Employee training and development are vital in today’s workplace. Successful corporate training programs directly affect retention rates, engagement, motivation and better work produced.
More importantly, employees need these programs to develop the skills necessary for promotions and overall career growth. However, when it comes to training, companies are struggling to put their employees in effective programs, let alone invest in them.
According to a recent survey, half of the companies surveyed spent less than $500 a year per employee on training and that it would really take $1000 a year to effectively train new employees.
Along with investment in corporate training, it’s important to know what areas need to be fixed that is both effective for the employer and employee. Below are four aspects to consider when revamping and enhancing your organization’s employee development program.
1. Personalization
Corporate training programs that are one-size-fits-all may save you money now, but long term, it can disengage employees or worse, send them out the door.
Instead, as an organization, work to incorporate personalization and matching specific employee learning styles to development programs. Trevor Grant of AllenComm explains, “One of the easiest ways to increase learner motivation and engagement is to allow for more personalization in your elearning strategies. When learners are able to control what they learn and how they approach it, they’re more likely to see training as an opportunity for growth rather than a chore.”
Work with employees to get their input of what learning programs benefits their learning styles. From there, you can work to make your development program more engaging and worthwhile to the employee.
2. Application
How can you make sure your training is effective for both the employee and employer? By including on-the-job application with your development training, it can spot issues and what improvements need to be made at a faster rate than a five week training course with no job application.
In addition, application makes employees more aware of what they are and are not comprehending and increases the likelihood in their reaching out for help. Furthermore, application can also mean job shadowing where employees can observe and take notes on things to look for, etc. while on the job.
If your company is large and is implementing some form of enterprise gamification for all new employees and seasoned employees alike, standardized and engaged training will be the outcome of a well crafted initiative.
3. Mobility
As bring your own device (BYOD) and remote work continues to grow in the business environment, it’s important that development and training programs are accessible on mobile devices outside of the office. This in turn gives the freedom and flexibility for employees to set their own timelines and schedules for completing the training.
Furthermore, the flexibility that mobile programs and elearning solutions bring can help take the added stress away from an already heavy workload your employees face daily. Plus, with flexibility, it gives your employees the reigns to take charge of their own learning and development within their career.
4. Bring in new perspectives
Lastly, it doesn’t hurt to bring in new ideas, faces or programs into your corporate training initiatives. Don’t be afraid to look outside of a company for new ways and ideas to help train and motivate your staff.
Do some research and look into current training trends, and what others are doing to make their workforce more skillful. It never hurts to take a step back and have a fresh, third-party take an objective look at your employee development program and strategies.
All and all, in order to give value and engagement to an employee’s career, employee development is necessary. Don’t let your corporate training programs go astray, instead, look to enhance these four areas to create a more skilled workforce.
