How to build a successful employee training programme
Employees’ learning and development should be a priority for closing organisational skill gaps. Learn how to craft an effective training program to achieve this.
Retaining existing staff, grappling with skills shortages, and filling vacancies are all among the top challenges facing UK employers.
As a result, many are searching for ways to solve the skills puzzle amidst increasing competition for talent. One effective way of doing just that is by building on the skills and knowledge of existing team members with training and development programmes.
In this article, we’ll take you through the steps required to create an effective employee training programme, helping you bridge skills gaps with the employees you already have.
The importance of employee training and development
Employee training and development is vital for filling skills gaps and keeping employees happy and motivated. Research shows that 76% of employees say that a company would be more appealing if it offered additional skills training to its staff, while 74% are willing to learn new skills or re-train in order to remain employable.
Furthermore, creating a culture of employee training and development means that organisations are better prepared to meet the future skills gaps that will emerge as technology and workplace practices develop. Ultimately, an employee training programme will be essential for any organisation that wants to stay at the forefront of their industry.
5 benefits of an effective employee training plan
There are a number of key benefits that employers can leverage with an effective employee training programme. Here’s a look at some of the main ones:
- Plug skills gaps: With as many as 73% of organisations struggling with skills gaps, an employee training programme could be the answer for many, particularly with new skill requirements emerging as new technology develops. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to provide significant benefits for employers, but clear skills gaps remain. More than half of employees say their employer does not actively invest in training and development to help them use AI effectively, while 40% say they don’t have the skills to make the most of AI in their workplace.
- Increase employee retention: Time and time again workers say that training and development opportunities are important to them, and that they are more likely to stick with an employer that gives them opportunities to grow professionally. By offering skills development opportunities, organisations can reduce their staff turnover and the resources required for hiring.
- Support career growth: Around 86% of employees say that job training is important to them, while nearly three-quarters are willing to learn things outside of working hours to improve their professional skills and job performance. Workers want the chance to grow in their careers, and continuous training is one way to make that happen for them.
- Improve productivity and efficiency: Many of the skills that organisations are lacking can help to improve productivity and efficiency within the workforce. If these skill gaps are filled, organisations could improve their productivity and efficiency. For example, improving AI-specific skills could lead to the automation of mundane and repetitive processes, leaving tasks that require critical thinking to their staff.
- Attract ambitious candidates: One survey suggests that 76% of employees would find a company more attractive if it offered skills training to its staff. Within that 76% will be the talented and motivated candidates your organisation would benefit from. As a result, employers looking to attract ambitious candidates can benefit from offering comprehensive training and development programmes.
Different types of employee training
There are a number of different types of employee training and learning experiences that employers can offer to their workforce. Here’s a look at some of the key ones.
Onboarding training
Every organisation should at least have some training as part of their onboarding process for new staff. Getting onboarding wrong can have serious consequences, with data showing that as many as a third of new employees leave within the first six months.
By incorporating training into the onboarding process, you can ensure new hires are brought up to speed quickly and feel their development will be a priority throughout their time at your organisation.
Onboarding training can cover a host of topics, such as introducing new hires to the tools and software they will be using. Other onboarding training that helps employees settle in includes courses around the organisation’s communication practices and resources or webinars on company culture.
Compliance training
Compliance training is usually mandatory for employees. As a result, this should be included early in a worker’s tenure in a new role.
This type of training will typically include important courses in safety and security training. Furthermore, some industries have specific compliance training for employees to carry out their work legally, such as in the finance industry.
Leadership training
This is the type of training ambitious employees will be interested in taking. By building up their soft skills with an emphasis on leadership, they will be able to take on management duties in the future, advancing their careers and potentially overseeing the development of more junior employees in the future.
Leadership training can take different forms, such as formal courses that allow employees to develop skills in areas like:
- Communicating with authority
- Giving speeches and presentations
- Motivating other staff members
It can also be delivered in a less formal style, for example through mentorship programmes led by senior members of staff.
Technical training
A vital part of resolving skill gaps in an organisation is technical training. With technology such as AI growing in importance, more employees need to be shown how to use it to ensure its effective use.
Many agencies provide employee training with different technologies, so if internal training materials are not available or feasible, this can be a good option. For larger organisations with the capacity to do so, running internal training courses can deliver better value while ensuring the required personalised training when appropriate.
Designing a comprehensive employee training plan
We’ve seen what the benefits of a quality training programme are, and the different types of employee training plans that can be implemented. You shouldn’t however jump straight in with a training programme without considering your goals, objectives and delivery methods.
Here are some of the key considerations for designing a training programme that helps boost employee growth, fill skills gaps and ultimately improve productivity.
Identify specific training needs
Employee training is an investment of time and money for any organisation, so it’s vital that you know exactly what you want to get out of a training programme before implementing it.
To work out the specific training needs your organisation has, you can conduct a skills gap analysis, as this makes it easier to identify what your teams and individual employee’s skills are compared to what you need. Once these skills gaps have been identified, you can then move on to working out the best training methods and learning processes to fill them.
Set clear training goals and objectives
Use the SMART goals formula to ensure your training goals and objectives are clear. SMART goals are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
By using SMART goals, you can demonstrate to leadership and stakeholders how the training will help to achieve business outcomes and align with organisational strategy. These goals can be applied whether the training is technical or interpersonal.
Incorporate employee perspectives
With employees making it clear that they value training and development opportunities, you would be missing out on valuable input if you didn’t find out from them what they see as key learning objectives and outcomes.
By incorporating employee perspectives in your training and development programme, you can boost buy-in and engagement. To do this, you can conduct surveys with the wider workforce or organise focus groups to collect detailed feedback and insight.
Choose an effective training method
Different organisations will need different types of training and training content. For example, if your workforce is primarily working remotely or with a hybrid system, then online workshops might be the most effective approach.
If the skills required are quite hands-on, then on-the-job training and in-person workshops could be the answer. There are many different ways to deliver training, so aligning the method with the needs and make-up of your organisation will play a big part in ensuring success.
Next steps
Once your employee training programme has been implemented, it’s crucial to monitor the programme so that you can continue to develop and improve it over time. This can be achieved by:
- Gathering employee feedback: By checking in with the employees who are taking part in training, you can find out if the programme is helping to improve both engagement and satisfaction.
- Checking in with management: Are the skills being taught having a verifiable effect on output? If the answer is no, there could be an issue that needs addressing.
- Assessing recruitment: Once the progamme is up and running and delivering results, you can make it a central point of your pitch to prospective candidates in attempt to attract ambitious jobseekers.
By assessing your training programmes, you can work to ensure continuous improvement to close skills gaps and increase productivity and efficiency across the workforce.