How Online Training Increases Productivity
According to the American Management Association, programs that focus on future career development or improved work skills are effective in retaining employees and in heightening their creativity. They also increase their productivity.
In fact, the National Center on the Education Quality of the Workforce found in a study of 3.100 United States workplaces that a 10 percent hike in workforce education level resulted in an 8.6 percent gain in total productivity.
The Association for Talent Development (ASTD) surveyed firms to discover that companies with the highest productivity levels invested almost twice as much in training each employee as companies with more mediocre performance levels.
Traditional forms of employee training were expensive and difficult to deliver if a company had extensive properties located far from each other. The advent of online courses has changed the ease and availability of training employees and brought it within the limits of most budgets.
A strong argument can be made to suggest that companies embrace online learning as an effective means of heightening their productivity.
There are a number of reasons for this:
- It reaches out to employees who, for various reasons, were often excluded from traditional training venues. That includes the single parent who wants to learn but must leave work promptly at the end of a shift to deal with family obligations and the physically impaired worker who requires specific learning supports that are available on the computer.
- Online training can be delivered more generously to all employees since courses generally cost less than bringing in an expert trainer or sending employees off-site to learn new skills and knowledge.
- Online courses can be developed with a high degree of customization to deliver precisely the needed skills of employees in specific situations.
- They allow for more flexibility. Employees can study during breaks in their workday or late at night or early in the morning from their homes. It is easier to find the time to study.
Companies can create their own courses by developing specific content and delivering it easily through computers and tablets. The material can be easily updated and given to multiple users at once or delivered individually one at a time.
One of the most comprehensive looks into the link between training and productivity was published by researchers Muhammad Mulmuna and Dr. Rashad Yazdanifard in the Global Institute for Research and Education.
They noted that not only does training increase productivity in organizations, but it also enhances employees' resourcefulness and provides them with an opportunity to learn their jobs and perform them more effectively. It has a beneficial impact on their decision making skills, their ability to function within a team, to solve problems, and to have enhanced interpersonal relations, all of which also contribute to the growth of the organizations for which they work.
Do you believe online training increases productivity? Share with us your opinions and personal experiences.
