Navigating Employee Training: A Comprehensive Guide - Shiftbase

What is employee training?

Employee training provides learning opportunities for employees to develop and enhance their skills, knowledge, and competencies. It is a planned and systematic approach to equipping employees with the necessary tools, skills, knowledge, knowledge gaps, and resources to perform their job functions effectively and efficiently.

Employee training can take various forms, including classroom-style training, online learning, on-the-job learning experience, mentorship, customer service training, coaching, and workshops. A successful employee training program aims to improve employee performance, increase productivity, and enhance job satisfaction. It can also help employees adapt to changes in their job roles, new technologies, or shifts in organizational strategies.

Effective employee training is a critical component of any organization's success. It can help organizations retain top talent by considering employee expectations, offering career growth and development opportunities, improving employee engagement and job satisfaction, and promoting a culture of continuous learning and process improvement.

Why is employee training important?

The most fundamental reason why training managers is essential in an organization is to ensure that employees are competent at their jobs and add value to the organization.

There are several benefits of training for employees, aside from e-learning for maintaining their competency:

It increases employee retention

A study conducted by LinkedIn Learning shows that 94% of employees would remain with a company for an extended period if they had access to learning and professional development and opportunities.

Investment in employee development and training will save you time and money because you will no longer have to hire new employees, constantly driving organizational performance and growth. The ability to quickly make new hires to fill empty roles also saves time and money when managers are trained in succession planning.

It reduces waste and increases profits.

The investment in employee training is a wise one. However, it will be costly if you don't invest in them. For example, hiring and retraining new employees without proper training can cost you up to £12,000 for those earning an average UK salary of £27,721. Alternatively, you can spend up to £20,000 for those earning higher wages, around £60,000. Training is far more cost-effective than avoiding it in the long run.

It attracts top talent

Jobseekers in Gen Z and millennials prioritize learning opportunities. According to research conducted by Forbes, 83% of Gen Z stated that learning opportunities were significant when seeking a job. The simple fact is that millennials and Gen Z-ers will choose another company if you don't offer an attractive training program.

Employees gain up-to-date skills

A business needs to train for the future if it is to progress. Give your employees training on the latest technology and industry trends so that they are more competent and knowledgeable workers capable of producing exceptional work.

Training has generally outweighed its disadvantages, such as costs, and positively impacted organizations, despite challenges and disadvantages. "There are only two ways for a manager to motivate and train his employees.". When you neglect these training methods, you are neglecting half on the job training task."

Types of employee training

Here are the types of employee training skills development programs based on the employee career development skills training journey:

• Pre-Onboarding Training: This training is provided to candidates who have accepted a job offer but have yet to start employment. Pre-onboarding training can include providing information about the company culture, values, policies, and procedures to help new employees feel more prepared and comfortable on their first day.
  
  
• Training at the Time of Onboarding: Onboarding training is provided to new employees during their first few weeks. This training can include job-specific training, introductions to colleagues, and information about company policies and procedures.
  
  
• Workplace Training: This training is provided to employees to continue to improve their skills and knowledge in their current job roles. Workplace training can include job-specific, compliance, safety, and soft skills training.
  
  
• Coaching for Succession Plans: Coaching for succession planning involves identifying employees who have the potential to fill key leadership roles in the organization and providing them with training and development opportunities to help them prepare for these roles.
  
  
• Reskilling: Reskilling involves training employees to develop new skills required for new or changing job roles within the organization. This training type can help employees adapt to new technologies or business processes. It also helps ensure that the organization has the skills to remain competitive.
  
  

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Employee training trends

The employee training industry isn't static and will continue to grow. Several trends indicate employee training's direction:

Personalized Learning: Organizations are shifting towards providing employees with personalized training experiences and e-learning. This approach involves tailoring the training content to meet individual employees' learning needs and preferences.

Focus on Online Training Programs: The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of online formal training programs here, as organizations have had to shift to remote work. Online training programs are more flexible, accessible, and cost-effective than traditional classroom-based formal training programs.

Growing awareness of DEI: Organizations focus on providing training that fosters diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This training can help employees to develop awareness and sensitivity to issues related to diversity and promote a more inclusive workplace culture.

Well-being focus: Employee well-being has become a priority for organizations, and more training initiatives and programs are being developed to support employee wellness. This training can include soft skills training such as stress management, mental health, and work-life balance.

Developing first-time managers: First-time managers often need more skills, institutional knowledge and training to lead a team effectively. Organizations are recognizing this gap and are investing in training programs to support first-time managers in their new roles.

Support for virtual team leadership training for managers: With the rise of remote work, managers face new challenges in becoming effective managers in person and managing virtual teams. Organizations are providing various leadership training programs to support managers in the learning process of effectively leading and managing remote teams.

Related: How to Promote Engagement with Remote Employees

Continuous Training: Continuous training involves providing employees with ongoing career training and development opportunities. This approach can improve employee engagement, customer service training and retention, and productivity by keeping employees updated with new technologies, processes, and industry trends.

How has employee training changed?

In today's workplace, employers train their employees differently, and employees learn in a fast-paced digital environment.

Several other new skills, soft skills, and training possibilities are available to employees as a result of digitally powered training programs in the modern workplace, such as:

• A micro-training program delivering practical information just when it's needed
• A software tutorial that provides automated instructions within the application.
• Training content can be customized to suit the needs of each employee.
• Staff members can conduct remote training, or an automated training platform, like DAP, can handle it.

There will never be a complete replacement for classroom training for humans, but digital classroom training, methods, and tools are gaining popularity and will be used more.

How to make your training more effective

Creating an effective employee training program is essential for ensuring that your employees have the skills and knowledge of skills they need to perform their job roles effectively. While you can use many different tactics and strategies to create an effective training program for new employees, there are a few key things to remember.

Customization:

One of the most necessary things you can do to make your training more effective is to customize it to meet your employees' unique needs and learning styles. This can involve tailoring the content and delivery of the training to meet the needs of different groups of employees. For example, you may need to provide different levels of training for employees with varying levels of experience, or you may need to offer training in other formats (such as online, in-person, or hands-on) to meet the needs of different learners.

Communication:

Effective communication with existing employees is essential for ensuring that your training program for new hires is successful. You should provide clear and concise instructions for your training program and use visual aids and other tools to help employees understand the material. Additionally, you should provide opportunities for personal training and employees to ask questions and provide feedback throughout the training process to ensure they understand the material.

Incentives:

Providing incentives can motivate training employees to engage in various training efforts and effectively apply what they have learned. Incentives can include rewards such as bonuses, promotions, or recognition for completing training programs. You can also provide incentives for training employees who demonstrate that they have applied the training material effectively in their work.

Employee feedback:

Feedback from employees about the training program can help you identify areas for improvement and adjust future training programs. Encourage employees to provide feedback in-person training or through surveys or focus groups. This feedback can help you identify areas where the training program could be improved and areas where it is already effective.

Continued learning:

Effective training is not a one-time event. To ensure that your training employees can apply what they have learned in the long term, you should provide ongoing learning opportunities during training efforts to reinforce what they have learned and help them stay up-to-date with changes in their roles or industry trends. Continued learning for training employees can include on-the-job training, shadowing, coaching, mentoring, or online courses. By providing ongoing learning opportunities, you can help your training employees stay engaged and motivated and ensure that your training program is successful in the long term.

Best strategies and practices for improving employee training

Training programs differ from organization to organization because each workforce has its own pace, learning process and different learning curve requirements. The following best practices and principles should be considered when designing training programs, regardless of the specific circumstances:

• The company's goal should be to improve the employee experience, increasing employee engagement, motivation, and morale.
  
  
• The best way to increase engagement and morale in training is by personalizing it into a format and content that suit each individual's needs. 
  
  
• Use digital training solutions that can dramatically improve training outcomes and even improve employee satisfaction through digital adoption platforms such as digital adoption platforms.
  
  
• Your training should exceed productivity, including employee satisfaction, workplace safety, and organizational communication.
  
  
• Monitor the program's performance and constantly adjust to improve it.

Train your employees, it's a risky investment, but it's worth it. Taking that approach can help managers and business leaders make wise decisions when designing and implementing compliance training into their programs.

Employee training forecast

Employee training has recently changed significantly due to new technological paradigms generated by Covid-19 and the metaverse. Employee training programs were standardized in the industrial revolution, and online training was adopted in the digital process.

Any business that wishes to gain a serious competitive advantage or edge must invest in employee training and development programs to stay current with technological developments and digital adoption skills.

With the advancement of digital technology in the workplace, change will continue to occur in the coming years. Employees will have to devote more time and energy to learning new skills because of these changes, and employers will have to invest more in training their employees. This advancement in in-person training refers to e-learning will also enable employees training managers and businesses to be resilient in the face of future technological disruptions by offering more efficient and effective training solutions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, employee training is essential to any organization's growth and success. As outlined in this complete guide, there are various training programs and trends to consider, but the key to success is to customize the training to employees' specific needs. Communication, incentives, feedback, and continuous learning are crucial elements of practical employee training. Employers can improve productivity, reduce turnover rates, and increase employee satisfaction with the right training program.

Moreover, organizations can stay competitive by investing in their employees and developing a learning culture. The business impact of a successful employee training program must be balanced, and it's essential to continually evaluate and refine employee training programs to ensure they remain relevant and effective. By following the best practices and principles discussed in this guide, organizations can create a robust and dynamic employee training program that benefits employees and employers in the long run.