Today a person receives more information in a few days than in the last century he received in his entire life. The dynamic external environment forces us to constantly improve. Often the knowledge gained at the university is not enough, then additional education comes to the rescue. How to effectively train your employees, what nuances to take into account, and what benefits it will bring to the organization. All will be discussed in this guide.
Types of online training in companies
Depending on the employee’s involvement, training can be passive (lectures, seminars, video tutorials) or active (training and internships). Any form of study has its pros and cons, so it is important to choose the one that best suits the learning objectives.
A new employee undergoes induction training of personnel upon joining. Salesforce online course could be taken as an example for setting up the right course for your sales team. There are some things to keep in regards. The instructor must show the employee how to correctly and safely perform their duties, effectively build a workflow. It can be done in the form of briefing and training.
Briefing
Briefing is informing about the aspects of labour safety, the foundations of corporate culture, work activities with the demonstration of practical examples.
Internship
The internship usually lasts several days, during which time the employee performs his duties under the supervision of a mentor to gain work experience. Given that an internship is the first time a newcomer gets to know the workplace, it is important that it is conducted by an experienced person who can be contacted with any questions that arise. The disadvantage of this method is that the instructor has to be distracted from his work.
Full-time staff training
It includes traditional forms of training: lectures, seminars, rotation, and training. It can be one-time or systematic – for employees whose activities take place in a constantly changing environment.
Lecture
A lecture is the easiest way to learn to organize, but not the most effective. Much depends on the facilitator, his ability to arouse interest and disclose a topic, as well as the desire of employees to learn something new. Its main advantage is reaching a large number of listeners.
Workshop
The workshop presupposes dialogue and greater involvement of the participants. The presenter must overcome the initial alertness of the audience, motivate it to think and talk. Unlike a lecture, a seminar involves work in a small group. To train a large number of employees, it will be necessary to conduct several seminars, which is more expensive and more difficult to organize.
Rotation
An employee’s internship in another department or in another specialty. It helps to better understand the essence of the workflow, to identify shortcomings in their activities or in the work of colleagues. The disadvantages of this method are the complexity of the organization and legal registration.
Training
It is a form of active learning aimed at transferring knowledge, developing certain skills, solving problems. The biggest advantage of the training is the opportunity to gain practical skills and immediately apply new information in practice. The training can train employees in effective negotiation, improve leadership skills, and improve public speaking skills. Providing training is usually more expensive than a lecture or seminar, but its effectiveness will pay off faster in the process.
Online training includes:
- Self-study video tutorials: You can watch them at a convenient time, at a comfortable pace. The lack of video lessons is the lack of feedback from the teacher.
- Online webinars in which the host discusses a specific topic, accompanying the story with a presentation on it. During the broadcast, viewers can ask questions in chat, which makes this form of training more effective than video tutorials. The disadvantage of the webinar is the need to watch it at a specific, predetermined time, so the participants have to restructure their schedule to participate in it. Sometimes the host provides a recording of the webinar so that you can watch it later, but this makes it impossible to participate in the discussion.
- Online courses are a series of video tutorials united by one topic. Courses usually include instructor feedback, quizzes, and a certificate on successful completion of the quiz. Final testing allows you to immediately assess how effective the training was. The disadvantage of courses is their length, they require more discipline from the trainees.
Benefits of corporate training
1. Professional development of employees and work efficiency
A competent employee works better with clients, improves performance, which has a beneficial effect on the company’s activities. Research conducted in 3,200 American companies by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania shows that a 10% increase in corporate training costs increases labour productivity by 8.5%, and an increase in investment in improving production capacity of the same amount leads to an increase in productivity of all by 3.8%.
2. Increased staff loyalty
Conducting joint trainings and seminars improves relations in the team, makes it more cohesive. Loyal employees work more efficiently, interact more effectively with customers and are interested in continuous business growth.
According to Copenhagen Business School research, one unit increase in employee loyalty in the quarter under review leads to an increase in customer loyalty by 1.25 in the same quarter. A 1% increase in customer loyalty leads to a 0.885% increase in profits in the next quarter.
3. Competitive advantage in hiring employees
Organizations often list corporate training as an added bonus in vacancies. As shown by a survey of job seekers conducted by the Head-hunter portal, 63% of job seekers without work experience consider it necessary to undergo training from the company, and among applicants with more than 10 years of work experience, 38% also consider it.
How to improve learning efficiency?
The most important thing in the learning process is a well-established feedback. The effectiveness of the educational process increases if the teacher can quickly answer questions, correct the student’s behaviour. An experienced coach takes into account the individual characteristics of the participants – age, work experience, speed of assimilation of information.
It is important to motivate the participants, establish positive reinforcement – certification marks, certificates for completing courses, material incentives. The company may form an internal rating, which will reflect the achievements of employees, the courses and trainings they have completed.
The effectiveness of training will be higher if knowledge is consolidated in practice in working or simulated conditions.
Let’s summarize
- Companies spend a lot of money on corporate staff training, because qualified employees do their job faster and better, which increases business efficiency. In addition, training has a positive effect on employee loyalty and improves relationships in the team.
- Despite the obvious advantages, personnel training carries certain difficulties and risks for the employer, so it is important to draw up agreements with employees, carefully choose companies that provide training, and correctly assess the results of work.
- Online distance learning is gaining more and more popularity – it is cheaper and more convenient than traditional methods. Online courses allow you to conduct corporate training of personnel anywhere in the world where there is Internet access.
