Organisations are having to
figure out how to deal with these
challenges, which means more online
training and remote activities moving
forward. The future of work is a con-
nected organisation that manages both
in-person, online and hybrid, and
supports people in all three modalities.
Organisations must be very nimble to
respond to all their needs.
What does this really mean for HR?
How can it better serve employees?
It is not easy to create a culture for
constituents you never see in person.
There may be unintended bias, with HR
having a better relationship with the
people they see regularly. This creates
unique challenges as well as unique
opportunities.
What tools could be used to engage
remote learners?
Over the pandemic, almost all organisa-
tions had to rely on Microsoft Teams
and Zoom, but these platforms were
built for meetings. Someone goes online
and everyone else just logs in, turns off
their camera and microphone, and sits
back. Very few people pay attention.
These traditional meeting platforms are
not effective on their own for engaging
people in a training, onboarding or
upskilling environment. HR needs
additional tools that are built on top of
Teams and Zoom, that have the ability
to track people’s focus and attention.
Only a few percent of trainings are still
delivered in-person. It is just not
happening anymore. But an aspect that
many people don’t capture is the post
synchronous, meaning the people who
don’t and can’t make the initial training.
How do you support them? We have
tools that allow for a very powerful and
flexible hybrid and blended environ-
ment. HR does not have to lose out on
anybody. We are not trying to replace
or replicate in-person training, but bring
in tools that would make the hybrid and
online training experience as powerful
as possible. Our focus is on engage-
ment, keeping people connected to the
presenter, and making sure there is that
connection. You could have all the tools
in the world, but when you lose engage-
ment, you lose the opportunity. Engage-
ment is what drives value and a return
on the technology investment.
Can online training solutions sur-
pass in-person training?
The online component is better at
supporting accessibility and eliminating
unconscious bias. It helps support
equity, especially in a distributed
workforce, and increases the potential
ROI of the dollars you put into training.
Flying in ten people to a location and
providing training where the retention
rate will be maximum 20 percent is not
a good ROI. But if your virtual program
is effective, your ROI goes up dollars for
dollar. When budgets are constrained, it
becomes a big ROI opportunity.
How can HR make hybrid and
remote workers feel part of the
community?
This is where the technology itself
becomes important. People need to feel
connected on the platform. On a regular
corporate meeting platform, who knows
which video will appear next to which,
and how productive it will be. The
videos and content need to be managed
effectively. Culture is not driven by the
leaders, but by how the employees
interact. If the platform doesn’t facilitate
interaction, at the only time remote or
hybrid workers have come together in a
large group, they will not feel engaged
and part of a community.
Engagement
is what
drives value
and a return
on the
technology
How HR Can Make Online
Training Powerful and Successful

2. The HR Network –
marcus evans Summits group
delivers peer-to-peer information
on strategic matters, professional
trends and breakthrough
innovations.
Please note that the Summit is a
closed business event and the
number of participants strictly
limited.
About the HR Summit 2024
The HR Summit aims to foster innovative thinking, share inspiring ideas, and promote
community connections. Our continuing mission is to curate an engaging programme
featuring visionary keynote presentations, real-life case studies and interactive
forums delivered by compelling speakers and expert moderators. To achieve this
vision we choose our collaborators with great precision – we seek out professionals
who have deep expertise and hands-on experience, and can present cutting-edge
insights that spark conversation.
www.march24.hranzsummit.com
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About Class Technologies
Class is the next generation virtual classroom developed by Class Technologies Inc., a company founded by edtech pioneer Michael
Chasen. Focused exclusively on online synchronous learning and virtual instructor-led training for education, corporate, and
government, Class enables the active learning of 10M+ users from 1,500+ institutions worldwide and is the largest provider of
virtual classroom software for education.
www.class.com
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To view the web version of this interview, please click here:
https://events.marcusevans-events.com/hr2024-matt-baker