A company's success depends largely on the efficiency and dependability of its onboarding process and corporate training programs. The impact of employee training and onboarding can be significant, with up to 69% of employees sticking with a company for at least three years after exceptional or above-average training experiences.
When employees are properly trained, they’re also more likely to be productive and contribute to the company’s growth and scalability. Although the process of employee training can sometimes overwhelm HR professionals and corporate instructors, it doesn’t have to.
In this post, we’ll highlight the core benefits of employee training and provide practical tips to apply them to your specific business or use case.
What is the purpose of employee training?
For corporate leaders who want to grow and strengthen their organizations, employee training has an irreplaceable role. By design, employee training programs help team members (both new and veteran) gain new skills, build upon existing professional knowledge, and promote attitudes for peak performance.
Businesses move quickly, and new technologies and processes emerge rapidly. Companies must keep pace and invest in one of their most valuable assets – people. Organizations that fail to onboard, train, or nurture growth within existing teams are at a higher risk of falling behind in highly competitive markets.
Benefits of corporate employee training programs
Not only does employee training improve corporate retention metrics, but the ability to learn at work transforms the way workers think about job performance. If you’re on the fence about whether to revamp your existing employee training modules, take a peek at the following advantages.
Better job performance
With adequate training, employees gain essential job-related skills. This increases employees’ confidence and improves job performance. As employees grow in competence, managers might observe fewer mistakes, greater team efficiency, and higher quality outputs.
Greater employee satisfaction
Effective training shows employees that leaders care about their growth and development.
When employees feel valued through training opportunities, their morale and overall job satisfaction are likely to increase. Training is one of the best ways to help staff members feel more invested in an organization’s mission, vision, and growth goals.
Corporate managers and leaders also benefit from higher satisfaction. Over time, satisfied employees contribute to a qualified talent pipeline for new opportunities, promotions, and hiring options, according to the University of South Florida.
Enhanced regulatory compliance
Depending on your industry, there may be specific training and employee onboarding standards that you must adhere to. Regulatory guidelines can also change frequently, making it more difficult to offer training courses that employees only need upon hire.
If companies fail to meet compliance requirements, they could be subject to expensive penalties. Employee training ensures that corporate team members have up-to-date compliance knowledge, preventing some of those hefty fines. While employees gain valuable knowledge related to topics like safety and security, they can also help their employer avoid costly mistakes.
Tips for developing an effective employee training strategy
Designing a productive employee training strategy isn’t necessarily simple, but it’s easier to accomplish when you have the right learning platform for employee training.
The right training mindset always involves an initial assessment, a long-term plan, and implementation techniques for seamless information transfer. As a learning and development leader, you hold an irreplaceable role in creating an employee training program that’s right for your business – including the team members you want to reach and serve.
Learn how to set better training goals with CYPHER skills development
Here are a few simple ways to jumpstart your efforts when it comes to drawing the training roadmap for your employees.
Tip 1: Define specific goals
As always, the first step for developing the most effective employee training strategy should be to understand your organization's long-term goals. You can get started on this process by working through the following steps.
- Conducting a thorough needs assessment that analyzes the workforce skill gaps
- Identifying your plan for current and future knowledge, skills, and abilities that are critical for your corporation's success
- Aligning the employee training program with goals from executives or stakeholders
- Ensuring your employees possess the necessary skills to support growth in key areas of the business
Use CYPHER’s groups and goals assessments to improve learner experiences
Remember—different use cases require unique strategies. For example, the goals you have for basic employee onboarding are likely going to look different than your plans for delivering brand-new skills to technical team members. Always differentiate between use cases and applications to generate the most accurate training results.
Tip 2: Create a skills level assessment
Skills assessments are essential for training new hires and existing employees. Part of the reason for this is that resumes can be misleading, and employees occasionally misrepresent their understanding of key concepts, according to TalentLyft.
Moreover, employees don’t know what they don’t know. With a platform like CYPHER, employers can more accurately assess knowledge, proficiency, and mastery across 2,000+ pre-loaded unique competencies and across multiple job roles and titles.
The only way to take corporate ownership of key skills is to evaluate. Once you have a baseline, it’s important to offer additional chances for skills development and upskilling. Growth doesn't need to stop once an employee hits a standard milestone. Instead, you can keep the momentum from those initial interactions going.
Tip 3: Choose the most innovative delivery methods
Learner engagement is crucial when it comes to employee learning and development. This means that archaic, detached methods of instruction are out.
Employees crave modern teaching tools that give them valuable knowledge and honor their time. With CYPHER, instructors can gamify the learning experience to make it more personal, exciting, and involved.
Tip 4: Verbalize expectations
Whether you want to improve an existing training program or create one from scratch, set clear expectations for employees before the training process begins. For instance, if new hires are going through onboarding materials, clearly communicate that they should have them completed within the first week.
Clearly verbalizing outcomes and goals sets the tone for the rest of the training experience. When instructions are confusing, employees may become frustrated and lack the motivation they need for progression.
Tip 5: Measure progress and momentum
The best employee training always includes regular monitoring of individual and team progress. As an L&D leader or instructor, progress tracking helps you identify when employees might need additional support and coaching. When regular check-ins are part of the training process, employees also benefit from constructive feedback on ways to improve.
Tip 6: Create personalized opportunities for growth
Ensure the LMS you choose allows for customization. Different teams and positions require individualized and personalized experiences. Design programs for software developers, engineers, sales team members, customer support staff, and upper-level managers or executives that fit their individual needs.
The goal of personalized employee training is to prepare and equip employees for specific job-related tasks. Understanding the broader context of their work within a team allows them to excel and bring their own skills, knowledge, and strengths to the table.
How leaders contribute to employee development and learning
One crucial part of developing a strong and healthy company culture is leading by example. That means that everyone – from the top down – takes part in new employee training opportunities.
Leaders can set the tone by remaining open to learning new skills and actively seeking knowledge that enhances managerial strengths. In turn, it’s important for leaders to encourage employees along the same path, providing exciting new opportunities and chances to share lessons.
With a clear learning mindset, leaders set an example that employees can easily follow. Consider the following reminders if you lead or manage employees who are about to embark on a training journey.
- Maintain open communication. Explaining the purpose behind training is often critical for motivation and encouragement. Clearly explain the “why” behind new training programs or requirements.
- Lead by example. Always have a positive mindset, particularly when specific training milestones are required by law. Try to excel at new skills or knowledge, and ask that all employees do the same.
- Offer rewards and incentives. Incentivize or provide special perks when employees devote themselves to development and learning. This could be small bonuses, promotions, or salary increases for those who have completed certain skills assessments or training. Benefits create a culture of continuous improvement and recognition.
- Gather feedback to refine the learning process. Conduct surveys, focus groups, or one-on-one meetings to better understand what's working and what's not within individual training programs. Use that feedback in tangible ways, either to improve resources and tools or to create better systems and a more refined learning experience for everyone. Mentorship and coaching options also provide personal touches that contribute to the strength of onboarding experiences and programs.
CYPHER takes employee training to the next level
At CYPHER, we know that employee training programs often get a bad reputation. Legacy LMS platforms, boring curricula, and a lack of follow-up and recall are just a few reasons why employee training programs fail. Innovative and engaging employee training doesn't have to be a misplaced dream with no hope of success.
It’s entirely possible to enjoy a corporate LMS for training that offers the following perks (without sacrificing real results and knowledge retention).
- Flexible learning
- Skills development
- Onboarding programs
- Training gamification
- Mentorship and coaching
Start designing and creating more engaging training courses as early as today.
Maximize your training strategy
While it’s true that the employee training process is crucial for employee retention, productivity, and job satisfaction, the results go beyond that.
It takes planning and strategic thinking, along with a modernized LMS platform, to make your employee training goals a reality. Instead of viewing training as a one-time experience, envision it as a continuous process that requires long-term investment, buy-in, and partnership.
At CYPHER, we’re here to join you in your training goals and make these realities possible.
Schedule a demo to see our award-winning platform in action!
