Employee Training And Development
As digital transformation continues to influence the corporate world, the need to evolve with the latest trends has become inevitable. To remain in contention, several progressive organizations have improved the skills of their workforce in various ways. One of these methods is to focus on employee training and development.
Companies that care to train their workforce for the challenges ahead are more likely to have a high retention rate. While this leads to enhanced employee engagement, it also boosts the productivity of the organization. It is, thus, imperative to create comprehensive employee training and development strategies.
The Importance Of Employee Training And Development
A study conducted by the American Society for Training & Development compared two corporate groups, where one company spent nearly three times as much as the other on organization training, and the results were startling. The group that invested more recorded a 57% increase in sales and a 37% rise in gross profit per employee. This clearly highlights the importance of investing in training and development to ensure high productivity and effective returns. There are several other reasons to invest in employee Learning and Development. Here are some of them:
1. Increased Engagement With The Employer
Job-specific training helps employees to brush up on their professional skills and become more valuable to their employers. This also increases the engagement of employees with their companies, making them more focused on their work.
2. Better Equipped To Adopt New Trends
Employee training and development help your workforce to embrace new tools and technologies with ease. They become better equipped to:
- Be up-to-date with innovations
- Implement their learning toward improving the work processes
- Streamline organizational productivity
3. Nurture Talents And Retain Employees
Organizations that emphasize proper training and development of their workforce are more likely to get a talented team that could set an enviable industry benchmark. While this benefits the company in terms of employee retention, the employees also become more talented and confident in their niche.
4. Beat The Industry Competition
With the continuously changing business environment, keeping abreast of the latest tools, trends, and technologies is of the utmost importance. In this context, upgrading yourself is not enough. Instead, as the decision-maker of your company, you need to upgrade the skills of your workforce too according to the latest standards. With a well-trained team of workers, you will gain an edge over your industry rivals.
5. Great Scope For Internal Promotions
One of the instant benefits of employee training and development is that it enables employees to eventually secure top-level positions within the company. This not only helps cut the costs that you might incur while hiring a new employee but also boosts employee morale, as there is always something to aspire toward. At the same time, it will also increase employee loyalty, which in turn boosts employee retention.
Owing to these and many other benefits, devising a comprehensive strategy for Learning and Development could work wonders for your organization in 2022.
The Aim Of Your Training And Development Strategies
Here are some of the major prerequisites that your strategy should aim for to get the best outcomes.
1. Fulfill The Employees’ Requirements
The strategies should cater to the major Learning and Development requirements of your employees, such as an increase in knowledge and experience, personal resilience, professional expertise, etc.
2. Contribute To Skill Development In A Sustainable Manner
They should aim to develop all aspects of human capital, without compromising the physical and mental well-being of the workers.
3. Inculcate Leadership Qualities
Training programs should be developed to promote leadership qualities among the employees. This will allow teams to become more robust and self-reliant.
Strategies For Employee Training And Development
There are a few widely preferred strategies when it comes to streamlining the training process. Here’s a brief overview:
1. Getting End-To-End Buy-In
Merely creating a plan is not enough. You need to present the idea to the management in a realistic manner to convey its importance. This encourages them to show active participation as well. Likewise, it is important to inform the employees about the long-term benefits of the training program in order to gain their confidence.
2. Identify The Gaps
Several gaps may be present in existing training models or even in the existing skills of the workers. To find these gaps, it is imperative to focus on:
- The scope for modifying training programs to help update employees on new features or methods, like upgraded software/tools.
- The workflow hurdles that employees face—identify the points where processes tend to stall.
3. Create Metrics
This will help you to evaluate the success of your employee training and development program. Use parameters like:
- Training cost
- Ease-of-use of the training software
- Rate of course completion
- Staffing plans of the organization
- Employee engagement
- Number of employees that complete the course
- Total time spent in training
- Repeated visits of employees to the training
4. Choose The Right Training Methods
This plays a big role in effectively attaining your workforce training goals. Some of the factors to consider while choosing the training method are:
- Training location and resources
- Training type, whether self-paced or based on learner’s response
- Primary and secondary training methods
Depending on the outcomes, you can start a classroom, online, on-demand, simulation-led, or blended training program.
Takeaway
While training your employees, it is important to provide them with consistent support. In situations where they are unable to grasp a concept or a specific topic, the use of in-app tools can be transformational for the organization as well as the employees.
