Some employers have adopted the mentality that the best way to learn is through on-the-job experience. Although you may think you’re saving money and time by skipping employee training, this “sink or swim” strategy is not only stressful for the new employee, but it can also be costly for your organization.

Commercial markets today are too competitive for you to be cutting corners. LearningZen has witnessed firsthand how crucial it is to set employees up for success early on for the sake of your organizational health. If you aren’t convinced of the value and importance of employee training, refer to the information below on the reasons to train your new and existing employees — and the benefits of doing so.

Why Employees Should Be Trained

Most companies train their employees to acquaint them with workplace procedures and ensure compliance with regulations — but training also has a human component to it. Training is a great way to help a new hire feel comfortable with their new surroundings. The first week is typically when an employee is shown around the workplace, introduced to teams, shown how to use the coffee maker, and so on. These initial efforts go a long way in building a foundation of trust with employees who will then want to work hard for you in return.

Compliance and employee trust is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the benefits you’ll enjoy as a result of training.

Benefits of Upfront and Ongoing Training

Employee onboarding and ongoing training are equally important. Once the initial training is complete, it’s a good idea to conduct ongoing training for all employees as a way of reinforcing key concepts and compliance regulations to increase their odds of information retention. By investing in the continual knowledge and preparedness of your workers, here are some of the ways you and the people you employ will be better off.

Uphold Your Company’s Standard of Quality

Your company’s reputation is built upon its quality of products and services as well as the consistency of that quality. By training employees in the beginning and retraining them periodically, you can make sure employees are on the same page with quality assurance protocols and are outputting the standard of products and services for which you want to be known

Grow Worker Skills and Prepare Them for Promotions

The modern employee expects opportunities to grow and move into higher job positions with more responsibilities. Ongoing training allows people to build upon their current skills so they can move up the ladder. Career development opportunities not only motivate employees, but they also grow your organization’s reputation as a place for workers to grow.

Unite in a Shared Goal

Every company has goals, but not every company is as good as making employees aware of these goals and inspiring them to unite with management in achieving them. Training gives you the chance to introduce your staff to your goals so they can better understand their part in achieving them and to become more actively engaged in your organizational purpose.

Reduce Turnover and Increase Retention

When you don’t train employees, their lack of understanding leads to low morale and high turnover. Losing a single employee can cost you 33% of that person’s annual salary, according to Forbes. It also takes weeks to months to train a new person and have them reach the performance level of the person they replaced. Save yourself the time and money by training people with the goal of retention in mind.

Prepare for Globalization

If your organization is preparing to expand globally, your employees need to be prepared to communicate with those from other countries and cultures. The best way of doing so is to conduct diversity training among your staff so they’re fully prepared for exposure to new customs and different ways of interacting.

Make Employees and Clients Happier

The logic here is simple; when you take the time to train your workers, they feel valued. When they feel valued, they work harder — and when they work harder, customers are happier. Training is a win for employees and clients alike!

Bolster Productivity

The National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce found in a study of over 3,000 companies that a 10% increase in training for employees lead to an 8.6% productivity boost. Regular training goes a long way in improving productivity by helping staff members avoid small and simple mistakes.

Find and Correct Widespread Weaknesses

A well-constructed training can give you greater insight into the weaknesses that exist across your organization. Once you become aware of an internal weakness, you can use the training to correct it and bolster company performance.

Help People Adapt to Change

Company restructuring, implementation of new technology, and more can be jarring to an employee’s daily work life. By providing adequate training beforehand on what to expect and how to cope with new developments, you can proactively give workers the tools they need to adapt to change so it doesn’t affect their performance.

Types of Employee Training You Can Offer

When you think of employee training, onboarding training is probably the first type that comes to mind. While this is a critical type of training to conduct, there are so many other invaluable ways to train your staff. Here are just a few you should consider.

• Leadership training: Current and aspiring leaders will both benefit from leadership training, which focuses on building the skills necessary to lead an organization. When hiring new leaders, they’ll need to be trained on communication, strategy, crisis management, conflict resolution, software, and more.
• Sales training: For those who work in a sales capacity, this type of training should be ongoing, helping employees brush up on their sales strategy pertaining to your company’s particular product or services and teaching them to respond to difficult questions.
• Team training: While organization-wide training is important, it’s equally crucial for teams to break out and conduct training pertaining to the unique aspects of their jobs. This promotes continual learning and improvement of their job-specific skills and relationships with one another.
• Creativity training: It’s easy to get stuck in a mindless routine when working a 9 to 5 job every day. Creativity training gives your staff a fun way to flex their creative muscles, encouraging them to think outside the box as they work toward solutions for clients.
• Diversity training: This kind of training is helpful in teaching employees to accept and celebrate each other’s differences so they can work together more harmoniously. It teaches them how to spot and report discrimination, how to support each other, and how to be mindful of the things they do and say in the workplace that could be offensive.
• Compliance training: Compliance training shields your organization from legal trouble pertaining to workplace safety, security, and more. This kind of training looks different for every type of company, but it should be conducted periodically to remind workers of the protocols they are legally obligated to follow.

Frequently Asked Questions About Employee Training

Is the benefit worth the cost and time of training?

Data from a CareerBuilder survey shows that employers who invest in employee training experience better efficiency (44%) and productivity (42%), higher morale (38%), and better retention (31%). Generally, the benefit is worth the cost and time to train an employee, but you can calculate and compare your own costs and benefits to make that determination for yourself.

Why is blended learning increasing in popularity?

The American Society for Training and Development discovered that people forget 90% of the knowledge and skills from their training when they return to work. Blended learning, which is the use of in-person instruction combined with actionable online learning, can make training more effective and affordable for organizations. When you deliver training in your staff’s preferred learning styles, they’re more likely to remember and implement their new skills and less likely to need retraining in the near future.

Is automated training effective?

There are certain aspects of automated training that are effective, while other aspects that are better done in person. A learning management system (LMS) will save you time and make your job easier by incorporating the tedious, manual parts of a training course into a scalable, automated online learning program. This will streamline employee onboarding, reduce costs, and allow you to focus on the human aspects of training, such as introductions and other in-person aspects of orientation.

Build Custom Online Training With LearningZen

Enabling proper training is critically important. Your employees need easy online training that’s been tailored to their individual needs. Make training easier for your staff and your HR team with LearningZen’s intuitive learning management system. Call us at (877) 850-1214 to learn more!