Why is training employees important?

Training provides employees with a better understanding of the skills required to perform their jobs successfully. Providing meaningful training to employees will help retain talent, boost engagement, build confidence, and improve job performance.

Regardless of the expense of organizational training, if done consistently, the ROI on training is incredible.

HR Magazine found that companies investing $1,500 or more per employee in a year on training averaged 24 percent higher profit than companies investing in less training.

What are the benefits of employee training and development?

The importance of training offers many benefits for companies of all sizes and industries. Let’s take a look at some of the major ones.

1. Industry advancements:

No matter what industry you are in, times change. Maybe there are advancements in technology or changes in product offerings. No matter what the changes are, you don’t want your company to be left behind the competition. Great training can help keep employees current.

2. Sharpen employee skill sets:

Every employee naturally has strengths and weaknesses. Even employees who are in the same field or department. Ongoing training is key to building each employee’s skill set. This will not only improve everyone’s job performance but will build confidence.

3. Employee motivation:

We have touched on this a little bit, but employees who are constantly learning are more likely to stay as employees. Turnover is costly. According to The Society for Human Resource Management, the average cost-per-hire is $4,129, while the average time it takes to fill a given position is 42 days. That is a lot of money and time wasted! Instead, give current employees several chances to increase their skill set and invest in their development.

4. Promote from within

HR departments are already overwhelmed. The less time and money they need to recruit management-level employees the better. A great training and development program increases employee learning as they grow at the company. That way when a new position opens up at a higher level, promotion can be given from within. Not only does this save the company money, but will create happy and engaged employees.

5. HR recruitment tool

When a company is looking for new great talent, they want the best. They also want a stellar prospect to choose them over the competition. One tool in recruitment is a great training and development program. Showing potential employees that they can sharpen existing skills and also take classes in areas they want to improve in, is a great employee perk.

Types of training and development initiatives

Once you have your training framework in place with your goal and learning objectives, it’s time to turn to tactics. How will you implement your training and development? What methods will you use? Who will run your training and where will it be held?

Although there are several training types, here are the most common ones.

Pre-onboarding training:

When you hire a new employee, yes you chose them for the skills they possess. But even if they have several years of industry knowledge, they do not know “your” company. The best way to get them up to speed quickly is through pre-onboarding training. The first days include routine tasks like filling out forms, gaining technology access, and issuing company equipment. But why not incorporate the importance of training from the start? Use your LMS to automate the process and provide a/an

• Welcome letter from the CEO
• Blueprint of the office to showcase where each department sits
• Calendar of key company events, birthdays, and work anniversaries
• Outline additional training and development
• Brief survey on how the pre-onboarding process worked or didn’t

Technical skills training:

Every employee no matter what level can always learn new skills. And with industry advancements and technology improvements, skill training is critical to stay ahead of the competition.

Soft skills training:

This type of training works on “people” skills. Things like communication, presentation, and conflict resolution. Departments that can benefit from this type of training are human resources, sales, and customer service. Soft skill training is also great for cross-training like two departments that must work closely together. For example, take a new website launch where developers must work with copywriters.

Compliance training:

Depending on what industry you are in and if you are publicly held or not, there is mandatory training. Most companies regardless of industry or type will need to complete sexual harassment and diversity training. Those companies in the financial sector will have compliance training and a law firm may have legal regulation training. All of this training needs to be considered when developing your training program.

Use a modern LMS to provide effective employee training

Now that you see the importance of employee training, the best way to effectively train your organization is using a modern LMS. Legacy learning platforms don't provide your company with all the features and solutions needed to upskill employees or external users.

Continu's learning platform enables organizations to train their whole company in one single place, with features such as:

• Create complete training courses and learning tracks
• Assign training or learning materials to employees
• Delivery of training resources to anyone, anywhere, anytime
• Track and measure employee training progress
• Generate detailed reports on learning metrics
• Host online webinars or workshops with Zoom attendance tracking
• Integrate with all of your favorite business tools