Investing in Skills

Many businesses in Luxembourg face a shortage of staff with the skills they need. While recruitment plays a part in solving this, drawing in staff from both inside and outside the country, training is vital to a sustainable supply of capable workers. As the director of training at the Luxembourg Chambre de Commerce and CEO of the House of Training, Muriel Morbe is one of the leaders in this field. Her courses have had more than 27,000 registered trainees over the past year, an impressive number for any business. “It's reassuring to hear that training numbers have returned to pre-pandemic levels,” Morbe says, “indicating that companies in Luxembourg are continuing to invest in the development and upskilling of their employees and executive management. This is very important because there are new skills needed and you have to train your employees.” Morbe’s company provides more than 1200 courses, covering both technical and soft skills, with a focus on the financial sector, making them a go-to source of learning for companies across Luxembourg.

​ ​

“While pure e-learning and distance learning are excellent for knowledge transfer, there's still a valuable role for in-person training.” 

​ 

The Changing Face of Training

For Morbe, like so many others, the COVID-19 pandemic saw an acceleration of existing trends towards digital work. But with the pandemic fading, in person training is regaining some of its importance. “The tools and technology for distance learning have improved, allowing for more interactive training sessions,” she explains. “However, face-to-face training still offers unique benefits.” Direct discussions with experts, as well as informal collaboration with peers, mean that in person training provides opportunities that aren’t available online, just as online training provides opportunities that a classroom can’t. Part of the challenge now for trainers, and for those seeking training, is to identify the right mode of delivery, not just the knowledge that they need.

  

  

Adapting for the Future

While staff increasingly manage their own skill progression, companies like House of Training still have a role in guiding them. “We can assist both employees and employers in identifying the appropriate learning path to acquire the necessary skills,” Morbe explains. Employees can go to their website, search for the skills they need, and be guided along a training path that will suit them. Those training paths are increasingly interactive, as developments in technology and pedagogy provide more engaging materials. Interaction and gamification are replacing the passive learning of the past. Employees now have to be more adaptable than ever, and training institutions need to adapt for them. That’s how you get 27,000 trainees a year through your digital door.