5 Easy Ways to Improve Employee Training

There’s an age-old argument about the value of investing in employees’ professional development. A CFO asked what happens if the company pays to develop their people and those employees decide to leave. To which the CEO replied: “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”

Simply put, a company is only as strong and successful as its employees. Employee training is a critical piece of this, and regardless of your turnover fears, it’s important that you continue to train your team to be the best they can be. Because when they win, you win, too!

Here are five easy ways to improve employee training and grow your business from the inside out.

1. Tailor Your Training to the Employee

As a company, you’ll have certain things you need every employee to know. Some of it might be policies and procedures. Other training sessions might be more directly related to their job duties. But whenever possible, it’s helpful to let the employee play a role in choosing their training. Let them decide which topics and areas will be most impactful to their development. This not only makes training more interesting to your employees, but also encourages them to go through with the training in the first place.

2. Carve Out Time for Training

In the chaos of day-to-day duties, it’s not always easy finding time to undergo training. Certain roles might find it more challenging than others to finish required training, which could lead them to rush through it and not retain anything they’ve learned.

That’s why training should be treated as a natural part of the workday. Carve out dedicated time each month for training, whether it’s in a group setting or allowing employees to self-guide their training.

3. Try a Variety of Training Methods and Tools

Training means very little if employees aren’t engaged and are only going through the motions. Using different training tools and techniques can help to make a mundane chore more interesting. For instance, you might make training available in a variety of media, such as videos, articles, quizzes, and hands-on activities. This helps you avoid wasting time and make your training more impactful.

4. Incentivize Employee Training

Technically, the big incentive to go through training is what you learn on the other side. But some employees need more than this to make training a bigger priority. That’s where additional incentives can come in handy. Offer rewards for completing training, such as gift cards, corporate swag, or paid time off.

5. Get Employee Feedback

We saved the best for last: the easiest way to improve employee training is to go straight to the source. Ask your employees where they feel their training does well, where it falls short, and what you could do to make it better. What sounds good in theory might not translate well to your employees. Getting their feedback is key to making your training more impactful to the people that really matter.

For more career growth tips, head back to the Virtual Coworker blog.