Career development and training are among the top factors that millennials use to rank the attractiveness of a job or any workplace. This article will provide practical ways to train new employees to have an excellent performing workforce and get better retention rates. These methods include the following.
Send a Welcome Pack
It is prudent to send your employees a starter pack containing what they will do on their first training day. So instead of making the new hire flounder on the first day, you can consider sending them an email before they show up at the training session. Be sure to include the following information in your mail.
- Start-time and location
- Details of shared resources within the company and how to access them.
- Instructions for parking
- Any scheduled meals, meetings, training, or orientations
- A quick overview of what you will cover that first day
- What will be ready for them, such as laptops or headphones
- Office culture and dress code
- Links to nearby coffee or lunch places
- The supervisor’s direct line
Decide on The Training Content
Think of what employees will need to know about their new job. To do this, you need to identify their responsibilities. Next, you have to make sure that the training content is geared towards employee-specific duty. For example, a software developer will have a training program that differs from that of a new accountant. So, you will never have a scenario where an accountant and a software developer will be seated in one conference consuming the same content. So, how do you go about preparing the right content?
- Identify a training workspace for each group as per profession
- Come up with a list of materials needed for each group
Recognize the Difference in Skill Levels
You must take into consideration the skills level. Check at the employee’s experience and their knowledge. After knowing their area of proficiency, you can further classify your employees to prevent wasting time and resources on training the employees on a task that they are very much familiar with. Only spend time on people who need it.
Assign a Good Trainer or a Mentor
People are gifted differently. Some will offer better training sessions than others. Most organizations always assign duties to staff with free time or those who sit close to a new employee. This is what has led to their downfall. The best way to assign trainers is to choose an experienced employee with vast experience in the new employee field. A mentor is someone that the new starter can approach when they have some questions or clarification.
Create an Induction Timetable
An induction timetable will help you manage time and ensure that the training goals are attained in time. However, the induction time should not be generally made, but it should be created to suit the employee’s skills and experience. For example, an employee who has been in the industry for twenty years should have a different schedule from an employee who was just fresh from university.
Vary Training Methods
Try to identify the best combinations of methods that will deliver the best result during training. Here are the training methods you can choose from.
Classroom style training/instructor-led: this is the traditional training method and is mainly used. In this method, the trainers deliver presentations, and everyone receives information at the same time. As a result, interactivity is lowered as the group of participants gets large.
Interactive methods: it is an upgrade of classroom-style by adding interactive elements and various group activities like role-playing, group discussions, group presentations, and allocating time for quizzes. This will make training more interactive. However, it may be undesired since employees may not remember information due to anxiety.
Online training: it involves remote learning through technologies available like YouTube, online courses, and even internet conferences. There are many benefits of virtual training including cost efficiency and time management. It is the most effective method of training your employees as it is independent of time and space. It can be done anytime, anywhere. Some companies are geared towards providing custom e-learning solutions. For example, CoreAxis is an online platform that provides you with innovative learning solutions.
Conclusion
Learning how to train new employees is key to the success of any company. To train new employees, stakeholders need to be aware of the best techniques that result in employee retention and productivity.
