Training new and existing employees can be a companies biggest challenge, especially in a rapidly changing business environment. Training and Development is an internal process that leads to an employee’s behaviour and willingness to achieve organizational goals. Creating a motivational environment within an organization can help ensure employees achieve their highest level of productivity. Training has been used in organizations for the past several decades. Although training and development requires investments of many types, there are cited benefits to integrating training and development into organizations.
How to create high-impact employee training and development program?
Identify impact of business
Analyze skill gaps
Adopt various training methods
Evaluate effectiveness and sustain gains
1)
Orientation: This is the most common type of employee training. It’s a one-time event formally welcoming and introducing program for new hires to company within their first week of joining. This program covers;
- Company mission, vision, and values
- Corporate culture
- Organizational structure
- Leadership team introduction
- Mandatory new-hire paperwork
- Overview of benefit plans
- Administrative process like computer logins, extension, email setups, etc.
- Various corporate policies
2)
On-boarding Training: Onboarding trainings ideally start on the first day of employment and may carry on throughout the first year as needed. It is prepared by department leaders with the focus of reaching departmental goals and connecting them with overall company objectives. This training, therefore, address employee needs and provide them with easy access to information and skills that they need to do their jobs efficiently and maximize employee engagement.
3)
Technical Skills Development: Technical skills training is a fundamental employee education component because it’s the main way your employees will know how to technically do their jobs right. And for those who already know how to do their jobs. Employees need to engage in ongoing learning on a regular basis to stay up-to-date with the latest developments.
4)
Soft skills development: Soft skills are personal attributes that enable employees to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people in the workplace, including co-workers, management, and customers. Soft skills trainings are useful for new and existing employees of all levels and are an extremely effective way to build an efficient, respectful and collaborative culture – ultimately affecting the bottom line.
Some topics to consider in soft skills training are:
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Time Management
- Adaptability and flexibility
- Interpersonal Skills
- Leadership
- Problem-Solving
- Creativity
- Work Ethic
- Attention to Detail
5)
Mandatory training: Depending on where your company is located and the industry operates in, certain employee preparedness and training regulations may apply.
Employees are often required to take occupational health and safety trainings and refreshers. And a few state laws require to deliver sexual harassment trainings to employees.
6)
Products and services: Product trainings can either be a part of onboarding for newcomers or can be available for any employees who need refreshers on the products and services the organization offers. This type of training can also be used to educate staff on newly introduced products, services or features so they are always up to date.
7)
Conduct a test program: Conduct a training session to see what works well and which areas need tweaking. It’s much easier to identify and work out issues at starting stage than when the full program is underway. Consider having participants fill out a survey to evaluate what parts they feel worked well and where they feel improvements are needed.