3 Tips to Design Effective Employee Training Programs

According to the BLS, organizations with 100-500 employees only provide an average of 6 minutes of training per employee every 6 months. 

That number is shockingly low, especially when you consider that employees care about training and that training is linked to profitability. In fact, one study found that companies that invested in comprehensive training saw 218 percent higher income per employee than companies who didn’t invest in this kind of training. 

And, 74 percent of employees feel like they aren’t achieving their full potential at work because they weren’t being properly trained. 

Clearly, employee training matters a lot. 

But, how do you ensure that your employee training program is effective? Check out this guide to learn how to develop effective employee training programs. 

1. Figure Out What You Need to Teach 

First things first, you need to figure out what you need to teach. 

Typically, this will fall into three categories:

  • Skills that current employees have and that new hires need to learn
  • Skills that your workforce must gain in order to improve existing workflow
  • Skills that employees need in order to support a new product that’s coming to market

Typically, new employee training caters to the first category, whereas regular employee training covers the second and third categories. 

Also, don’t just try to guess at what your employees’ needs are. Instead, you should speak with company decision-makers to create a program that’s aligned with the company’s goals. You should also speak with current employees to learn about their current skills and training needs. 

2. Take Inventory of Training Resources  

In addition to the input of employees and higher-ups, you also need to know what resources are available to train your employees, what your budget is, and how much support you’ll get when developing your program. 

Here’s a checklist you can use:

  • Find out if there are existing training materials you can reuse
  • Are there commercial courses available to cover some aspects of training?
  • Are there free online resources you can use to help with training?
  • Does your budget allow you to hire training experts?

In order to properly organize an employee training program, you’ll need to be able to answer these questions. 

3. Write Down the Plan 

After you know what resources you have available, it’s time to write down your employee training plan. 

But, don’t just jot down a quick description and call it a day. Your plan needs to be incredibly detailed and should include the following:

  • A detailed breakdown of every aspect of the curriculum
  • The content creation tools that you’ll need
  • The instructors or experts you’ll need to hire
  • What training spaces you’ll need
  • What training software you’ll need
  • A general schedule for the training program
  • What e-learning games in employee training you want to use  

Are You Ready to Develop Awesome Employee Training Programs? 

By following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to developing awesome employee training programs. Also, don’t forget to gather feedback from your employees about ways your training programs can be improved. 

And, be sure to check back in with our blog for more business-related tips and tricks.