Stay on Track with Employee Training

Stay on Track with Employee Training

By Staff Writer

Growing your business and increasing the number of your employees is an exciting and important part of being an entrepreneur. As you add more people to your company, you bring greater diversity of skills, better time management for yourself and greater production that leads to a higher potential for success. But how can you maintain and improve quality while making certain your employees are working up to your expectations?

Whether you’re just starting to branch out in bigger directions or have been doing it for years, training your employees remains a valuable step in the growth process.

Whether you’re just starting to branch out in bigger directions or have been doing it for years, training your employees remains a valuable step in the growth process. It’ll keep everyone up to date on the best sales tools, most effective marketing tactics and latest technology changes. There are several options for incorporating a training program. Like most of your decisions, you have to decide what works best for your business.

Instructor-Led Training

The benefits: Instructors offer your employees personal attention and work specifically in the areas that need help. They can provide your business with detailed and more relevant assistance. With the standard classroom format, you can trust that none of your employees miss out on the topics you want them to learn.

Sending your employees to a class can cost anywhere from $200 to $2000 a day, and bringing a consultant to your office can run as high as $10000 a day.

Things to consider: thiConsidered the top-rate training method, the traditional classroom also poses a number of drawbacks for the small business owner. Top-rate training, in this case, amounts to top-rate price. Sending your employees to a class can cost anywhere from $200 to $2000 a day, and bringing a consultant to your office can run as high as $10000 a day (American Society for Training and Development).

E-Learning

Forecasts project e-learning sales to grow to $11.4 billion in 2003.

The benefits: Online courses are rapidly becoming the favorite training method of business owners and employees alike. In fact, forecasts project e-learning sales to grow to $11.4 billion in 2003. It’s easy to see why too: When your employees train online, you save on travel expenses and they can work at thier own pace, from wherever they choose. Although many focus on technology, you can also find training programs in sales, call center management, finance, management and more.

Things to consider: How effective online courses are often depends on how fast your Internet connection is. If you can sacrifice the bandwidth, you can give your employees faster download times and they’ll be more likely to participate in the courses. Costs range widely from around $35 per person to $400 for a three-week course. Remember though, unless you designate time for your employees to go through the training, you may find that you’ve spent money on a resource few will use. Without the group atmosphere of the classroom, some of your employees may need extra motivation to complete online training.

CD-ROM Training

The benefits: CD-ROM courses, like online training, allow students to train at their own pace in a place where they’re comfortable. Additionally, unlike e-learning, users can skip the sections that aren’t relevant to their needs and review areas that they need to master. You don’t have to worry about fast or slow Internet connections, either.

Things to Consider: CD-ROMs on many topics become out-of-date very quickly and new versions may be in production as soon as you’ve bought the current edition. Price per disc typically runs between $75 and $100.

Audio and Video, Book and Phone Training

The benefits: Perfect for tighter budgets, audio and video training are not only low-cost options but are also easily accommodate traveling employees. An update on this method is training manuals on MP3, which is even less expensive and provides more data on a smaller disc. MP3 manuals can be played on either a computer or MP3 player.

DonÍt underestimate the power of books! Many training manuals have sections for group study, discussion points and quiz-like questions to review.

Training can also be conducted by phone. Employees are asked questions after the content is presented, to make sure they understand the material. Some companies also offer accompanying booklets as refreshers.

Don’t underestimate the power of books! Many training manuals have sections for group study, discussion points and quiz-like questions to review.

Things to Consider: The cheapest alternative to in-person instructor training, tapes and books don’t provide the personal interaction or individual attention of the classroom. Costs range from $5 for an MP3 to $100 for the big training manual books.

Additional Training Options:

Train an Employee Trainer
If hiring an instructor or sending everyone to a class is financially unfeasible, save money by sending one employee to a seminar, workshop or training class. Then have that employee present what they’ve learned to the rest of your staff.

Local College Listings
Investigate community college course books. Because they’re publicly funded (including by the Small Business Administration), you’ll find that tuition costs are reasonable and the courses offer a wide array of different topics at varying levels.

Spread (and Save) the Wealth
Share a training session or workshop with a fellow small business owner. Of course, you shouldn’t choose a competitor, but generalist classes that are shared can benefit you both.