WELCOME TO PROSPER!

The Covid19-pandemic has challenged European companies to find new ways of working together while overcoming physical distances. As a result, various types of crisis-borne remote / hybrid work settings emerged. In order to build on the experiences gathered with hybrid working during the Covid19-pandemic, this project aims for developing a post pandemic empowerment programme (PROSPER) for small and medium sized enterprises that centers around healthy hybrid working.

The project has been formed as a strategic partnership to design, develop and implement a new training approach tailored to the needs of SME remote managers.

PROSPER responds to European SME managers’ needs for managing their remotely/hybrid working employees effectively, balancing digital productivity with wellbeing and inclusion.

BACKGROUND

The pandemic has caused a paradigm shift in management because of the dramatic increase in work-from-home practices. Yet the shift to hybrid work raises challenges for both managers and the staff. On one hand, today’s managers also need the interpersonal and relationship building skills to carry out the traditional management activities through digital interfaces. On the other hand, unconstrained digital work can have negative consequences for employees’ mental and physical health, leading to digital burnout and low productivity.

Where training offers and educational resources on remote leadership exist, they are primarily addressed to multinational corporations. As SMEs make up 99% of companies and employ 66% of Europeans, PROSPER has been carefully designed to meet the needs of European SME managers and is aligned with partners’ expertise, all of whom are vocational training providers to the small and medium-sized business sector.

AIMS

The overall objective of the Post Pandemic Empowerment Programme (PROSPER) is to design, develop and implement a new training approach which empowers SME managers to reimagine their role as remote managers and ensure remote employees balance digital productivity with wellbeing and inclusion.

With PROSPER we aim at

  • developing a new training for SME managers / HR staff / team leaders to update their leadership skills for remote / hybrid settings
  • ensuring that the specific training needs of SMEs are met and the wider developments of digitalization, inclusion and wellbeing are included
  • contributing to adapt Vocational Education and Training (VET) to labour market needs due to the ongoing digital transformation fuelled by the Covid19 pandemic.

PROJECT RESOURCES

BUSINESS CASE

How to lead team members in remote settings? Which leadership skills are needed to successfully manage remote teams? How to secure a balance between digital wellbeing and productivity in hybrid settings? The PROSPER Business Case gives answers to these questions and is tailor-made for the specific needs of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).

ONLINE TRAINING

The PROSPER Online Training is a user friendly modular E-Learning empowering managers and HR of all levels with remote-work related skills to manage remote workers effectively. The training is a modular 4 weeks online interactive course on the aspects of Productivity, Wellbeing, Inclusivity and Sustainability in remote work environments in post-covid time.

EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM

The PROSPER Empowerment Programme is a set of Open Education Resources (OERs) that enable VET providers and individual business trainers to introduce structured, high-quality training to SMEs on healthy hybrid working. The OERs fall into three main categories: pedagogic guides; diagnostic assessment tools, learning activities and multimedia resources.

PROSPER ONLINE COURSE

The PROSPER Online Training is a user friendly modular E- Learning empowering managers of all levels by equipping them with remote leadership skills in order to manage remote workers effectively, It encompasses the following

  •   a 3 weeks online training course (Shrs per week)
  •   thematic coverage:
    o “hybrid work implications for leadership’ (week 1)
    o ‘digital wellbeing’ (week 2)
    o ‘collaborative working in a healthy hybrid team” (week 3)
  •   modular multimedia course incl, audio, visual and test based learning styles and interactive elements

PROSPER EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME

The PROSPER Empowerment Programme is a set of Open Education Resources (OERs) that enable VET providers and individual business trainers to introduce structured, high-quality training to SMEs on healthy hybrid working. The OERs fall into three main categories:

  •   pedagogic guides
  •   diagnostic tools, assessment guides, and self-assessment tools
  •   learning activities and multimedia resources