6 Ways to Kickstart Your Employee Training Program

It’s an oft-stated problem of business ownership: While you need employees for your company to thrive and grow, actually hiring new employees can be exceedingly expensive. Factor in all the onboarding you have to do to get a new employee up to speed—plus the clipped productivity as the employee is properly trained—and you have a staggering cost that can surpass the employee’s annual salary several times over.

Given the high cost of hiring new people, retention is obviously paramount. One of the secrets to good employee retention is good employee training. Invest in your team members—not just when they first arrive at the company, but throughout their tenure—and it’s far more likely that they’ll invest in you.

The difficulty here is in kickstarting a good employee training program. Maybe you’ve never really invested in ongoing staff development. What are you supposed to do to start now?

Launching an Employee Training Program

Consider the following strategies:

1. Find a company that can provide relevant training. Outsourcing is almost always the way to go here; rather than try to put a curriculum together all on your own, hire a company that can send video content or perhaps even host live seminars in your office.
2. As for training topics, let your employees select them, or at the very least solicit their input. Find the areas in which your employees most desire professional development, and give them the kinds of opportunities they need.
3. Check the legal requirements for your industry and geographic area. There may be areas in which you’re strongly encouraged or even required to offer staff training.
4. Lead by example. Attend seminars and workshops yourself, and encourage other managers and leaders to do likewise. Promote a culture in which learning is prized.
5. Start a formal mentorship program. Provide your senior employees with chances to take juniors under their wing; allow all of your employees to sharpen each other and to learn from each other.
6. Keep at it, understanding that learning is a life-long pursuit. Don’t ever come to a point where you tell an employee that she’s learned all she needs to know.

As you seek different avenues of employee engagement and professional development, don’t forget about all the education resources we offer here at ACES; our modules and webinars may be just what your team needs to kick off its training program!