Creating an Effective Employee Training Program

Training sets the tone for your staff. Each new employee learns how to be part of the team during the training process. By creating an effective training program, you can influence the rest of their tenure in your organization.

The money you invest in an education program for your incoming employees comes back to you in improved productivity and higher profits. One study suggested that companies with better training systems experienced a 24% improvement profit margins than those that had more slapdash processes.

Clearly, you can benefit by upgrading your training procedures. But how do you make these changes? Here are a few tips for creating an effective employee training program:

Set Training Goals

Going into the training process, know what you want to accomplish. Be as specific as possible. This will make it easier to create a formal process.

To accomplish this goal, make a list of all the tasks you’d like your incoming employee to master. From there, break the duties into step-by-step instructions. These will provide a guide for the training process.

Go One Step at a Time

Don’t overwhelm your incoming employee by trying to do too much at once. Take training one step at a time. Let your rookie master a skill before moving on to the next challenge.

By not rushing the process, you increase the chances that the training materials will sink in. It will let you ladder the ideas, easing your recruits toward higher-level functions in the most efficient way possible.

Use Engaging Content

Training can be boring. An engaging education program will help your employees retain the information. It also creates a better experience for them, leading to improved job satisfaction.

In other words, don’t just think about the information you want to present. Consider how you want to present it. The right structure, with interesting and memorable training content, will lead to a more effective process.

Keep Records

Who has completed which training module? How long ago did it happen? What tasks are they qualified to perform?

Over time, the answers to these questions will fade from memory. The issue becomes even more important in large organizations or in companies with a sizable amount of turnover.

If you’re not careful, you can accidently assign an employee to a task they were never training to perform. In these circumstances, it’s a failure of the bureaucracy, not of the individual employee. Keep good records so you can avoid these mismatches.

Evaluate Progress

Each new recruit will progress through the training process at a different pace. Look for the strengths and weaknesses of each individual. Then, use constructive evaluations to give everyone the specific support they need.

Create an Ongoing Training Process

Training shouldn’t end after a new employee’s first few weeks at the company. It should continue throughout their tenure.

Refresher courses drive home key points. At the same time, policies and technology change over time. Keep your workers up to date with a comprehensive ongoing training program.

A great training program doesn’t do much good if you don’t have the right talent to start with. Team with a top recruiter, like SmartTalent, to find the perfect employees for your organization.

Contact SmartTalent today to optimize your team.