Employee Training: The Ultimate Guide

Every business is unique in how they operate, what they do, and how they want things done on a daily basis. That’s what makes employee training so important to any business that wants to make sure their employees share the same values as the owners do. 

Employee training is necessary at every level, no matter the position. Oftentimes, it might be needed more than once as a company grows and evolves. As you can likely imagine, making sure your employee training is as effective as it is helpful to the employee is essential when finding success in this area. 

While the goal behind employee training will differ based on the position and employee in question, it will always boil down to that one specific goal. It could be to develop an employee’s skills, it could be to refresh them on new policies, or it could be to get a new hire situated with your company. 

Either way, you need to make sure your employee training works. It not only needs to give the employee everything they need to know when getting started with your business, but it also has to make them feel comfortable enough to not get nervous. It also has to include the rest of your staff as seamlessly as possible. 

It’s necessary for limiting mistakes when dealing with the inevitable turnover with employees, as well as increasing productivity from the start. Being more comfortable at work, your employees are more likely to stick around long-term and enjoy their job more. 

Learning how to train employees properly isn’t just necessary, it’s required in today’s business. Luckily, there’s a lot you can do to make the most of these situations. 

Are There Different Types of Employee Training?

Like we mentioned above, employee training is something that needs to be done several times to ensure employees remain on-pace with company standards. In other words, the training needed on Day 1 is different from the training needed once that employee has been around for several years. 

When training employees, there are three major types to consider -- onboarding, ongoing, and transitional. Let’s take a closer look at each one: 

1. Onboarding - this type of training is necessary for getting new hires up to speed about your company, how it does what it does, and what you expect out of them on a daily basis. Most onboarding models follow a combination of hands-on and in-class styles of learning.
2. Ongoing - where the previous training aimed at getting employees up to speed this type of training involves keeping your employees up to speed. It’s generally introduced anytime a company undergoes major changes to policy, but it could be as simple as re-doing the onboarding a second time.
3. Transitional - this type of training is reserved for employees that are being promoted or entering a new department. Since each department has different duties and responsibilities, you need to get your employee caught up in that specific department. 

The key here is making sure each employee receives the right training, the right amount of it, and at the right time to keep them as productive as possible. When you can find this balance, you’ll start to form that ‘A-team’ we all wish we had on a daily basis. 

Invest in your employees and they’ll reward you every time. 

How Often Should You Train Employees?

Most business owners expect employee training to occur once and then that’s it. In reality, it’s something you should do consistently and it’s something that you should improve each time you do it. Otherwise, you run the risk of having confused employees that aren’t effective as they could be. 

As we learned from the different types of employee training, it’s best to initiate this process anytime any major change is made to a company policy, anytime someone is hired, and anytime a promotion is handed out. 

Obviously, you won’t need to train everyone each time you train someone, but it’s best to ask yourself, “Who else on my team could benefit from this training?” If someone’s name comes to mind, it might be best to include them as well. 

How Much Does Employee Training Cost?

Employee training can cost anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars per employee, generally taking up anywhere from 5-70 hours per year per employee. Of course, this largely depends on the size of the company, industry, and position you’re training them for. 

While managing employee training is difficult without a budget, it’s best to not look at the budget as a concrete number. This is because your management might feel they need to spend everything in that budget, when not every month requires the same amount of training. 

Instead of treating it as a concrete number, try setting an average, an upper, and a lower margin for employee training each month. Operate under the impression that some months require a larger investment in this area than others. 

Focus your time on making sure the training is effective, rather than making sure you hit a certain amount of allotted hours when training. Keep in mind, the mistakes employees make from ineffective training costs more than the training it takes to limit those mistakes. 

How Can You Minimize Costs When Training Employees?

While there are a wide range of ways to manage, monitor, and initiate employee training, there’s nothing more effective than employee training software. It’s what’s new and exciting for businesses of all types and sizes. 

Here’s what your employee training software can do for your business: 

1. Keep your business’ knowledge and policies in one place for everyone to see.
2. Manage which content is viewable to which employees and departments, allowing you to keep it organized.
3. Gets your employees comfortable in their role at your company and keeps them on the right track to success.
4. Gain valuable insights and feedback about how well the training is working with your employees.
5. You’ll always have a clear idea of which employees know what information.
6. Effectively cut the costs of employee training.

What you’ll get is a more consistent, accurate, and effective process from start to finish. Your employees will benefit from it, the rest of your team benefits from it, and most of all your business benefits from it. 

Properly Tracking Employee Training at Your Business

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make with employee training is not monitoring and tracking how well it’s working. Your software makes this easy, but it’s up to the business owner to make use of it. 

At any which time, you should have a clear idea of who went through what program, any feedback that employee had for that program, and how you can improve the program moving forward. 

The best thing you can do for your employees once you see they completed a program is to hold them accountable for not only retaining that information, but using it in the field. When you notice something isn’t getting across, hold them accountable and see what you can do to better the situation in the future. 

If you need assistance picking out the right employee training software for your company, don’t hesitate to reach out to Consultants In-A-Box. We’re ready to provide you with the advice and guidance to make the right decisions for you, your employees, your customers, and your business as a whole.

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