Top 4 Things Your New Employees Hate About Training

What New Employees Hate About Training 

“You don't hate history; you hate the way it was taught to you in high school.”
- American Historian Stephen Ambrose

A basic tenant of human psychology is that people have to like doing something in order to do it well. If something is uninteresting or boring, people will shy away from doing it. If employees have to do this uninteresting thing as part of their corporate responsibilities, don’t be surprised if they shirk from responsibility.

As a manager, you invest time and money in training your employees. You can’t afford having your employees zoning out during training workshops. To prevent this, you need to overhaul your training program so that they actually ENJOY your training program. Yes, enjoy. Once they’re excited about potential learning opportunities, they’ll actually LISTEN and ABSORB new material.

Your employees don’t see the value in training days. Well, here’s why they hate training and here’s what you can do about it.

1. The “One Size Fits All” Approach.
   A well-designed training program incorporates the different learning styles of employees.
   A one-size-fits-all approach hardly ever works. Everyone learns differently. There are aural learners, visual learners, verbal learners, physical learners, social learners, and solitary learners. Still, despite this diversity, many companies design training programs with a “one size fits all” approach. When you cater to only one type of learner, you sideline the rest. Do the same 1-3 people speak up in training sessions while the rest remain silent? That’s one dead giveaway that you’ve failed to engage the majority of your audience.
   • The Solution. 
     A blend of different learning styles will ensure that all types of learners can keep up. For example, start by introducing new material in a short presentation with oral and visual aids. Then allow for discussion and questions to get everyone talking. Afterwards, get employees to implement tactics or strategies taught by using a hands-on approach and implementing instructions on their own. If you’ve been tasked with training employees on a new software program, incorporating online guidance platforms, like WalkMe, will help employees learn as they begin working.
2. Monologues.
   Design a training program that engages employees with activities other than lectures.
   People don’t respond well to passive learning. We’ve all been there, sitting with a team of employees in a meeting room during a long, drawn-out speech. Taking notes. Looking around the room, about half of those employees have already stopped listening. While lectures and PowerPoint presentations assist in introducing new material, most people don’t remain engaged for very long.
   • The Solution. 
     Keep the lectures to a minimum. Instead of embarking on a monologue, encourage group discussions, question and answer sessions, and hands-on applications of material taught. In this way, employees will feel more engaged and absorb information more effectively.
3. “You Are Smart – You Can Learn All This In An Hour”.
   Even smart people can’t learn everything at once. Teach new material in stages so that employees retain information progressively and more effectively.
   According to a study conducted by Festo, people only retain about 30% of what they’ve learned after a one-time information dump. Overwhelming staff with too much information at once will ultimately waste time. They’ll retain a small fraction of what they’ve heard.
   • The Solution.
     Gradually introduce new information in a way that allows employees to absorb it. Start with the basics, so that employees can absorb the most relevant information first. As time progresses and employees begin using the new information, begin to introduce the more advanced material. According to Dr. Eduardo Salas, Expert on Organizational Training, “trainees who perceive training as useful and valuable are far more likely to apply new competencies in the workplace.”
4. Gamification Can Be Boring.
   Not Every Game Is Fun. What you want to do is to make sure training is engaging and exciting.
   A game that teaches taught a topic such as how to perform intricate work processes, using the new CRM platform can be as mind-numbing as a frontal lecture. Don’t settle for a boring game. A good training will make training exciting and engaging without the need for a game. Personality is key to successful training. Games are only here to support, not replace.
   • The Solution. 
     Hire presenters that know how to engage employees and bring high energy and humor to a presentation. Think out of the box about how to make training exercises interesting. You can still gamify training, but use only games that really stimulate people’s minds and get them interested. The rest are a waste of your time and money.

Employee training should appeal to basic tenants of human psychology to capture people’s attention and get them excited. Remember to design a program based on the student rather than through the eyes of the HR department or management.

Customize employee training programs so that participants feel interested and comfortable learning. Promote training as a way for staff to see the benefits of these programs such as working more effectively or as an opportunity for them to advance professionally. In this way, new employees will feel motivated to learn and implement new material.

To paraphrase on a quote by Brian P. Cleary: If you have a talent for making an employee who hates training to hate it a little less, then you have to do the most with what you've been issued.