Four Strategies for Remote Workforce Training, Development, and Certification

Companies and organizations are increasingly turning to remote-based teleworkers to fill vital positions. This is due to a variety of circumstances, including increasing difficulty in locating and attracting potential employees who possess the requisite skills required for positions, locating potential employees who reside in close geographic proximity to the corporate facilities, high costs associated with relocating employees across the country or globe, and high costs associated with supporting a large, localized workforce. Therefore, developing and supporting a strong remote workforce becomes a critical business strategy and an important component of the corporate Value Chain. Providing ongoing training, development, and credentialing for these remote teleworkers can be challenging for many companies – despite technological advancements in recent years. In response, many companies are increasingly taking it upon themselves to provide workforce education and certification – bypassing traditional education formats in favor of emerging models for training, development, and competency certification. Four strategies/models are proposed in this chapter for training and credentialing remote teleworkers, including utilization of Open Systems, which are gaining popularity in corporations such as Google, the Khan Academy, and Autodesk; Badging and Open Badging, which are commonly used in corporations such as Samsung, NASA, and Disney; Gamification and 3D Simulation Strategies, which are used in a variety of corporate training; and Learning Support Managers, which are used by companies such as Apple, Inc.