Companies that do have on-the-job training directly benefit the employer. No one would doubt that a well-trained employee who has both technical and a general idea of where your business is going, will result from int increased productivity, higher motivation and company’s growth.
In a nutshell, by implementing a quality employee on the job training program you will:
1. Make employees happier. The sense of purpose that should come along with the training program will make your employees more engaged. The data is clear, happy employees are 30 percent more excited about their work. Stark contrast with only 14 percent of those who get no training, isn’t it?
2. Grow employees from within your organization. The on-the-job training programs increase employee retention. Employees that stay and engaged will share their knowledge with each other and boost their skill set. It pays off big time when you need to hire a manager in the future because you will be able to pick someone from someone you already know rather than bringing a new person from outside.
3. You build flexibility into the organizational structure. If an employee went through a well organized on-the-job training program, he will be able to sub someone who is sick or left the company. This provides organization flexibility and increases productivity.
What if you are a small company that has very little resources, do you also need to organize on-the-job training program? And the answer is yes, you do. The least you can do is to assign a mentor to a new employee who will share her experiences at work and explain how to use necessary tools.
Do not wait until the chaos emerges at your workplace! Start planning on-the-job training program right now.
Planning a successful on-the-job training program will benefit your organization in the future in a big way. The first step is to break the program into logical steps. The ADDIES method is helpful when starting a training program where it did not exist before. What are the steps?
• Assessment: What do new employees must know and be able to do in order to be competent at their jobs?
• Design: how will you organize your on-the-job training program?
• Development: What are the tools, materials, and techniques will your program use?
• Evaluation: how will you measure the progress both on the end of the program and a trainee?
This method is flexible and will provide you will be useful not only for new employees but also for leaders in your organization because it will help to think through employee onboarding and analyze the effectiveness of existing processes.
The ADDIE method is flexible, essentially asking that you consider what you need and want for your specific business, and then design and measure accordingly.
Assessment, the first component of ADDIE, is a particularly important part of successfully creating a training program. You will be answering questions such as:
• What do your employees need to know?
• What do your employees already know?
• How do your employees learn best?
• What do I need from my employees?
• What do my employees expect?
• What kind of training meets all of these needs?
• Do I have qualified people to do the training?
Know what you want over the long-term.
Part of the assessment is understanding what you want, starting with your larger business goals. Once you’ve defined what success is in this regard, you are able to understand what goals you need to set to get you there.