With enough luck, you swapped your office cubicle or – better still – an ever-changing hot desk, for your dining room table weeks ago.

While the watercooler banter might be at an all-time low, the time saved commuting has given back some precious hours to be ploughed back into recreational or, dare it be suggested, even professional pursuits.

Certainly, some Australians are taking the opportunity to upskill. LinkedIn Learning has seen a 15 per cent uptick in the number of people using the service in April.

It’s unsurprising then that the most popular courses are closely related to the demands of a workforce suddenly thrown headfirst into work-from-home (WFH).

“Working remotely is our top course on LinkedIn at the moment, jumping over 10,000 per cent between February and March,” LinkedIn Learning Asia Pacific director Jason Laufer told Business Insider Australia.

“We’ve found this course is particularly popular as more and more Australian professionals work online throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Emerging from relative obscurity to a global trend as workers hunker down, the course dissects goal setting, avoiding distractions and maintaining rapport with colleagues over dodgy internet connections.

Racking up hundreds of thousands of views alongside it is Time Management, a course that warns against the common pitfalls associated with multitasking and switching tasks.

Others have clearly been trying to get their head around the kinds of programs that have become household names overnight.

“For many people, remote work and online communication can be an adjustment and there is also a lot of new technology to learn, so we’re seeing these kinds of courses spike in viewership over this period,” Laufer said.

Naturally, Microsoft Teams Essential Training and Tips and Tricks have surged as well as one on Zoom, guiding you around the now synonymous video chat tool. An oldie but a goodie, Excel 2016, even garners a mention.

As mental health during quarantine becomes an increasing concern, professionals are also embracing wellness, with Mindfulness Practices cracking the top eight.

With the global pandemic pushing the pause button on some businesses and leading to a complete reset for others, employees also appear to be thinking big picture.

Strategic Thinking, aimed at helping businesses succeed and individuals climb the ladder, teaches teams how to change the direction they’re moving in and seize opportunities. Project Management Foundations meanwhile, might help in actually crafting the plan to reach your new goal.

Interestingly, it’s been the top of the pile that has been throwing themselves into online learning, with the C-suite by far and away logging the biggest increase in hours, followed – oddly enough – by Generation Z.

By profession, sales and HR reps have been behind the biggest uptake of online courses alongside now presumably out of work recreation and tourism professionals, while engineers and finance workers are barely even giving it a glance.

Presumably, they’re behind the spectacular growth seen in that other learning tool, Netflix.

This article first appeared on Business Insider Australia, Australia’s most popular business news website. Read the original article. Follow Business Insider on Facebook or Twitter.

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