In the dynamic market space, employees need to be constantly updated with knowledge about the demands and needs of the industry. If employees cannot keep up with these changing trends, the productivity and success of the organization will suffer substantially.
Additionally, employees who have been recently recruited may find it hard to understand the practical applications of theories and concepts they had learnt in college. Training employees thus teaches them how to do their job effectively, improves their interpersonal skills and realizes their growth potential.
Corporate training programs can be extremely important for organizations. Undoubtedly, it makes sense for companies to spend money on the training and development of the employees to match the market’s demands.
Why Should Companies Invest In Corporate Training Programs?
Corporate training programs primarily aim to train employees in skills to complete their tasks efficiently. This is advantageous to both the employee and the organization.
Here’s how:
- While the employee can grow professionally by developing their job-related expertise, the organization can optimize the manpower to the best of its abilities, ultimately boosting productivity.
- To train employees, organizations could either call an external instructor who has expertise in the field or assign an internal expert. Regular corporate training programs also ensure that employees are frequently updated with changes in the industry standards, rules and technological developments.
- Cumulatively, the most significant advantage of corporate training programs is that it helps build a positive corporate culture and a healthy employer-employee relationship.
Moving to the Online Space
Several organizations started incorporating online training methods to facilitate employee learning. But it was only in the last two years, during the COVID-19 pandemic, that companies were forced to shift their complete functioning to the online space.
The pandemic forced people to adopt a new lifestyle heavily dependent on gadgets and technology for their personal and professional lives. With the ‘Work from Home’ culture snowballing, organizations have realized that employees show greater productivity when they are given some flexibility to work at their own pace.
In addition, organizations have identified several disadvantages of classroom training which have motivated them to adopt online training methods. One of the most significant disadvantages of classroom training is the high monetary cost of conducting sessions. The in-person corporate training programs must be undertaken by external or internal instructors whose travel, stay, and meals will need to be arranged.
Further, training programs will need to be conducted at regular intervals owing to changes in the industry and if new employees need to be on-boarded into the company; which contributes to increasing costs.
This realization has encouraged organizations to opt for online training programs that allow employees to learn from the comfort of their homes. While many may argue that our dependence on technology is increasing in an unhealthy and irreversible way, it is hard to ignore the various benefits that online training provides for employers and employees.
Are you planning to arrange a corporate training program for your employees who are confused between online training and offline training? Then you need to read this article to know why online training is ideal for corporate training!
Top 8 Benefits of Online Corporate Training Program
The top management of any company can make a blind choice when choosing between online and offline training. Here are the top 8 benefits of an online corporate training program opting for the virtual environment:
1. Flexible Learning
Online training allows employees to decide their own pace, schedule and mode of learning. Employees have the choice to log in for the training at any time, whether they are at the office or after they have put their children to bed.
This allows them to control their schedules and learn at their convenience, two factors that significantly influence the motivation of today’s workforce. Choosing when to take the online training has the added advantage of helping employees remain focused and retain the information being taught.
Unlike offline corporate training programs, employees can adjust the speed of the content, rewind, replay and forward segments based on their understanding, and take tests when they feel they are prepared. Therefore, fast learners can complete the training in less time, while employees who struggle with some course material could spend extra time and effort without feeling pressured to match up with others.
2. Cost Effective
When organizing an in-person training, the company has to opt for one of two scenarios; either call an external with the expertise to conduct a session or assign an expert from the company to train other employees.
The first scenario has the direct cost of arranging the travel, stay and meals of the external instructor and employees who attend the corporate training program. The second scenario bears a more implicit cost wherein the internal expert could have utilized that time for higher-value work that contributes to the company’s growth. In this way, online training reduces the time cost associated with travel, breaks, and the initiation and termination of sessions.
Online training eliminates all these costs in addition to printing materials and reserving an office space for the corporate training program. Instead, online training allows for a one-time investment where employers could either record an online training course that can be reused and upgraded for subsequent batches.
They could also purchase a subscription with a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform like Coursera, allowing employees to take a pre-determined number of courses for free. Both these options make corporate training programs more affordable for both the organization as well as its employees.
3. Accessibility 24×7
Online training courses include videos of recorded sessions and PDFs that can be accessed at any time. If an employee could not understand the course matter the first time, they can always go through the recorded sessions as often as they need to gain a firm grasp on the material being taught.
Suppose an employee feels they need to revisit some material that could help them complete an ongoing assignment. In that case, they can reach out for their phone and access the material immediately. Therefore, online training helps boost an employee’s efficiency at work.
The immediacy of accessing information and essential material is particularly beneficial for industries that need employees to stay updated with the latest trends, technologies, and industry news. Employees must open their online training WhatsApp group or email thread to access curated course material. No more wasting time waiting for the materials to be printed and for employees to return to the office the next day before the material is distributed to them.
4. Different Modes of Learning
No two employees will have the same learning style. While one employee may show more excellent content retention by watching videos, another might find it more suitable to learn information by reading books or curated handbooks.
One instructor would find it hard to meet the demands of these different learning styles; however, online training can easily cater to all types of learning styles. Online corporate training programs could be designed to include infographics, PDFs, links to helpful YouTube videos and TED talks, podcasts, and case studies. Using different learning modes can simplify complicated material and improve employee engagement. Studies have also found that using images and text for course material enhances learners’ comprehension of material and retention of information.
Online training also allows instructors to use games and quizzes to test how much improvement an employee has made after completing a corporate training program. Utilizing games is particularly advantageous for developing skills related to problem-solving, spontaneity, spatial intelligence and teamwork, among other things.
5. Information Retention
Online training offers employees greater control over their learning process by making course material available anytime and on any device, by allowing for various modes of learning via live sessions, videos, podcasts, etc., and by choosing the pace at which they want to know.
Additionally, learning has become more accessible through mobile phones, tablets, laptops, ipads, etc. As a result, employees can refer to and revise course material whenever they want, whether in the office, travelling back home, or sitting on a couch at home. Online learning boosts information retention by almost 25% to 60% as opposed to in-person training modules, with a retention rate of 8% to 10%, according to the Research Institute of America.
Another factor that boosts information retention is when online training incorporates quizzes and exercises after each topic to help employees understand the concepts better. Gamification techniques like contests, quizzes, point systems, and role-playing games have improved retention rates. This is because of the heightened excitement experienced by employees and their sense of confidence and satisfaction at completing a goal or winning a reward.
Another advantage of incorporating gamification techniques for corporate training programs is building healthy interpersonal relationships between employees by encouraging them to collaborate on games.
6. Ease of Measuring Progress
If employees register with a Learning Management System (LMS), all their work is automatically recorded and stored for review. The organization will not have to assign a workforce to track employees’ progress continuously.
These systems also provide reports that can be used by employers or HR managers to review and appraise the work done by individual employees. The LMS also increases the accountability of employees through options like adding deadlines for tests or completing course material and enabling discussions via forums. These options can be used to monitor the participation of individual employees and measure the effort and hard work put in by them.
Taking tests online would help you convert data into graphs and charts, making it easier for employers and HR managers to analyze the performance of their employees, identify weaknesses and assign extra training for employees who lag behind.
7. Reduce Employee Turnover
According to Forbes, 40% of employees dissatisfied with their corporate training programs end up quitting the organization before completing their first year at organization. Online training is advantageous because it allows employees to access quality corporate training programs conveniently.
Providing quality training is one of the most critical factors determining the growth of your employee’s professional skills and, in turn, your company’s success. This also creates a solid corporate culture and a healthy employee-employer relationship because employees feel the company is concerned about their work-life balance. Are you worried about how to reduce employee turnover? Check out this article right away – Click here!
8. A Global Outlook
Online training allows organizations to think beyond the limits of geographical boundaries. Organizations could connect and collaborate with experts from around the world who can contribute to course material or come in as guest speakers.
These collaborations could encourage cultural sensitivity and introduce employees to different functioning mechanisms. Online corporate training programs further allow for the consistency of quality provided to employees across geographical boundaries- that is, employees from around the world are given access to the same training standards. The course material can be distributed at almost zero cost if the organization uses LMS or emails to share the materials.
Additionally, these modules can be administered to a large number of employees at the same time. Any changes in the market can be subsequently included in the course material, and the same material can be reused over time. Instead of looking after considerable expenses over time, the organization will only have to make one significant investment to create the online training program.
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Conclusion
Choosing the online mode of training can vastly improve the experience of being part of a corporate training program. The comfort of one’s home provides employees with a safe environment where they do not have to compare their performance with others or worry about failure. Building a positive work culture has become the goal of many employers because each employee’s success echoes the organisation’s success.
Today, employers and HR managers are trying to create a modern infrastructure of learning that integrates multiple sources and modes of knowledge. The purpose of adopting these new systems is to offer “learning on-demand”, which means providing employees with necessary resources at their convenience and per their needs. Online training is able to cater to the learning and comfort component at the same time and hence is preferred by most learners. Have you begun your journey as an online learner yet?
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Upcoming Batch Details | |
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