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Over 60 percent of people plan to leave their jobs in the next few months according to a survey by TalentLyft. Yet, over 90 percent of those surveyed said they’d stay longer if there were an investment in their learning and development.
The reality is that if you want to get more from your employees, it’s vital to build an employee training program.
Should employees be responsible for their own learning and development?
Yes and no.
You want to have employees who find value in pursuing education and increase their competitiveness in the job market. These are individuals who are dedicated to lifelong learning.
They’ll make it a personal goal to get better at their jobs. However, organizations should assume responsibility to upskill and reskill employees.
The good news is if you focus on hiring employees that are committed to learning, you can be sure they’ll participate in the employee training you offer. In turn, you’ll directly benefit from their advanced training.
What is an employee training plan?
An employee training plan is a process of teaching new employees the policies and procedures at your organization. It can be an essential part of the onboarding process for new hires.
Employee training plans can also help employees develop new skills and abilities. The goal is to improve employee performance on the job and enhance employee growth and development.
Why is employee training important?
There are many reasons why organizations undertake employee training. Some of the most common reasons include:
Retention - Employee turnover can be expensive. To reduce the cost of continually rehiring employees, it’s key to develop retention strategies to prevent staff from leaving so often. Employee training plans focus on the professional growth of your team, which was identified as one of the most important workplace policies. This demonstrates to your workers that you care about their development and that you offer opportunities to learn new skills. It cultivates loyalty in your employees and reduces the likelihood they’ll leave anytime soon.
Productivity - Employee training plans can improve performance and productivity. This, in turn, can boost company revenue and reduce loss. One study found that companies can see a 24 percent increase in productivity when engaging in employee training initiatives. Moreover, organizations can’t remain competitive if they don’t continually train and retain their workforce.
Reputation - Another tactic to reduce turnover is by attracting high-quality talent. You can do that if you build a strong reputation for your organization. Companies won’t be able to attract talent without training programs or learning stipends. It’s a key differentiator for employers.
How do I create a training plan for my employees?
Creating an employee training plan isn’t as difficult as you may think. Here are the steps you can take to develop a plan for your organization.
Start with your workforce planning objectives
Always begin by defining your goals for your employee training plan. What is it you’re looking to accomplish with your employees? You’ll also need to determine how to measure the objectives of your training program. How will you know you’re successful? For example, if you’re looking to reduce your turnover rate, what are the key performance indicators you’ll need to measure to see if you’ve accomplished that goal?
What skills are needed
Assess what skills your workplace needs and where there may be a shortage. One way to do this is to do a skills gap analysis. In other words, decide what skills will make you competitive in your industry and for the future. Those will be crucial to your employee training plan.
Collect and include employee insight in training
Engage your employees by asking them what training they’d like to have. Is there a skill that they would like to learn? Including your staff’s input into your employee training plan can make it more successful as they’ll feel partially responsible for the plan.
Create individual employee development plans
Building individual employee development plans allow your staff to take more control over their learning. It can be an ideal way to help employees who need training on specific skills, particularly if most of your staff already possess these skills. Individualized plans are the best fit for onboarding.
Execute a learning journey
Once you’ve established objectives for your employee training plans and designed individual development plans, you’re ready to get your employees going on their learning journeys. Let your employees know what they can expect and what is expected of them. For example, if you’re using online training methods, provide each employee with the login information and any other resources they need to get started.
Make it collaborative
Consider adding in some peer learning opportunities to build connections among your teams. Often, employees will ask each other when they have questions at work. So, it makes sense to use that in your employee training plan. Peer-to-peer learning helps employees develop their leadership skills. It also builds a stronger, more collaborative team.
Measure and improve
Like with any workplace initiative, it’s important to track and measure your progress towards the program objectives. Remember to regularly check your KPIs to see if you’re getting the results you want to see. It can also be helpful to ask employees for their feedback on the experience. If you’re finding that you're not moving towards your goals, work out what’s lacking in the plan and make adjustments.
Employee training needs mentorship
Employee training plans can have significant benefits for your organization and your staff. However, it’s important to remember that much of our learning comes from collaborating with others. The 70-20-10 framework shows that 70 percent of what we learn is done socially.
Solitary learning isn’t as engaging. Employees need to connect and collaborate with one another to meaningfully improve their performance. This can happen in a number of ways, including mentorships.
A workplace mentorship program can be as unique as your organization. Whether you decide to initiate traditional one-on-one mentorship, peering mentoring, or group mentoring, (there are many types of mentorship programs) mentorships are an essential component in an employee training plan.
Together’s mission is to help every employee find and learn from peers, mentors, or experts at their company. By starting internal mentorship or peer learning programs, employees accelerate their growth and development. And it’s much more effective than individualized learning.
Find out how to incorporate mentoring into your employee training plans with mentorship software.
