Overcoming Employee Development and Training Issues to Ensure Real Growth
Over the last couple of years, many people have begun to understand the importance of employee development and training programs. Studies have been done that show the relationship between employee development and employee retention. For instance, 44% of employees say they have quit a job within the first six months due to poor or non-existing training.
Overcoming Employee Development and Training Issues
The available statistics make it clear that developing an employee development and training program is essential for your organization, but you will need to do proper planning to make it effective. This includes overcoming nine common training issues that can hinder employee development.
9 Employee Development Issues
It can seem like a struggle to develop and maintain an employee development program, but there are ways to overcome the issues so you can provide the training your employees need. Overcoming these employee development and training issues will go a long way towards improving employee retention and recruitment.
1. Information Overload
Often, during the onboarding process, companies can overwhelm a new employee attempting to get them prepared for their new position. There are software programs and other technologies they need to learn. Plus, they must understand their role within the company.
Much of this information overload is due to a desire to complete training as quickly as possible. The problem is this can lead to employees getting frustrated at the level of information they are expected to retain.
An easy fix to this problem is to provide training that is easy to process. Short 5-6-minute videos can help increase comprehension. Doing an online program also makes it easier for employees to move through the orientation training at their own pace so they can ease into a new role.
2. Employee Resistance to New Tools
Anytime you implement a new tool within your organization, you will encounter some resistance at the idea of learning something new. Everyone likes routine, and some people will be afraid about a new program or technology. Some will be unsure about their ability to grasp these new tools.
The best way to deal with this employee development and training issue is to keep employees involved in the process as you make a change. Explain the value of the new tool and why the change was needed in the first place. Give them proper training to understand the new tool and listen to their constructive feedback on the change process.
3. Ineffective or Irregular Training
Companies don’t always make proper adjustments to meet changing workplace conditions. The rise of remote and from home workers means traditional training methods can be ineffective for parts of your workforce. For traditional workers, these training methods can still frustrate employees as they require disruptions to their workday to complete.
Inconsistent training can also backfire on you. To provide training that will provide value for your employees, you need consistent, frequent, ongoing training that helps them retain and build on the information provided.
Implementing an online training program can deal with ineffective training issues. With an online program, you can help increase employee participation and reduce the frustrating workflow disruptions. An online program will make it easier to develop a year-long training schedule that increases employee productivity.
4. Determining Employee Struggles
One of the most important aspects of the employee development and training program is to help employees deal with struggle areas, but it’s not always easy to track these areas with traditional training methods. You want to ensure employees understand training efforts and that the training is important to their needs to help them give their best effort towards their jobs.
With an online training management platform like Infinit-I Workforce Solutions, you can easily track employee progress and see areas where they may be struggling. Tracking this information will help you determine personalized training for individuals or departments so you can increase their understanding.
5. Changes Don’t Always Last
After completing employee development and training materials, employees are often ready and excited to implement changes. That enthusiasm can wane as time goes on though. This is partly because information retention will decrease over time.
The most effective training is consistent, ongoing training. Providing options that allow them to continue and grow on previous training will give employees the most value from a development program.
6. Training Costs Money
Many employers are reluctant to implement ongoing training because of the cost. This cost includes training materials as well as time spent to complete the training. While this can seem like an unnecessary cost, it’s important to spend money on developing a training program.
The cost of mistakes or loss of customers due to poor employee behaviors outweighs the cost of training. You can reduce the employee development and training costs with an online training option that allows employees to take less time from their schedules and requires fewer overhead costs to complete regular training.
7. Some Employees Don’t Want to Complete Training
There will always be those people who are unwilling to do what they need to do, or people who want to complain about everything. There is little you can do about this, but if you have a consistent issue with employee participation in training, you’re likely using the wrong training tools or training employees in the wrong areas.
Most employees want to grow and improve. To provide the best training, take the time to listen to your employees about their needs.
Make sure you provide training that is updated and will keep them engaged. Providing short training videos can also help improve employee participation as they won’t spend hours on possibly boring material.
8. Keeping Training Relevant
While there are areas of training you want to provide for all employees, some training is specific to definite roles. Attempting training programs that require employees to sit in on irrelevant training is ineffective and will lose their attention.
Make sure the training provided is relevant to the needs of your employees and your company. Online training is a great way to help you segment training to make sure employees get the training they need without overwhelming them with unnecessary information.
You can also include employees in goal setting for their training needs. Ask them for feedback on what topics would be most helpful. Involve employees in the training process, such as sharing knowledge that would be helpful to others.
9. A Disconnection Between Employees and Leadership
When implementing an employee development and training program, every person in the organization needs to be involved. If leadership doesn’t participate in training, employees will resent being required to complete these training sessions themselves.
Make sure managers and upper leadership are just as involved in the training program as all other employees. Explain the importance of training and get leadership on board early in the process.
Online Learning Management Reduces Training Issues
Implementing an online learning management system such as Infinit-I Workforce Solutions is one of the most effective ways to deal with employee development and training issues. You can provide engaging training material that is easy for employees to access at their convenience. This will help you provide an ongoing training schedule at a reduced cost over traditional methods.
To see for yourself how easy the Infinit-I Workforce system is to implement, request a demo today. Just 20 minutes of your time will help you see why online training is an essential tool for your company.
