How to optimize your employee training plan

After going through applicant screenings, interviews, and background checks, it’s time for new hire training. Training employees looks different for different employers based on their specific business goals. Still, it can be stressful for everyone involved—no matter the industry—if not done correctly during the hiring and onboarding process.

Even the most qualified candidates can take months to learn the ins and outs of the role, and that’s okay. It takes time for new team members to be fully comfortable in their learning and development journeys. It’s so important to reduce staff turnover and make the most of your employee training and development program.

It’s also important to maintain an effective employee training program for existing employees—especially in our quickly changing society. Did you make any changes to your operations or products due to the coronavirus pandemic? You’ll need to get your entire team up to speed and comfortable with the new information as quickly and effectively as possible.

Looking for ways to improve and adapt your employee development strategy? Here are a few helpful tips on how to implement an effective employee training method that will motivate your team to set themselves up for success.

Homebase can also help you in your employee training schedule by making your onboarding checklist a breeze. We automate your onboarding process by sending a user-friendly welcome packet to new employees so they can complete the paperwork before they start, freeing up even more time to train them on things that matter.

An online learning training platform can not only be extremely beneficial to a new staff member’s learning and development, but also to continue skills training for existing employees.

There are plenty of customizable job training courses and new employee training plan templates (also known as learning management systems) online of which you should take advantage. Here are a few options you can use for creating courses:

Talent LMS: With this tool you can customize training content, organize files, conduct tests, and even take surveys.

EdCast: EdCast is considered a “learning experience” platform that blends learning and communication by allowing managers and employees to share information throughout your organization.

SAP Litmos: You can use SAP Litmos to automate your training operations, use effective gamification tactics, and create customizable learning paths.

Even the best employees need a little time to fully understand the ins and outs of your business. Don’t overwhelm new hires by throwing everything at them at once—break down the big stuff into smaller, easy-to-consume pieces.

Assign employees a portion of the training content each week, and give them a weekly quiz based on what they learned. Once you have the scores, you can assess how much each team member has retained so far and go from there.

Since employees need as much time as possible to learn the ropes of your business, use Homebase to make the logistics of your onboarding process easy and efficient. Not only can you track all your applicants across all hiring sites in one place, but you can also message them, complete the necessary onboarding documents, store them securely, and get them as prepared as possible for their first day.

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Role-based training is more beneficial than any sort of instructor-led training, no matter your industry. It’s a great chance to pose unexpected customer questions your employees may face and helps them grow problem-solving skills needed for the job.

It also gives employees who prefer to learn from a hands-on perspective. Hold group or one-on-one role-play sessions with relevant scenarios like:

• A customer wants to return a product
• There is a long wait time for restaurant patrons
• Someone calls with a question about your COVID-19 policies

However, everyone learns in different ways. Make sure you’re creating a variety of materials and encouraging employees to choose the best path. If you have a fair amount of visual learners on your team, consider making a video using easy platforms like Adobe Spark or Typito.

The best way to figure out which learning style your employee prefers is to simply ask. Use the interview to ask so you can prepare ahead of time.

Speaking of interviews, Homebase hiring allows you to identify the best candidates with applicant screener questions, message applicants and schedule interviews, all in one spot.

It’s always a good idea to recognize a job well done, so set a few milestones as part of your program. These can include “three perfect scores in a row” or “new skill certification,” whatever you think is best. Call out employees who hit those milestones to the rest of your team to encourage others to do the same.

Recognition can be completed in the form of shoutouts in the Homebase app. You can give employees virtual badges based on what they did remarkably during a shift. In the case of milestone recognition, the “Above and Beyond” badge is perfect.

After you’ve implemented a few of these employee training strategies, ask your team for feedback. What would they like to see improved upon for the next round of training? What pieces of the process did they enjoy or feel were the most beneficial? Use their insight to improve your tactics when training employees in the future.

If you need help, Homebase can streamline your small business hiring and employee onboarding process. You can also use the Homebase team communication tool to gather feedback from your new employees and stay in touch.