Companies of all sizes invest time and money in employee training – but all too often, it doesn’t have optimal results. To improve employee training, it’s necessary to approach it much like other business areas.
Getting a good return on investment depends on aligning training properly with business needs and objectives. This involves mapping training very directly to required competencies.
It depends on identifying gaps (or shortfalls) – and doing something about them. And it depends on being responsive, adapting quickly as projects, work processes or requirements change.
Employee training challenges for small companies
With on-going training that’s effective, targeted, and regularly updated, a business automatically becomes more agile. It can get required skills fast and leverage these to meet business needs.
Employees who are given the opportunity to develop their skills also tend to be more motivated and productive.
However, it’s a challenge to provide optimal training, especially for smaller companies.
A lack of resources
If it’s not carried out correctly, training can be expensive. Although training is often now online, which removes venue costs and equipment hire, employees must dedicate considerable time to yield results.
These hours add up, ultimately keeping employees from their jobs. Small businesses don’t have the capacity for someone to “stand in” while another employee completes a course.
Training doesn’t match the required competencies
Many programs are generic. They don’t match the specific skills employees need to learn. It’s difficult and time-consuming to develop personalized course material.
A lack of standardization
Consistency can be a challenge. Personalization only happens to a certain extent and it’s difficult to achieve consistent outcomes from the same training material.
Failure to review results
Small businesses tend to overlook the value of employee feedback regarding the course content, trainer and training platform used.
Most e-learning platforms offer effective reporting tools, but the results aren’t put to good use with proper interpretation.
This information is invaluable for improving content and targeting training towards employees’ wants and needs.
Failure to update content
Employees won’t respond to training that’s outdated and irrelevant.
Failure to update training programs to match new processes and procedures results in a waste of time and resources.
Task existing staff with training
Not everyone’s a teacher.
Employees may be highly competent at their jobs. This doesn’t necessarily qualify them to relay their skills to other employees or even to direct their own training.
An ad hoc approach is often the reason for ineffective training.
A way to overcome the challenges and improve employee training
isoTracker’s training tracking software provides a central, reliable platform for creating and delivering training.
It makes it easy to optimise employee training, whether it’s delivered onsite, remotely, or at multiple work locations.
It’s also easy to use and priced suitably for smaller businesses.
The software offers:
- alignment of specific training to required competencies
- streamlined creation and delivery of training and tests
- automatic grading of tests
- easy identification of knowledge gaps
- assignment of corrective action tasks with deadlines
- automated deadline reminders and task escalation
- easy training evaluation and feedback.
Benefits of training software
With the right training software, it’s much easier and less time-consuming to equip employees with the skills they need. Your business will likely benefit from the following results:
- increased productivity and profitability
Upskilling employees will increase your bottom line. This will only happen if your training is relevant and targeted to fill competency gaps.Intensive training can help shorten learning curves, ensuring that new staff get up to speed sooner. - healthier company culture
Small business owners often underestimate the value of a healthy “culture”. Employees value the investment an employer makes in their development and growth. Employee satisfaction has a knock-on effect within an organization. - improved employee retention
An employee who is more engaged and comfortable performing daily tasks is more likely to stay in a job. An increased employee retention rate means your business will save on the time and money it takes to recruit and train replacements.
Interested in finding out more about how to improve employee training? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of isoTracker’s software or contact us to discuss your needs.
