A guide to developing highly effective employee training programs

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How often do you hear about employees who don’t perform their jobs properly? The truth is, most of the time, it isn’t their fault. The problem is that they might not even realize what they should be doing. They just need directions to excel in their roles or do their jobs well.

What can be done to provide them with directions from time to time? The answer is employee training programs.

Employee training programs are essential for companies looking to increase productivity and reduce costs. They also provide employees with the skills needed to succeed in today’s competitive environment.

“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.”

-Henry Ford.

Learning new skills is essential. It allows an employee to grow and develop, which benefits both the individual and the organization. In addition, a competent workforce will be more flexible and able to deal with change effectively, which is essential in a fast-moving business environment.

Table of Contents

• Benefits of training for employees and employers
  • 1. Greater productivity
  • 2. Fewer mistakes
  • 3. Increased innovation and creativity
  • 4. Reduced employee turnover rate
• 8 steps to creating effective employee training programs
  • Step 1: Consider what your employees need to learn
  • Step 2: Define your goals for the training program
  • Step 3: Assess your current training offerings
  • Step 4: Decide on the type of training that best meets your goals and budget
  • Step 5: Create a mix of multiple types of learning materials
  • Step 6: Implement training
  • Step 7: Evaluate training
  • Step 8: Get feedback 

Benefits of training for employees and employers

People know that training is important, but few understand the impact a well-trained workforce can have on their company. Here’s a look at the reasons why employee training and development programs can make or break your business.

A well-trained employee will be more likely to provide better customer service. Employees who have been appropriately trained will also answer questions about products and services, making the customers feel like they have been treated with respect and have received good value for money. And it is a well-established fact that a happy customer is the best business strategy of all. They are more likely to come back and even tell their friends about you.

1. Greater productivity

The best employees engage with their work and are eager to learn, grow, and develop their skills. If you’re looking for ways to get your employees more interested in their work and engaged with your business, look no further than employee training programs!

Employees who regularly attend training sessions, whether they’re improving their technical skills, communicating more effectively with customers, or building rapport with coworkers, are often far more productive than employees who do not. 

This is because they understand the importance of their job, know what’s expected of them, and have the skills and knowledge to do it. So by combining training sessions with a thoughtful onboarding program that ensures all new employees know what to expect from you as an employer—and what you expect from them—you can set yourself up for success.

Additionally, by ensuring you’re offering regular education opportunities for your staff members (not just when you hire them), you can boost productivity, improve morale among your team members, and reduce turnover rates.

After all, valuable employees will work smarter, not harder, simply because they will know precisely what they need to do and how to do it. 

2. Fewer mistakes

It’s no secret that most employees make mistakes when they start a new job, whether it’s because they just don’t know any better or because they lack confidence in their abilities. Well, training can change that.

Your employees can save you money!

That might sound counter-intuitive, but when it comes down to it, a well-trained team is going to be a vital asset for your business.

The truth is that one of the biggest drains on a business’s finances is mistakes—but if your employees are well-trained, they’re far less likely to make errors that could be costly for your company. Sure, you might not mind paying those costs when they’re small—but what about when they’re big?

Don’t let your team hold you back from reaching your potential—train them well and let them help bring in some of the biggest profits you’ve ever made!

3. Increased innovation and creativity

When employees are exposed to new information, their creative muscles are stimulated. As a result, they are more likely to apply what they’ve learned to our business, improving our products and processes in the process.  

Employee training doesn’t just benefit us as a business; it also benefits our staff members by increasing their skill set and providing them with tools that will help them grow professionally. As a result, we have created a happier, more productive work environment for everyone.

4. Reduced employee turnover rate

The Employee Turnover Rate is an important figure that tells us how many employees leave the company every month. If this number is high, we lose money and valuable team members. If it’s low, we can be more confident that our people are happy and staying with us.

But how do we fix a high Employee Turnover Rate? Not with a Band-Aid solution—with something that actually works: employee training.

Employee training programs help new employees get up to speed faster and acclimate more quickly to the workplace, increasing the likelihood that they’ll stay with the company over the long term. This means lower turnover costs, fewer lost person-hours, and happier employees that become brand advocates and help attract talented new hires.

Employees are 94% more likely to stay at a company if it invests in their learning and professional development.

10 Most Important Elements For Creating Effective Employee Training Programs

1. Effective program design
2. Good content
3. Measurable career development and organizational goals
4. Engaging format
5. Right tools and resources
6. Bite-sized training sessions
7. User-friendly interface
8. Real-time feedback and support
9. Training reinforcement and evaluation
10. Strong management involvement

Now that we are well aware of the benefits of employee training programs, let’s see how you can create an effective one.

8 steps to creating effective employee training programs

At the heart of every successful employee training is an effective training plan. Training plans provide a roadmap for achieving goals. A good training plan needs to be comprehensive and practical, but it doesn’t have to be complicated.

We’ve broken down the process into eight easy steps that will help you create a training plan that works for your company:

Step 1: Consider what your employees need to learn

Managers often think they know what their employees need to learn, but they have no idea what they know or don’t know. So the first step in creating effective employee training programs is assessing what your employees need to learn.

Different types of employee training programs:

• Orientation training program
• Employee development program
• Customer service training
• Soft skills training
• Communication skills
• Leadership skills training
• Product knowledge training
• Technical training
• Customer education training
• Health, Safety, and Security Training
• Security and Compliance training

This will help you create a program that can genuinely improve performance in the areas where your business needs it most. The assessment process also allows you to see how much each employee needs help with different topics and skills.

Step 2: Define your goals for the training program

A training plan is only as strong as its goals, so take time to build out your goals right before moving forward with your project. Begin by asking yourself what you want to accomplish with employee training programs and how these will help achieve your business goals. 

1. Consider who will be in attendance at the training session.
2. Create a detailed outline of what will be covered during the training session(s). 
3. Decide what presentation materials you will need for each session. 
4. Choose where and when to hold your employee training programs. 
5. Define your goals for the training program.

Think about what you hope to achieve through employee training programs. What do you want employees to be able to walk away with? What skills should they have? How can you build upon these skills over time?

Step 3: Assess your current training offerings

Figure out who needs training and what they need to learn. 

Assessment of the current situation will help you devise individualized, better employee training programs.

For example, a new employee will have different needs than someone around for a while, and a manager will need another type of training than an entry-level worker. Next, consider why each person needs training, how much time they have available, where the workout should take place, how many people require it, and how much it will cost.

Ultimately, pen down measurable learning objectives for each goal and skill gap identified in the analysis. 

For example, if one of your primary goals is to increase employee productivity, then one of your learning objectives might be to “increase average units per hour by 10 percent.” These metrics should be SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely), and they should line up with your goals.

Step 4: Decide on the type of training that best meets your goals and budget

You can train in-house by using company employees as trainers or hiring an outside consultant or third party to conduct your programs — these are often known as “trainers.” You can also create e-learning courses or blended learning courses that combine online learning.

With companies going global and remote workforces, creating an online employee training program would reap better results.

Step 5: Create a mix of multiple types of learning materials

Put together a team to create engaging and effective training resources. The team may come from within the company or from an outside vendor. Either way, it should include:

• A project manager
• Instructional designers
• Graphic artists
• Trainers for the classroom or online courses
• Subject matter experts (SMEs)

The SMEs are the ones who assess which areas need training and then provide feedback on the effectiveness of the program.

The design and development phase can take anywhere from six weeks to six months, depending on how complicated it is and how many people are involved.

If you’re working with an outside vendor, they’ll take care of this step for you. They’ll find an addition. They’ll give you a timeline for when each phase will be completed. If your program requires extensive input from employees within your company at this stage, make sure they know they’re responsible for providing it when asked.

Step 6: Implement training

It is finally time to put all your planning to work, that is, implement all the training you have been preparing for.

If possible, allow employees to choose the types of training they would like to participate in. This will boost employee engagement and enable them to focus on areas where they feel they need the most improvement.

Communicate expectations ahead of time and set clear objectives for what you want your employees to learn during training sessions. Explain how each employee will benefit from the training by discussing how it will make work easier or more efficient.

At last, don’t forget to encourage employees to participate in the training. It could be through extra time off, rewards, recognition, or any other decided program.

Step 7: Evaluate training

 How well did the training program work? Did employees learn what they were supposed to know? 

This is where assessments and testing come into play. You can test new employees before and after their training to see how much they learned. For example, if you’re training them on a new software program, you can take the same test before and after the course and compare their scores.

Was the program successful? Was it worth your time and money? One way to determine this is by assessing employee performance related to your goals for the training program. 

For example, if you’re trying to improve customer service, have supervisors or managers evaluate how well employees are doing before and after the training. If employees are showing marked improvement, then it was money well spent!

Step 8: Get feedback 

Now that you’ve created your first learning program, it’s essential to review how it went and get feedback from employees. This will help you identify what worked well and what didn’t to adjust for future programs.

Here are some things to consider when evaluating your learning program:

• Did employees complete the final assessment? If they didn’t, why not?
• Where did employees struggle? Was it with the content or the technology?
• Did any employees have trouble accessing the content or have issues with the technology? 
• If so, is there anything you can do to make the experience better?
• How did managers, if involved, feel about their employees completing the training? 
• Were they supportive of taking time out of their schedules to learn new skills?

Taking action upon the feedback is equally important. Optimizing your entire process is an unending process. But that is the only way to impart better pieces of training continuously.

Conclusion

This information was a straightforward way of approaching training to make the most of it. It’s hard to retain employees, and without innovative training ideas, you’re likely to lose great employees that could be beneficial to your company. In addition, the proper training can inspire new ideas and help employees work smarter, not harder.

With all the steps out there, do you know what will make your employee training programs all the more effective? The right tech!

From applicant tracking system the best solution for recruitment to Learning management software, the best one for constant upskilling, tech is HR teams’ best resource. It helps eliminate tedious, repetitive tasks and focus more on crucial things.

For example, in the case of an effective learning program – Right from the start, that is, evaluating the current skill set to feedback at the end of the training, a learning management software can make the entire process compelling.

If you value your employees and want to keep them around to make the best business possible, you need to train them properly. 

Training goes a long way, both in terms of retaining staff and improving their skills to be more efficient workers. But what kind of training will be the most beneficial? It should come as no surprise that good coaching is vital, with knowledgeable mentors who can help trainees improve their skills and abilities as they work in your business.