Getting Employee Training Right — Here's What I Learned [+Business Leader Insights]

Download Now: Free Sales Plan Template
Swetha Amaresan
Swetha Amaresan

Updated:

Published:

I’ve experienced both — thorough employee training and being thrown directly into the fire. Guess which one went over better?

woman participates in employee training online

It’s easy to claim new hires can learn on the job. It’s also easy to forego continued learning and growth opportunities for current employees. However, a SurveyMonkey study found that only approximately half of respondents think their employer provides the right quantity of training.

So, why is employee training so essential? And what can companies do to provide more skills and knowledge training to enhance employee development? Keep reading to learn more.

Download Now: Free Employee Handbook Template

Table of Contents

What is employee training?

Employee training is an ongoing learning process designed to increase employee’s preparation, skills, and knowledge for a role. That can be a gig at a new company, a promotion into a new role, or a refresher for a job you already have.

Many companies assign employee training specifically for new hires to get up to speed. Still, top companies schedule regular training sessions for existing employees. That helps teams remain updated on industry and process changes, as well as important legal policies.

Free Business Plan Template

The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

  • Outline your idea.
  • Pitch to investors.
  • Secure funding.
  • Get to work!

    Download Free

    All fields are required.

    You're all set!

    Click this link to access this resource at any time.

    5 Benefits of Employee Training

    There are endless benefits to employee training for both the overall company and the employees themselves.

    employee training benefits

    1. Improved Performance

    My main worry when starting a new job is that I won’t catch up quickly enough. I want to ensure my job performance aligns with my manager’s and team’s expectations.

    Employee training can start new hires off on the right foot by ensuring they learn the ins and outs of the new role. While I believe the best way to learn new processes is by practicing them and making mistakes, employees must have a good foundation on what they need to do before diving in.

    This is equally important for existing employees. Of survey respondents, 59% say employee training improves their overall job performance. So, take it from real employees who benefit from continuous training and not just their employers.

    2. Increased Productivity

    It’s easy to do things the way I’ve always done them. However, how I handle a certain process may not necessarily be the most efficient way of doing it.

    For instance, I used to take notes by hand in a notebook. After meetings, I would transcribe the notes onto my laptop, check for grammar and spelling errors, and then email them to the meeting invite.

    An employee training session taught me a much more efficient process that involves taking meeting minutes in a live Google document. This way, team members can immediately access the information, and I can eliminate several steps.

    This allows me to reprioritize more of my time to other tasks, increasing my productivity. That’s true for many people — 41% of survey respondents claim employee training helps their time-management skills.

    3. Strengthened Employee Retention

    Promotions and raises aren’t typically available every single year. So, what can companies do to show they are still invested in their employees’ growth?

    According to the 2024 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report, 90% of organizations are worried about employee retention, and offering learning and growth opportunities is the top strategy for combating employee turnover.

    When my company offers employee training, I see it as a sign that they care about keeping me around. They want to improve my job performance, industry knowledge, and leadership skills, which all help me grow into someone prepared for the next title.

    4. Reduced Supervision Needs

    As a newer hire at a former internship, I dreaded how often I needed to ping my manager for help. “Where do I find this document?” “How do I respond to this email?” “Did I do this brief correctly?” I felt bad bothering her with each question.

    While she naturally didn’t mind helping me, thorough employee training would have better prepared me for the new role and helped me be a more independent team member. After all, employee training benefits more than the person who completes it; it also aids the larger team, who can then focus on their own tasks instead of assisting the new hire.

    5. A Boosted Company Reputation

    As I’ve mentioned, knowing that my company invests money in learning opportunities for its workforce shows me that it’s a place worth staying. Similarly, this same messaging can be effective externally.

    One of my favorite questions to ask interviewers is, “How do you support learning opportunities for employees?” I think it says a lot about a company when it’s willing to put in that extra work.

    After all, 92% of applicants will choose a company with learning and development opportunities over a company that doesn’t offer any. Talent investment builds a positive reputation, which helps attract new talent eager to be somewhere that values their growth.

    5 Barriers to Great Employee Training

    employee training barriers

    There are two sides to every coin. While there are many benefits to training employees, there are also some challenges. Here are some hurdles you’ll need to clear to perfect your employee training.

    1. Lack of Time

    I often feel that there aren’t enough hours in the day to get my work done. So, how am I supposed to clear out time for training? Many employees may feel similarly. So, employee training falls to the wayside when they have urgent deadlines to meet.

    How to Overcome This

    • Accommodate schedules with multiple sessions of each training at various times and days of the week. Some people may prefer to take trainings during the workday, while others may prefer focusing on it after working hours.
    • Rather than hours-long training sessions, break them into digestible 30-60-minute chunks that feel more attainable.
    • Offer online trainings whenever possible.
    • Declare training session times to be meeting-free to combat scheduling conflicts.

    2. Employee Disinterest

    I’m the first to admit I have zoned out during one or two training sessions. Typically, the subject matter is interesting, but the delivery is underwhelming. Other times, I’m distracted by commitments that pull me away.

    How to Overcome This

    • Make training sessions interactive with Q&As, quizzes, and discussions.
    • Clearly define the goal of each training session to help employees understand how important it is to pay attention.
    • Incorporate a social aspect to the trainings, such as networking sessions, happy hours, or an offsite that encourages participation.

    3. High Expense

    According to the 2023 Training Industry Report, companies spent an average of $954 per learner in 2023 compared to $1,207 in 2022. Small ($1,420) and midsize ($751) companies spent more per person than large corporations ($481).

    These numbers are already high before factoring in the dozens, hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of employees you may have.

    How to Overcome This

    • Invest in a Learning Management System (LMS) like Absorb LMS, Moodle, or LinkedIn Learning, which helps reduce costs by utilizing a flexible, centralized learning software.
    • Limit trainings to the highest-priority needs and build an infrequent yet effective cadence, such as bi-annually.

    Free Business Plan Template

    The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

    • Outline your idea.
    • Pitch to investors.
    • Secure funding.
    • Get to work!

      Download Free

      All fields are required.

      You're all set!

      Click this link to access this resource at any time.

      4. Lack of Retention or Results

      As a marketing professional, I know the importance of tracking results. Our creative, strategic work only matters if we have research and data to back up our decisions. Similarly, companies should want to ensure training sessions are actually effective.

      One fear is that information will go in one ear and out the other. There is a lot of trust placed on employees to retain the knowledge they’ve gained. In addition, even if employees do retain what they’ve learned and apply it, companies need to be able to measure if the changes provide value.

      How to Overcome This

      • Send surveys to gauge what employees learned from the training and if they felt it was necessary.
      • Use analytics tools to track progress. Many LMS platforms include built-in analytics capabilities, but you can also invest in a tool that specializes in learning, such as IntelliBoard.

      5. Lack of Retention

      As mentioned, attention spans can be short during training sessions. However, even when employees do pay attention and want to learn, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will retain all the information.

      According to Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve, people forget 50% of all new information within a day and 90% within a week. These numbers are shocking but accurate, as the study was more recently replicated in 2015 and came up with similar results.

      How to Overcome This

      • Help employees apply what they’ve learned hands-on to increase retention.
      • Offer continuous refresher courses to keep new skills fresh.
      • Present information in various formats. Rather than a series of wordy slides, incorporate some images, videos, and graphs.

      10 Types of Employee Training

      employee training types

      1. New Employee Orientation

      Most employees get a crash course on their new company when they begin a role. I underwent a three-day orientation when I started at Paramount with other new hires across departments.

      What’s Included

      • HR team introductions
      • Company overview and history
      • Basic legal policies and employee rights via employee handbook

      2. New Employee Onboarding

      After orientation, I understood the overall company purpose, goals, and vision, but I still needed a deeper dive into my specific team’s functions and responsibilities. That’s what onboarding training is for.

      What’s Included

      • Job-specific training with manager and other colleagues
      • Set up and crash courses on any programs and tools required
      • Shadowing a manager or colleague to understand the day-to-day
      • Overall expectations as a member of the team, such as sales goals

      3. Soft Skills Training

      Soft skills are various interpersonal skills that support collaboration with team members. While these may seem intrinsic, soft skills should be developed and nurtured. I struggled with time management and prioritization, but employee training courses helped me develop new strategies to improve these skills.

      What’s Included

      • Collaboration and working as a team
      • Leadership for people managers and individual collaborators
      • Receiving and providing feedback
      • Emotional intelligence through communication and active listening
      • Prioritization, productivity, and problem-solving
      • Improving work ethic and growth mindset

      4. Technical Skills Training

      For technical roles, such as software engineers, it is beneficial to undergo more in-depth training beyond new employee onboarding to ensure a full grasp of all programs you’ll need to use.

      What’s Included

      • New software
      • Machine operation
      • Role-specific skills, such as a new form of coding

      5. Product or Service Training

      If you work for a brand that sells a product or service, it’s imperative to understand what it is and how to use it. Since I work for an intangible product, television series and movies, I don’t undergo this specific training. However, it’s especially important at retail and software companies.

      What’s Included

      • Detailed guidance on the features, benefits, and shortcomings of the product or service
      • Use cases and target audience

      6. Compliance Training

      My least favorite (but arguably, the most important) kind of training is compliance training. My company conducts these annually or bi-annually to ensure employees are updated with any new policies and that the information remains ever-present.

      What’s Included

      • Sexual harassment: how to identify, avoid, and report it
      • Anti-harassment: ensuring a safe space for all employees
      • Privacy: protecting confidential information and avoiding illegal practices

      7. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training

      As a woman of color, I believe in promoting a workplace with diverse people, minds, and ideas. Many companies turn this into formal training to turn these ideals into active goals.

      What’s Included

      • Implicit bias: what it is and how to override it in the workplace
      • Cultural competence
      • DEI in hiring

      8. Health and Safety Training

      Paramount conducts bi-annual, in-person health and safety training with the building security. We work in a skyscraper, so understanding what to do in the case of a health, fire, or other security emergency is vital, especially if you work on the 40th floor, like me.

      What’s Included

      • General health procedures: where to find first aid kits and the nurse
      • Fire safety procedures: how to identify a fire, find the exit stairwell, and declare your safety to security
      • Intruder or other emergency procedures: what steps to take during this emergency, how to alert authorities, and where the company offsite meeting location is

      9. Crossfunctional Training

      I’m a member of my company’s Culture Committee, and we began a series of crossfunctional trainings. Every month, a different team is spotlighted and puts together a presentation that teaches other teams more about what they do day-to-day, helping grow a better bird’s-eye view of how the company functions.

      What’s Included

      • High-level or specific overview of a team’s functions, team members, goals, and current projects
      • How the team interacts with other teams at the company

      10. Continuing Professional Development

      CPD is ongoing training employees undergo to maintain and develop their knowledge, skills, certifications, and capabilities within an industry or field. This is the training mainly discussed in this post thus far, which can be a perk for employees when accepting a new role.

      What’s Included

      • Professional, in-person workshops, seminars, and conferences in which you learn from one or more industry speakers
      • Online courses through an LMS, which can include knowledge quizzes and offer certifications

      Free Business Plan Template

      The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

      • Outline your idea.
      • Pitch to investors.
      • Secure funding.
      • Get to work!

        Download Free

        All fields are required.

        You're all set!

        Click this link to access this resource at any time.

        Employee Training Best Practices From Business Leaders

        employee training tips

        1. Set new hires up for success with strong orientation and onboarding processes.

        Shri Ganeshram, managing partner and founder of Fresh VC, says, “Common pitfalls [in orientation] include not providing clear expectations or direction, not introducing the new hire to their team or colleagues, and not making them feel welcomed or valued.”

        Orientation is a vital part of the employee process. It can genuinely make or break a new hire’s experience at a company. A comprehensive orientation reveals a dedication to the employee’s learning, understanding, and nurturing as a member of the community.

        On the other hand, there is also a problem with doing too much in either orientation or onboarding. “Information overload happened to be our deadliest onboarding mistake,” said Ketan Kapoor, co-founder and CEO of Ripplelabs.

        I was fortunate that, at Paramount, I wasn’t bogged down with lengthy pages of documents to read and sign or an abundance of work from day one. Instead, I was eased into my new role, slowly learning about the company and my team with time to ask questions.

        Pro tip: Provide new hires with a customized business training plan highlighting training objectives and topics, objectives, and deadlines. This gives them a look at what they should accomplish within their first few weeks or months with a clear program to get there.

        2. Consider various learning styles.

        The VARK model refers to four distinct learning styles:

        • Visual. These learners benefit from visualizing information through images, videos, charts, or graphs.
        • Auditory. These learners benefit from hearing information through lectures, group discussions, podcasts, or reading aloud.
        • Reading/writing. These learners benefit from learning information in written form, either through reading texts, reports, and essays or by taking notes.
        • Kinesthetic. These learners benefit from hands-on learning experiences, such as functional practice, simulations, or role-playing.

        I’m primarily a visual learner, so I benefit from seeing visuals. When recalling information from memory, I often picture related images or the text exactly where I read it on a page. Therefore, when employee training is strictly audio, I struggle to retain information as I have nothing to envision.

        Accommodating various learning styles within a singular training will ensure a higher probability of memory and information retention, reducing the need for multiple refresher courses.

        Pro tip: It’s fairly simple to incorporate all four learning styles into one employee training.

        For instance, if I were planning a DEI training, I would include videos showing an example scenario that resulted in a DEI violation. The video would be accompanied by dialogue and accompanying subtitles. Following the video, I would write out the four mistakes made and then ask learners to consider how they would have handled the situation differently.

        3. Support ongoing learning over perfection.

        Christopher Lind, former chief learning officer at ChenMed, says, “Rather than striving for perfection, gather enough to form a strong opinion on where you can start taking action, but set expectations this will be a continual process of iterations.”

        Employee training should always be a continuous process of knowledge gain and self-improvement. It should always be framed as tools employees can use to further their skills and awareness in the workplace, not as an end-all-be-all crash course.

        To further our DEI training, my company promotes an annual Inclusion Week, five days of seminars, workshops, and conversations surrounding all facets of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This is held yearly to coincide with current events and new learnings in this area.

        Pro tip: Help employees take ongoing learning into their own hands by implementing mentorship and buddy system programs. This provides a support system outside of one’s team, encourages a constant flow of information and advice from various perspectives, and contributes to crossfunctional training efforts.

        4. Understand areas of need and employee expectations.

        Time is precious, so it’s a waste of time when companies create employee training courses in areas that don’t require improvement. Of course, some topics are non-negotiable (such as anti-harassment training), but skills-based training should be based on the company’s industry and employee needs.

        I recommend sending out regular surveys to employees asking for feedback on recent employee trainings and on what they would like to see in the future. Offer opportunities for the types of training mentioned above, such as soft skills, technical skills, and product or service trainings.

        Use these surveys to judge the success of past trainings and to help define future ones.

        • Did employees enjoy the subject matter?
        • Did they feel the training style was effective?
        • Are they infusing learned information in their day-to-day?
        • Would they like refresher courses on the same content or something new?

        Pro tip: Companies can conduct needs assessments to identify skills gaps. For instance, a technical team that prioritizes independent work may excel in their hard skills but require fine-tuning soft skills, such as teamwork, leadership, and emotional intelligence.

        Ignite the Spirit of Learning

        This quote by Henry Ford has always resonated with me: “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who stays learning stays young.” I will never stop being curious and eager to expand my mind because the alternative is assuming I know everything I will ever need to know — which, at 27, is hardly true.

        Employee training is important because we spend most of our time at work. It’s a trade or field we’ve dedicated our lives to pursuing, so it makes sense to feel an urge to continuously improve and stay current.

        This post taught me that the power of learning is in my hands. While I’ve always jumped at opportunities handed to me by my employer, I know I can also take control by sharing topics of interest. Don’t ask, don’t get — so if you’re eager to broaden your knowledge on a subject through employee training, speak up!

        Free Business Plan Template

        The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

        • Outline your idea.
        • Pitch to investors.
        • Secure funding.
        • Get to work!

          Download Free

          All fields are required.

          You're all set!

          Click this link to access this resource at any time.

          Related Articles

          Outline your company's sales strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

            Powerful and easy-to-use sales software that drives productivity, enables customer connection, and supports growing sales orgs

            START FREE OR GET A DEMO