Hiring good people for your organization is a challenge, but training is an even greater endeavor.  When a new person comes on board they have to learn your culture, processes and procedures and software.  Culture is fairly easy because much of the culture, unlike anything else, can be picked up by osmosis.  Everything else has to be taught and learned. This is especially true for the staffing software your organization uses.

Training is For Everybody

It is important to keep in mind that training is not only for new people.  Refresher training for long-term employees enforces processes that were taught years ago and allows for new processes to be filtered into the environment.  Fresh approaches can significantly contribute to the long-term success of a company.  Companies must be careful not to get into “we’ve always done it this way mode”.  Our world changes daily and every company must be prepared to deal with new trends and developments.  Those that do not will ultimately fail.

Training is Important for Every Team Member

When we hire, we want to get new people up and going as soon as possible, so we often skimp on training.  For long-term employees, no one ever has time to create new processes much less do refresher training for reinforcement.  This approach hurts companies nationally every day.   Companies would be so much more successful if they took a step back to assess and take action through proper learning.  Crash courses are exactly that.  They get you through so that you can proceed but things are never quite right.

Lack of Training Leads to Frustration

At ABD, we see desperate people trying to get their jobs done, but are frustrated because no one really trained them on how to use the staffing software.  They came in new, and someone that was leaving showed them a few things to get by.  We find some people doing things manually that are available at the press of a button.  Lack of training is extremely costly.  Besides unnecessary manual labor, there are countless costly mistakes that need to be corrected.  This is not to mention the time element.  Labor is expensive so employees need to be as productive as possible on the job.

Training is a nationally serious issue.  This is true in all industries.  People are semi-trained by people who are leaving the company or by their cubicle partner.  Both are inadequate means of training.  Training should be done by a training professional.  This can be a designated internal trainer or an outside professional.  It is important to teach people how to use the tools that they require to get their jobs done.  It is an investment in the people that will carry the company to success.

How Do Companies Keep Their Employees Trained? 

The majority of training falls shy of ongoing training of new employees that were not at the company when everyone else was trained.  When you have a non-professional person training, they will usually teach a few tricks of the trade to get the new person started on the company’s staffing software.  One cannot expect that the quality and material level covered will be as if the employee were professionally trained.  In other words, there will be a lot skipped.  Imagine what happens when the new employee trains another new employee and so forth.  Yet, this is typical.

Training is an Ongoing Process

Another area of interest is training of existing employees on extended features or reinforcement of original training.  When one sits in a training class on for example new software, there is a lot thrown at the individual.  Even with the strictest attention, statistics show that only 40 to 60% of what was learned will be absorbed.  

Simply put, there is a lot that the student will not remember.   They may figure out some of these items while on the job, but others will be lost.  This is why training for extended features and/or advanced classes is highly recommended.  In addition, after using the system for a while, the employee can ask more intelligent questions.  Usually, in the initial class, they are not sure what to ask.  After an advanced class, to reinforce and learn new extended features, employees always come away more productive and can add more value to the organization.

Training Is An Investment In The Company  

By training employees how to use the staffing software , an organization will be more productive, adjust to new trends and business environmental issues and perhaps be able to promote long-term employee retention.  Training is a win-win.  Employees enjoy learning new things to help them do their job better.  It is also a statement that the company supports the employee and wants the employee to succeed.  True, training is an expense, but it has been proven that it greatly offsets the cost of poor training.  Training can make a difference.

Training Must be Planned

I could also get rich on nickels from, “Someday we are going to come up for more training, but now we’re too busy.”  The fact is everyone is always busy even when it’s not busy.  When times are good, we are busy getting business done.  When times are bad, we are busy trying to get business.  There is never going to be a time (or should never be a time), that we say, “We’re not going to be doing anything, so let’s get some training.”  This is why we all need a plan for this.

How Do We Structure A Plan?  

The plan needs to include new employees as well as employees that have been with the company for a while.  It’s good to base the plan on your business processes (hopefully these are written up).  Basically, all you need is a list of what you would like each type of employee to learn.  This could include culture, processes and procedures, phone system, software, etc.  

For new employees, it’s simple.  When they start, you take a few days aside to train them before they do any “real work”.  For existing employees, you will probably have to schedule.  The schedule can be flexible.  You may have certain times of the year that are better than others.  If this is not the case, you will probably have to pick some time that this will happen.  The important thing is that once you pick, stay with the program.  There is nothing more disheartening than looking forward to an event that is canceled.

For Successful Training Of All Employees, Make It A Firm Priority

Take note, that for existing employees, staffing software training does not always have to be a formal class.   Everyone else is too busy.  Sometimes all training takes is a time investment.   At Automated Business Designs, we can help you manage the implementation and training of staffing software with Ultra-Staff Edge.