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Our Guide to Employee Training
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The building blocks of any great company aren’t just its stakeholders or customers, but its employees that make the everyday components of the business run smoothly – making employee training imperative to business success.
Employee training can refer to teaching your employees soft skills, training them with new technologies, and even a simple onboarding.
In this article, we’ll provide you with a guide to employee training and which components are most effective and essential to your business success.
What is employee training?
Employee training refers to the process of providing workers with various skills, knowledge, and tools to improve upon their job performance and ensure productivity.
As a whole, employee training can allow for improved skillsets, business efficiency, and for greater career development – all of which can help to ensure that your company remains competitive and efficient.
“ The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay. – (Henry Ford). ”
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Examples of Employee Training
- Onboarding – This type of employee training can help newcomers better understand a company’s policies, culture, and job roles.
- Technical Skills Training – This will teach employees how to utilise job-specific tools, software, or processes – which can help to boost their job performance and the company’s success.
- Soft Skills Training – This allows your employees to improve upon communication, leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving.
- Compliance Training – This helps your employees to better understand and adhere to legal and safety regulations such as workplace safety and anti-harassment policies under DEI.
- Leadership & Management Training – This can help to provide your employees with the leadership skills needed for future and current managers, which can allow for career growth opportunities internally and ensure your employees remain motivated.
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Training – This allows your company to curate an inclusive workplace culture, which can make employees feel safe and accepted – ultimately, allowing for more productive employees.
- Product & Service Training – This can assist employees in understanding what your company has to offer, which in turn – can allow them to serve customers better, ensuring their business loyalty and your company’s continued growth.
Overall, employee training is a way to educate your employees to ensure not only your business remains competitive and successful – but to help them grow in their own professional careers.
Why is employee training important?
Employee training is important because it can prove beneficial for both the employee and the company.
Think of how when you kill two birds with one stone, you often get two important tasks done by only using the time required for one. The same concept applies to employee training, as it can only benefit everyone involved.
“ An organisation’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage. — (Jack Welch). ”
Here’s a breakdown of why employee training is important:
Boost Business Productivity & Performance
When employees are trained and prepared for all potential business scenarios, it allows for not only greater flexibility – but can help them to perform efficiently and boost productivity.
As a whole, this demonstrates how employee training not only benefits individual performance – but can help the entire company work towards success.
Improved Employee Retention
When employees are more motivated as a result of internal training and potential career growth within the organisation, it can curate an increased sense of job satisfaction and loyalty to the company – both of which can help to reduce employee turnover rates and keep workers happy in their professional lives.
Benefit From Technological Advancements
Technology continues to evolve, such as Chat GPT continuing to take the workforce by storm – but did you know that Chat GPT may not be used to its full potential by your employees without training how to best manipulate the internet’s latest virtual assistant?
Training your employees on how to use the latest technology can help to ensure that your company reaps the full benefits of the latest tools and technological advancements.
Develop Soft Skills
Hard skills such as data analysis, graphic design, and proficiency in a foreign language are all worthwhile qualities in an employee – but training programs for soft skills can be equally as important.
This is because soft skills can help to foster improved communication, teamwork, and problem-solving – all of which can help your office to run more smoothly and efficiently.
Compliance & Risk Management
Employee training can allow your employees to remain away from changing environmental regulations and company policies, which can help to mitigate any legal risks and ensure your business remains compliant.
Foster an Environment For Learning
Companies that make an effort to keep their employee’s education and training high on their list of priorities will be able to curate a work environment based on continuous improvement, creative solutions, and open-minded employees.
As a whole, this can help to ensure that your business remains adaptable and ready for any potential crisis – such as a natural disaster hitting or new certification to work towards.
In the end, employee training is essential to ensure your company’s continued growth, employee satisfaction, and remain competitive in the midst of our current challenging business landscape.
What are the benefits of employee training?
The benefits of employee training include helping to ensure employee satisfaction, business growth and competitiveness, and to ensure adaptability in the midst of climate change and evolving policies or environmental regulations.
Employee training allows for both your business and individual employees to benefit, as it boosts productivity, job satisfaction, improves retention rates, and ensures compliance with ever-changing industry standards.
“ You can’t teach people everything they need to know. The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to know when they need to know it. – (Seymour Paper). ”
Here are some of the benefits of employee training:
- Increase Job Performance & Efficiency – Employee training will help your workers to be more productive and ensure that business operations run effectively.
- Improve Employee Engagement & Retention – Employees that feel valued and motivated by internal opportunities at work for a promotion or general career development are less likely to leave the organisation, allowing for reduced employee turnover.
- Ensure Compliance & Workplace Safety – Employee training will make sure that your employees are up-to-date with the latest regulations and requirements of your company.
- Encourages Innovation – Creative and solution oriented thinking is indispensable in today’s world, and employee training can help to foster a workplace where this kind of culture is valued, supported, and further developed.
- Company Growth & Competitiveness – Employee training and development can ensure that your company remains knowledgeable about the latest software, tools, and skillsets to benefit your company and maintain a competitive advantage.
The table below will further depict the breakdown of the initial costs and time required to instill various employee trainings, but the long-term benefits associated with employee training:
| Strategy | Description |
|---|---|
| Encouraging Electric Vehicles (EVs) | Promoting EV adoption reduces the demand for gasoline, extending the lifespan of oil reserves. |
| Investing in Biofuels | Research and development of biofuels can provide alternatives for industries that heavily rely on oil, such as aviation and shipping. |
| Enhancing Public Transportation | Expanding and improving public transit systems can reduce the number of individual vehicles on the road, lowering overall oil consumption. |
| Improving Vehicle Fuel Efficiency | Developing fuel-efficient engines and hybrid technologies can help vehicles consume less gasoline and diesel per mile. |
| Encouraging Carpooling and Ridesharing | Promoting shared transportation options decreases the number of vehicles on the road, cutting down on fuel use. |
| Advancing Hydrogen Fuel Technologies | Hydrogen fuel cells can serve as an alternative energy source for transportation and industry, reducing oil dependency. |
| Supporting Circular Economy Practices | Recycling and reusing petroleum-based products can lower the need for new oil extraction. |
| Promoting Urban Planning for Walkability | Designing cities with pedestrian-friendly infrastructure and bike lanes reduces the need for oil-dependent transportation. |
Overall, employee training benefits everyone involved – from customers, stakeholders, your employees, and the long-term financial and sustainable development and success of your business.
What are some different types of employee training?
There are several different types of employee training, such as onboarding, technical skills training, and leadership training – all of which serve a different purpose.
Here’s a breakdown of the different types of employee training:
Onboarding Training
Whenever you join a new company, you are likely going to undergo an onboarding process to ensure that new employees understand the company culture, policies, and expectations.
This helps employees to:
- Easily integrate themselves into new job roles or companies
- Allow employees to be productive soon after starting
Most commonly used in: corporate offices, retail businesses, tech firms, healthcare organisations
Best For: New hires
Technical Skills Training
This type of employee training teaches employees how to use various software, processes, and tools to boost job efficiency – such as training in how to use AI to its maximum capacity. In addition to this, it helps employees keep up-to-date with evolving technology and for businesses to benefit from them to the maximum potential.
Most commonly used in: IT firms, manufacturing, healthcare, and finance
Best For: Employees in industries that require specialised skills
Soft Skills Training
This type of employee training, while often overlooked, is one of the most important – as it allows for improved communication, teamwork, and higher emotional intelligence.
As a whole, this can help employees to communicate and collaborate more effectively – which can help to support improved teamwork and long-term business success.
Most commonly used in: service industries, sales teams, and HR departments
Best For: Employees at all levels, especially customer-facing and leadership roles
Compliance Training
Becoming all the more prominent with increasing climate regulations and various policies, compliance training will ensure that all legal policies and safety protocols and that all necessary certifications can be acquired.
Most commonly used in: healthcare, construction, and corporate offices
Best For: Companies which are committed to prioritising workplace safety
Leadership & Management Training
This allows employees to aspire and train for future management positions, and helps companies to ensure that a company is creating potential leaders within the company.
Most commonly used in: startups, customer service teams, retail stores, and other large corporations
Best For: Employees preparing for or currently in leadership roles
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Training
An essential employee training, especially for companies with a diverse workforce, DEI training ensures that an inclusive and respectful workplace is curated – and will encourage diverse hiring and help mitigate any discrimination.
Most commonly used in: startups, educational institutions, and companies with diverse workforces
Best For: all employees, but especially HR departments
Product & Service Training
This allows employees to fully grasp a company’s products and services, which in turn – can help to boost customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
As a result, this can include training employees how to talk to clients – or ways to redirect a conversation to turn it into a sale.
Most commonly used in: retail and SaaS (software as a service)
Best For: sales, marketing, and customer service teams
How can your company train its employees effectively?
Your company can train its employees effectively by:
- Pick Specific Programs to Interest Your Employees – This helps to ensure that they remain interested and motivated to achieve their career goals.
- Utilising a Mix of Training Methods – A mix of in-person workshops, online courses, mentorship programs, and hands-on learning can help to appeal to all different learning types and employees.
- Set Clear Learning Objectives – Clearly define what your company intends for its employees to get out of the training – such as by helping them to sell more of a product or increase their SEO ranking by X%.
- Encourage Continuous Learning – Allow employees the opportunity to choose more than one training per year to encourage continuous growth within the company.
- Allow Feedback Sessions – Let your employees share feedback on the training they take, as this can help you determine if it’s worth it for future employees.
- Utilise Technology – E-learning platforms, webinars, and interactive content can serve as a great method of employee training as your employees could engage with the learning material on their own time at their own pace.
Overall, employee training is a key component to long-term success in a company – as employees serve as the building blocks for a lucrative and sustainable business.
What about Greenly?
If reading this article about peak oil has inspired you to consider your company’s own carbon footprint, Greenly can help.
At Greenly we can help you to assess your company’s carbon footprint, and then give you the tools you need to cut down on emissions. We offer a free demo for you to better understand our platform and all that it has to offer – including assistance on how to reduce emissions, optimise energy efficiency, and more to help you get started on your climate journey.
Learn more about Greenly’s carbon management platform here.
Sources
Business News Daily https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9399-employee-training-tactics.html
Indeed https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/importance-of-training
Office of Congressional Workplace Rights https://www.ocwr.gov/publications/your-rights-at-work/compliancework-why-training-important/
Growth Engineering https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/65-quotes-about-workplace-learning/
Great Place to Work https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/employee-training-development-benefits-planning
Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-will-change-most-jobs-employers-help-workers-keep-up-2024-8