In today’s workplace, there’s a significant need for employee learning programs that are actually effective — for lots of reasons. One reason is that 87% of companies expect to have a skills gap over the next several years. Another is that 84% of employees say their employer should provide the job training and education needed to stay proficient. And while 65% of C-suite executives are “very satisfied” with their companies’ learning and development (L&D) programs, only 32% of employees agree.
That’s an important disparity to address. Employees and job seekers are clearly expressing a strong desire to work at companies that invest in their careers and offer skills development opportunities. They want employee training programs to keep their skills sharp in their current roles. If those opportunities aren’t available, workers are quitting, and candidates are taking different job offers.
In addition to attracting and retaining top talent, learning and development programs offer tons of benefits for businesses. They’re excellent for company culture, creating a work environment where continuous learning is encouraged and supported. L&D ensures your employees are properly trained and have the opportunity to learn new skills your business needs.
An L&D program is critical for successfully sourcing candidates, engaging your workforce, and achieving every business goal. That’s why we put together this guide to highlight the benefits of employee training and development. We’ll also share some of the ways companies can implement these programs.
What Is Employee Training and Development?
Employee training and development refers to the ways companies teach internal processes and procedures and maintain, improve, and assess employees’ skills and knowledge. Training is about teaching employees specific skills or protocols in a set period of time, usually several hours or days, while development refers to longer-term skills growth. Training is commonly grouped with employee learning and development or L&D.
Both training and development are important aspects of developing your people and should have a place in your program. The goal of employee training is consistency, whether that means maintaining a license or ensuring every new hire learns the same processes. L&D is aimed at enabling employees’ growth — helping increase their productivity, learn new skills, and advance in their careers.
Training and development are key for a high-performing, competitive workforce. L&D programs enable your employees to perform to the best of their abilities and ensure they have the opportunity to grow those abilities. That’s good for your individual employees, of course, but it also has a positive impact on productivity for everyone. And with a workforce of productive, engaged employees, you’ll quickly see the benefits to your business’s bottom line.
5 Benefits of Employee Training and Development
Helping your employees grow is one of the most impactful actions companies can take — and we’ve got the data to back it up. Employee development statistics show that, time and again, training programs and career development are responsible for increased job satisfaction, retention, and engagement.
Investing in your L&D program also gives you an advantage over your competitors, both those that compete with your products and services and those competing with you to hire top talent.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest benefits of L&D for your employees.
1. Creates a Sense of Purpose
Did you know that 77% of employees say that learning new skills gives them a sense of purpose? Employees today are seeking personal fulfillment from their work in higher numbers. They don’t just want to advance in their careers; they also want to feel more creative and curious at work, as well as the sense of accomplishment that comes from gaining new skills. Your L&D program plays a central role in fostering this sense of purpose.
2. Boosts Morale and Retention
Boosting morale and retention goes hand in hand with helping employees find purpose at work. When your people feel their work is interesting and are encouraged to explore their strengths and learn new skills, they’re happier at work. That’s not the usual — 44% of employees say they don’t feel their employer cares about career development at all.
L&D programs are tangible proof for your employees that you support their growth and development — in other words, that you listen to them and care about them. That’s enough to send morale skyrocketing and retain your best employees.
3. Enhances Your Employer Brand
Much of your recruiting success depends on your employer brand. It should be clearly communicated to candidates, resonate with the candidates you want to attract, and serve as a true indication of company culture. An L&D program is a great way to show candidates that your organization takes learning seriously and will invest in their career development. It also attracts the kinds of employees you’re looking for — life-long learners who are always looking for ways to improve their performance.
4. More Productive Employees
Your training programs equip employees with the skills and knowledge they need to work efficiently. Whether they’re learning how to use new software, improving their communication skills, or mastering advanced techniques in their field, L&D helps increase productivity. Well-trained employees are more confident at work, making fewer mistakes and creatively problem-solving. That’s good for both individual and company success.
5. Fosters an Agile Workforce
As you’re well aware, the business world today is fast-paced and ever-changing, and agility and adaptability are paramount for success. With an effective L&D program, you can foster an agile workforce. Thanks to constant learning and skill development opportunities, your employees will be better prepared to take on new challenges and responsibilities. Flexibility also enables your company to respond quickly when things change while maintaining a competitive edge and seizing new opportunities.
An agile workforce is more resilient when disruptions do occur, ensuring that your business can thrive even through uncertainty.
Types of Employee Training and Development Programs
Every employee has a different set of career and professional development goals, learning styles, strengths, and weaknesses. Every business needs to meet different objectives and requires employees to have a variety of skill sets. Luckily, there are many effective ways to train and develop your employees consistently.
Companies might use any combination of these and other strategies to offer training and L&D to their employees:
- Standardized internal training programs: Structured training sessions and training materials to ensure employees’ knowledge and skills are consistent company-wide
- Continuing education for licenses and certifications: Courses required for some employees to maintain their professional qualifications and stay compliant with industry and regulatory standards
- Leadership and management coaching: Workshops or development courses for current and future workplace leaders
- Soft skills training: Target training or education to learn a specific soft skill, like conflict resolution, time management, or active listening
- Personalized, strengths-based learning paths: Training or development plans tailored to individual employees and their strengths, e.g., equipping an employee with leadership skills for a promotion into a management position
- Courses or training sessions for new competencies: Training content or courses, whether in-person or self-guided, to teach employees a new skill or procedure, e.g., training employees on how to submit receipts after implementing new accounting software
- New hire orientation and onboarding programs: Training for new employees, including standardized internal courses about company culture and processes and role-specific training
How to Create Effective Training and Development Programs
Developing training methods and learning experiences that help your employees stay current and learn new skills is no easy task. But it’s well worth the investment. While finance teams or executives may see learning and development programs as an extra expense, they’re actually the opposite.
“[I]in reality, learning and development (L&D) benefits help organizations save money, both in the short term and in the future,” said Christina Riley, controller at INTOO, to CFO. “[L&D is] cheaper than the cost of turnover, onboarding, and raises.”
An effective L&D program is a must if your organization wants to retain and motivate its people and build a solid workforce of motivated, well-trained employees. It’s also a requirement if you want to remain competitive in your industry and resilient through economic uncertainties. If your training and development strategy keeps up with demand from your people and the needs of the business, you’ll be far better equipped to stand up to all of your competition.
Whether you’re revamping L&D or breaking new ground, you can follow these steps to ensure you’re creating the most effective training and development programs possible.
1. Identify Skills Gaps and Employee Development Opportunities
For an L&D program that produces real results, you have to understand where your workforce stands at the present moment. Are there any new skills they need to acquire? Are there any areas for improvement to address? Are you maximizing employees’ strengths and helping them progress in their careers?
You can perform this assessment by sending employee surveys, conducting or evaluating past performance reviews, and speaking with managers. You should also determine what kinds of training your employees need —the musts, including mandated courses and role-specific training. This part should be simple since these courses tend to be managed by HR teams, but you may need hiring managers to chime in on what’s required for specific departments or roles.
Completing this first step ensures that your training and development efforts are relevant and make a positive impact. It also helps ensure that your company remains compliant with any mandated training requirements.
2. Align L&D With Business Goals
Your training and development initiatives should be aligned with your business goals — it’s what moves your business forward. After all, if your people are learning new skills with no plans for how to apply them, why offer those learning opportunities in the first place? It’s also far easier to make the case for an investment in L&D if you can get specific about how the program will help achieve these goals.
For example, imagine you work in HR in the manufacturing industry. One of your company’s goals this year is to increase technology usage in its plants, and it recently began implementing new tech-powered machinery. Employees will need to be trained on how to use the machinery, and its implementation might create the need for a new role, like a specialized technician.
In addition, long-term business goals include switching all of its older machinery to modern, tech-enabled equipment over the next several years.
Your L&D program can make a meaningful difference in achieving this goal. Within your L&D framework, you can create standardized training programs for every employee who will use the new machinery. You’ll be able to analyze data to see if any high-performers stand out as good candidates for the new technician role. As more and more machinery is replaced, you’ll have a blueprint for getting employees up to speed and identifying anyone with an aptitude for the technology.
Your L&D program ensures your company can make this transition in the desired timeframe and with the expected results: increased productivity and efficiency. It also equips your employees with valuable skills and helps them understand how their work helps the company achieve its goals.
3. Implement a Learning Management System (LMS)
Investing in a learning management system (LMS) streamlines the delivery and management of your training programs. With an LMS, you can create, track, and report on training and development activities in one centralized platform. It also gives employees a place to easily access many of your courses and learning materials so they can learn at their own pace.
The best LMS solutions support various types of content, including videos, quizzes, and assignments, and can be tailored to suit different learning styles. With so many different ways to learn, you can execute more effective and engaging training programs.
An LMS gives employees increased flexibility, enabling easy access to training content when it’s convenient for them. HR and managers can track each employee’s progress in real time and monitor completion rates. With an LMS, you can generate detailed reports to assess training initiatives in just a few clicks.
Implementing an LMS not only streamlines the training process but also allows you to scale your programs efficiently as your organization grows.
Get the scoop on LMS solutions.
Read more: What Is a Learning Management System (LMS)?
4. Get Employees Involved
Make your employees an integral part of creating and executing your L&D program to help foster a culture of continuous learning. As you begin developing training courses and identifying growth opportunities, get their feedback. Send out surveys or conduct focus groups to learn the types of training they find most valuable or the skills they want to develop. This way, you can be sure your L&D program is relevant to their interests and career goals.
As employees attend training sessions or begin professional development courses, encourage your people to take an active role in learning. You can enable active learning by providing opportunities for interaction like peer-led sessions, mentoring programs, or collaborative learning. LMS platforms are an excellent tool for active learning. Employees can compete against each other to earn badges or level up, like and share courses and content, and participate in discussions with their peers.
Employee involvement makes for excellent learning experiences and strengthens teamwork and communication across the organization. Giving them a voice in your L&D strategy empowers your people to take ownership of their own learning journey and fosters loyalty and engagement.
5. Track Progress and Assess Your Results
The only way to tell if your L&D efforts are effective is by keeping track of your starting point and monitoring progress as your program matures. Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success, like employee engagement levels, course completion rates, assessment scores, or other metrics. Keep an eye on these numbers regularly so you know what’s working and what isn’t for your employees.
You can also gather employee feedback for more insights into your L&D program. Send out surveys to employees participating in any L&D or training courses or conduct interviews to learn about their experiences and any challenges they encountered. With this information, you can make changes to course content, delivery methods, or even training frequency to better meet the needs of your workforce. You should also conduct longer-term assessments to determine the lasting impact of the training on employee performance and overall business outcomes.
As we mentioned, generating reports and analyzing outcomes is simple with an LMS. It’s even easier to see the long-term impact of L&D strategy when your LMS integrates with a complete talent management system. You’ll be able to combine valuable engagement and performance data with L&D insights for a comprehensive picture of your people’s strengths, weaknesses, and learning progress.
Ongoing progress tracking and continuous improvement are simple with the right LMS. You can rest assured that your training and development programs remain effective, relevant, and aligned with both employee and organizational goals.
Execute training and development programs that work with the help of Brainier, the LMS by ClearCompany. It’s an LMS that’s flexible enough to fit the needs of businesses of all sizes, equipping you with all the tools you need to power the most effective L&D program possible.
Explore the Brainier LMS today.
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