Employee training programs: benefits, costs, and implementation factors

Training for Better Performance

Company Executives

Training for enhanced Performance

Benefits and Costs for Implementing Training Programs: For the Employees

And the Company

Skilled employees are a treasure for an organization. Such an employee is efficient and independent. Trained employees require much less supervision compared to the ones that are untrained. Training boosts confidence among employees. Training programs are useful because they save on the costs that would be incurred by hiring new people. Training and development programs constitute some of the best investments that an organization can make. They provide an avenue for expanding the management teams (Siddiqui, 2014).

The computation for the total training cost for each employee for similar organizations it I important to consider the specific costs incurred by each. Here are the five most important factors of cost that need to be considered in the computation.

Development costs, i.e. equipment and salaries

ii. Participant compensation iii. Implementation cost, i.e. cost of materials, trainers and technology etc.

iv. Backfilling costs- lost productivity (Society for Human Resource Management, 2006).

Important factors to bear in mind while designing a training program for employees

Time Constraints

According to Goldberg (2013) time constraints in the programs are usually misconstrued as simply as the available hours of work in the design phase. Consequently, there is a tendency to play around the sessions by running classes after work or during the weekend.

Learning Group Sizes

Organizations should avoid large groups at a go. Large groups of trainees mean that there will be a higher demand for personalized attention. Some employees may raise genuine questions that need to be addressed at personalized level understand (Goldberg, 2013).

Specialization

It is better to split large groups into smaller units based on what they are to learn in relation to their job needs. Generalized office learning sessions should be avoided id some elements in the learning content are specific to only part of the group (Goldberg, 2013)..

Engagement

A diverse group, such as staffs, needs a departure from the traditional methods of learning. One of the options on the cards is to introduce play and games as a way of underscoring points of learning. The alternative is to pursue personal and direct interactions between people to facilitate learning on the job. Hands-on learning approaches prove more effective and assure positive reception at the practical visible level (Goldberg, 2013).

Incentives

When there is new information to be learned, try and reinforce the learning and give incentives for the same. It is good to acknowledge the effort that has been directed at learning new things. Make sure that such skill is granted more value by appropriate recognition (Goldberg, 2013).

Circumstances in Which Training is not transferable

i. Situations that render former trainings useless

ii. Shifts in the fall protection mechanisms or new equipment that renders all earlier training obsolete.

iii. Insufficient skill levels and knowledge among employees or use of fall protection mechanisms that suggest lack of skill in an employee

Effects of One Company Culture on the Training of another Company

Communication styles differ from company to company. For instance, while some organizations may encourage face-to-face interaction, others may use electronic communication as the primary form of interaction. There is a marked difference in the level of interaction among employees too. Newcomers have to learn about the preferred working style of the current company.

It is critical to learn how to use these approaches to enable new entrants deliver with ease. Constructive feedback may either be appreciated or looked down upon. It is therefore important to understand the orientations that such employees come with from other companies in order to retrain them where need be (Bawany, 2012).

Conclusion

Although training and development programs present a golden opportunity for growth, some employees find these programs expensive. Moreover, employees lose man hours while on training. This may delay the delivery of important projects they are working on. Despite these challenges, training and development programs is beneficial to the company and the individual in both short- and long-term. It is worth the investment.