Training and development is a critical Human Resources (HR) function as, today, many organizations are creating mandatory training programs for their employees. In fact, according to a recent survey, almost 40% of HR professionals now consider employee training and development to be their greatest staffing concern.
In today’s workplace, employees must develop the right knowledge, experience, and skills to function productively and it is typically the HR department that takes the lead in ensuring training and development opportunities are available to both support employee growth and help drive the overall goals of the organization.
The Benefits of HR Training and Development
Today’s employees are always looking for opportunities to build new skills in order to improve their job performance and increase their potential for advancement. Ongoing education is valued by almost all employees, regardless of age, as it is key to remaining relevant in the job market. And in providing ongoing training opportunities, your organization demonstrates a commitment to the growth of your workers, who are then likely to show greater loyalty to your company. Finally, opportunities for ongoing training can serve as an important asset as part of your company’s compensation program. But unlike many other perks, ongoing training and development can be offered at minimal cost to you.
Examples of Training and Development Programs
As companies continue to explore and invest in ongoing training and development programs, many have found that they build the greatest value and return from the program by segmenting it into various areas of focus, depending on the employee’s length of employment at the organization, their job role, and the development goals.
Some of the most common training and development programs include:
New Employee Orientation
Orientation is among the most common training programs. This is a one-time event in which the new employee is formally welcomed and introduced to your company, typically within their first week on the job. This training tends to be broad enough in scope so that it is relevant to all new employees, regardless of their department, role, or location.
Employee Onboarding
While many people assume that Orientation and Onboarding are the same thing, they are actually different types of employee trainings. Unlike Orientation (which is very general and applicable to all new employees), Onboarding training provides a sequence of department-specific sessions that are delivered over some period of time. Onboarding is developed with the goal of training new for success with their new department and job role.
Technical Skills Development
Given today’s technological advancements in the workplace, every employee, regardless of their current technical knowledge and expertise, can benefit from training programs that are designed to introduce them to new systems and practices. Technical skills (often referred to as ‘hard skills’) include such things as coding, programming, social media management, data analysis, and content writing.
Soft Skills Training
Soft skills refer to those personal attributes that allow employees to create effective interactions and contribute to a harmonious workplace. The demand for Soft Skills development has increased in recent years as studies have exposed the fact that a gap in basic soft skills among employees can increase employee turnover rates and negatively impact company success.
Compliance Training
Depending on the industry in which your company operates, you may need to train your employees on the regulatory and compliance aspects of their job roles. This is especially true for companies from the healthcare and financial services sectors as they can put themselves at great risk in not properly training their employees to operate within regulatory guidelines.
Product and Services Training
While you may want all of your employees to have an understanding of the products and services your company offers, this type of training is critical for your employees who work in sales, marketing, and customer service.
eLearning for HR Training and Development
As online technologies have continued to evolve, more companies are now looking to online learning or ‘eLearning’ as the cornerstone of their HR training and development programs. If your company is considering the use of eLearning technologies for your training and development initiatives, here are some of the benefits you can expect.
Cost-Effectiveness
eLearning can usually be deployed at a fraction of the cost of in-person, classroom-based training as it reduces (or in some cases, eliminates) expenses such as travel, instructor and venue fees, meals, and the costs of distributing printed materials. And eLearning can eliminate lost productivity costs as it slows your employees to conduct their training activities during work breaks or after hours.
Self-Paced
One of the unfortunate challenges of classroom-based training is that all of the students must try to keep up with the teaching pace set by the instructor. With eLearning, on the other hand, students can work at their own pace and can even revisit important or difficult materials multiple times before moving on to the next section.
Convenience
eLearning allows your students to learn at any time and from any place that is convenient for them. All that is required is Internet access (and in fact, some eLearning activities can even be accomplished offline). This level of convenience can allow for a more productive experience for your students, as well as for your instructors and program administrators.
Communication and Collaboration
Many eLearning platforms now offer tools that enable online communications among students or between students and instructors. These tools help to support a robust learning experience and can streamline the user feedback process.
Measurement
eLearning makes it easy to collect important data regarding the success and engagement of your students. The analysis of this data can be extremely valuable as you revise, expand, and seek to improve your training and development program over time.
LMS Portals for HR Training and Development
LMS Portals offers a cloud-based platform for HR training and development on your own branded eLearning portal. Using our system, our clients are able to easily develop and deliver HR training and development programs and leverage complementary tools for online communication, collaboration, success measurement, and more.
Contact us to discuss running your HR Training and Development
on your own branded portal.