Employee training is an arduous task and requires a lot of planning and execution. Employers need to be well aware of the learning needs and abilities of their employees and should have enough patience for that. Any company will grow if its employees are progressive and knowledgeable. Well-learned employees contribute to the overall success of the organization, and this is the reason all the prominent market players like Google, Tesla, and Amazon have such large training budgets set aside for employee learning. Teaching someone at an individual level is not that tough, but training the whole workforce can be challenging and demanding for any organization. And this pressure causes the employers to make some common mistakes that can cost them direly if not addressed. Here in this article, we will be discussing some of the most common mistakes made by organizations while training their employees. Read between the lines to know more.
PICKING UP THE WRONG LMS
The most revolutionary thing in employee training is the introduction of e-learning. Various systems like Blackbaud LMS provide a full-proof and effective solution to your employee’s learning needs. Very common mistake employers make is to pick the wrong LMS. Make sure that the LMS is well equipped with the features you need to fulfill the learning needs of your employees. Please do your research, take your time, and find out the suitable LMS for their use.
NOT DESIGNING AN EFFECTIVE TRAINING MODULE
After you have finalized your LMS and found the learning needs of your employees, you need to design an effective training program. An effective training program is designed after considering the learning abilities and conditions of your workforce. Make sure that the training modules are short, concise, interactive, and engaging.
NOT ADOPTING EMPLOYEE BENEFITS TRAINING
Training managers should keep in mind that training the employees only about their work is not good. It makes them feel undervalued. So the organizations should make sure to give employee benefits training to the workforce so that they can be well aware of the benefits they are receiving from the company. It may include:
- Leaves
- Corporate discounts
- Retirement benefits etc
This helps to engage the employees in the training modules.
NOT KNOWING YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
You cannot make someone learn something if you don’t know their learning abilities and needs. It would be like shooting an arrow in the dark. So, before you decide anything about your employee’s training, could you get to know them first? Find out where they are good at, what they need to improve etc. After assessing all that, design the right and practical training modules for their use.
KEEPING TRAINING A ONE-TIME THING
Another common mistake many employers make is to treat employee training as a one-time thing. This doesn’t seem right. Workforce training is a consistent thing and needs constant efforts to make sure it’s effective and efficient. Develop your training program in a way that you can stretch it evenly across one year or any particular period. This will keep your employees well connected with the essence of the training.
POOR FEEDBACK SYSTEM
Training your employees is intended to increase their knowledge and understanding of their roles and responsibilities. For an effective training regime, it becomes indispensable that you take their feedback about the whole training process. The training managers need to know what their trainees are feeling good about and what changes they have to make.
A significant challenge in employee training is not having open communication or not taking this all seriously. Employees who feel that their voices are heard are 4.6 times more likely to perform better at work, Forbes tells. So, always make sure that your organization has a solid feedback system where everyone can share their views freely and take necessary measures to increase employee engagement and the efficacy of your training regime.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
The latest report on employee engagement reveals that disengaged employees cost companies close to USD 500 billion every year in the US. In today’s world of cutthroat competition, there is no room for errors for any company and burning cash on disengaged employees that can be used elsewhere. So, engaging the employees is a tough challenge in employee training. The whole training regime is based on the basic assumption that your employees will be involved and thoroughly involved in the process. These disengaged employees won’t give their one hundred percent on the job, which breeds negativity and incompetence among your employees. So, it’s crucial that you provide them with the right tools to keep them engaged and motivated.
GENERATION GAPS AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY
In any multinational company, many people are working, all from different parts of the world, different cultures and of course different ages. A big challenge for your training managers is to lessen these gaps and develop a training regime that is well equipped to teach everyone working with your organization. Learning styles vary around the world and with ages too. So, take a look at your target audience and try to figure out more about your potential learners, and then develop resources that are multilingual and are effective for people from different cultures as well. Also, techniques like microlearning and augmented reality may not go too well with older employees. So, try to incorporate measures that make them comfortable, and then move on with your training. This will make your employees feel attached to the organization, and will surely increase the overall efficacy of your training regime.
THE CONCLUSION
As mentioned already, employee training should be taken seriously, and organizations should make sure to guarantee a practical training module for the overall growth of their employees. There should not be any hurry in developing and implementing the whole training process. Everything should have its defined reason and should serve its purpose well. This article was an attempt to throw some light on the most common mistakes made by employers in training their workforce. I hope it helped.
About the Author
Costa Lamprou is the head of PPC at The Elearning Industry Network. With experience in everything ranging from product development and sales to training and PPC, Costa helps eLearning businesses reach their full lead gen potential. When he isn’t helping clients succeed, Costa likes to expand his marketing horizons with the help of eLearning courses.
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