In today’s knowledge economy, you need well-trained workers to leverage
your bottom line. Training can be either technically or emotionally based.
Although it’s relatively easy to provide technical instruction through written
or computer-based resources, emotional training often requires people to
communicate with each other directly, often in conjunction with online
training.
To develop and maintain effective training programs, we recommend these
guidelines:
1. Create
a training system. Commit to training as a process, rather than an
event. Set clear standards for your hard and soft skill-set needs. Create a
strategic plan, budget, and schedule.
2. Provide
the right tools. Not all training resources are created equal. You want to examine the
user experience of the training platform (Learning Management System) as well
as the content available.
3. Follow
up. If one-time training worked, you could ride a bike after reading a single
book on bicycling. Provide a continuing process to help employees incorporate
what they learn during the training experience.
4. Offer
incentives. Give your employees rewards or payoffs for their participation in training
programs. These incentives can be either financial or non-monetary perks
(dinners, entertainment tickets, and so forth). Reward and reinforce the
learning experience so that the employee wants to repeat it.
5. Leverage
training. Whenever an employee gains a valuable insight during a training session,
encourage them to share this information with co-workers who it might affect.
Multiply the impact of training by having workers immediately use what they’ve
learned to help the company run more effectively.
6. Know who pays. It can be hard
to determine whether a worker or their company should pick up the tab for
third-party employee training. Here are some brief pointers on the legal
obligations involved:
•
An employer must compensate for mandatory training
time unless it’s directly related to professional licensing;
•
Time spent on voluntary training is not compensable if
it’s outside normal working hours and not directly related to the employee’s
job. For example, training a programmer on using a current application is
compensable; paying for an MBA program so the employee can become a future
manager is not;
•
Training that directly benefits an employer is always
compensable. For example, new-hire training on welding procedures on an object
eventually purchased by a client is compensable; voluntary welding training
that results in no end product is not.
•
Training expenses can be reimbursed on a pro-rata
basis if an employee agrees to do so beforehand and leaves the company a short
time afterwards. So, if the employee goes through a year-long training program
that costs the company $10,000 and they take another job a month later, it’s
appropriate to demand reimbursement for most, if not all, of this expense;
•
An employer that operates a for-fee training program
cannot use completion of the program as a condition of hire.
7. Sell it to all stakeholders. Know that you have
a sales job to do so that you have the full support of executives, managers and
employees. This means you must show the benefit to each group that exceeds the
value of the time and money commitment.
There you have it. The basic, yet powerful, formula for training success!
Don Phin, Esq. is VP of Strategic Business Solutions at ThinkHR, which
helps companies resolve urgent workforce issues, mitigate risk and ensure HR
compliance. Phin has more than three decades of experience as an HR expert,
published author and speaker, and spent 17 years in employment practices
litigation. For more information, visit www.ThinkHR.com.