4 Corporate Training Trends and Why You Need to Try Them
Disruptive Corporate Training Trends
The move to digital is certainly not a new in corporate training trends, but what is new—and maybe disruptively so—is that workplace learning is moving to the cloud, becoming accessible across multiple devices and teaching environments often being generated, shared, and continually updated by the users themselves. Employees expect corporate training solutions that help form connections between information and the job they need to do.
Before we explore the 4 corporate training trends to try, it’s important to consider the environment in which corporate training functions within and how it is most frequently used.
Corporate Training Speed Allows for Flexibility and Personalization
According to IBM’s report last year, companies estimate it takes 36 days on average to re-skill or up-skill employees—up from just three days only five years ago!
This makes it nearly impossible to train thousands of employees quickly without incurring incredibly high costs. Companies have realized they can offer training faster, more effectively, and less expensively online, through web-based eLearning. Employees prefer the flexibility and personalization of digital training options, too. With digital training options, speed allows:
- Employees to complete training on their schedule, or in defined intervals while away from an office
- Sophisticated and custom training content, providing personalized learning experiences in a digital format that modern learners recognize and are comfortable with
- Data-driven measurability content and course completions, the accomplishment of targeted learning outcomes, and likelihood or follow-up of on-the-job learning application
Training Thousands of Employees for Less Than the Cost of One In-Person Event
The time and money spent on gathering large groups of employees together for in-person training are outrageously expensive in comparison to high-quality online training modules. Arduous plane rides, less-than-stellar hotels, windowless conference rooms, crowded convention centers, and the now new health and safety risks of group training events make in-person training quite a mountain to climb. In-person training events provide in-person connections and an opportunity to dive deep and discuss difficult training topics. For decades, though, most large-scale corporate training events have felt lack-luster and unproductive, especially when compared to potential online training alternatives.
Not All Corporate Training is Created Equal
According to a survey conducted on LinkedIn, 94% of employees stated they would commit to staying at a company longer if that company invested more in their development. But not every corporate training program is created equal.
Whether it be training new hires, re-teaching current employees, or introducing your workforce to an entirely new set of skills or content, corporate training captures a wide variety of subjects—each with their own set of requirements, strategies, and potential hurdles that you need to consider before you start training. Almost every business, regardless of industry, needs some form of new hire training, systems training, compliance training, and sales training.
New Hire Training Focused on Impression and Performance
New hire training and onboarding are usually prepared by department leaders. It’s an important step in giving new employees the tools and information they need to be productive in the shortest time possible. A well-designed new hire training program can actually increase long-term performance by almost 12%.
New hire workplace learning should address immediate employee needs and grant them easy access to the information and skills required to do their jobs efficiently—all the while maximizing employee engagement. A new hire is impressionable. New hire training is often one of the first tasks an individual will perform.
What impression of your company does your current new hire training present?
Instead of only focusing on the technical aspects of the job, try a more holistic approach. Consider offering additional workplace education on ways to stay productive and engaged, as well as ways to connect with the rest of the team. An employee that goes through a well-structured onboarding process is 58% more likely to continue to be with an organization after three years.
Systems Training with Incentive
Systems training is a fundamental component of an employee’s productivity – and there is likely always room for improvement in the way in which employees use them. Basic business interaction and productivity systems—such as email, chat, security, and information storage—are often customized to each company and require some level of training. In these situations, straightforward systems training works best due to the immediate usefulness of the information learned.
Complex company systems in product development, machining, or data analysis require a more sophisticated level of systems training. The use of corporate training, and corporate training trends, in systems training, may be multi-level depending on the employee’s familiarity with the system and the frequency of system changes or updates.
When a business implements a new system, the goal is typically to get a task done more efficiently, more effectively, at a lower cost, or at a higher level of customer satisfaction. But getting employees to give up the system they’re comfortable with isn’t always easy. To minimize friction or burnout during the training process, give your employees something to work towards.
Incentivized training will not only motivate and engage your employees, but rewards can also recognize their efforts in the process.
Compliance Training That Minimizes Risk
Well-designed and well-implemented corporate compliance training programs help minimize risk. Corporate compliance training helps prevent poor or even simply undesirable business conduct and ensure your employees follow the laws and regulations applicable to their job function or industry. Depending on your company’s location, industry, and activities, compliance training can include anti-harassment training, workplace safety or OSHA training, information security training, privacy and HIPAA training, diversity training, interactions with healthcare professionals training, and more. To document thorough employee training, corporate compliance training often track progress and produce accurate records of their successful completion.
Sales Training That Invests in The Future of Your Company
Your sales team is one of your biggest assets.
By providing well-thought-out and engaging company sales training, you’re investing in the future of your company.
If you choose to train a struggling sales rep rather than replacing them, you can save your company an average of 2 million dollars. That’s how much it costs to hire and onboard a brand-new salesperson. With the right training program, you can boost sales reps’ productivity, decrease their onboarding time, and keep them engaged. But not all reps may need the same training—almost every sales team is a mix of newbies, star sellers, and middle-of-the-road performers. By creating a variety of training topics and modalities, you can offer learning for reps of every skill level.
Corporate Training as an Employee Requirement
Today’s workforce is highly competitive. In turn, there is tremendous growth in new workplace learning technologies. Employees now want constant growth and development opportunities as part of their everyday work environment. And, if your company isn’t providing it, you may risk the employee seeing that advancement elsewhere.
Incorporating the latest trends in your corporate training efforts is not only the most efficient way to upskill your workforce, but it’s how your business will continue to succeed in the changing corporate landscape.
Corporate Training Trend #1
Personalized Training to Suit Unique Learning Needs
A one-size-fits-all approach to corporate learning has quickly fallen out of fashion. Employees who are at disproportionate skill and knowledge levels require a personalized training program to better suit their unique learning needs. Personalized training is done by designing training modules with targeted objectives and milestones that have goals, and methods for achieving those goals, that employees can adjust themselves. Although this approach may be costlier and more time-consuming, personalized employee training programs that are tailored to each individual employee’s strengths and weaknesses often deliver better outputs in terms of productivity and development.
Corporate Training Trend #2
Gamification in Training to Capitalize on Instinctive Behavior
Gamification incorporates gaming techniques, such as choice, challenge, and narrative, into otherwise conventional training programs. Consider incorporating game mechanics like:
- Leaderboards
- Levels,
- Points, and
- Awards or Badges,
These types of interactions make training not only enjoyable, but capitalize on our instinctive competitive behavior. This, in turn, increases employee participation and motivates improvement in one’s performance, eventually increasing workplace productivity. The reward systems also provide instantaneous feedback to both the learner and the employer so that mistakes can be recognized and corrected in real-time.
Corporate Training Trend #3
Microlearning Improves Employee Performance Without Sacrificing Employee Time
The average employee can likely only allot 1% of his or her daily schedule to training. In response, businesses have become more mobile-oriented in their training delivery, so employees can continuously improve in their work without sacrificing too much of their time. Microlearning is a corporate training technique that offers short, yet engaging, bits of information that can be easily retained and immediately incorporated into one’s work habits.
Microlearning material can appear in the text, short videos, animations, or even audio and is designed to be accessible whenever and wherever the learner wants.
Corporate Training Trend #4
Blended Learning Combines the Best of In-Person and Digital Corporate Training
Blended learning combines the best features of in-person teaching methods with technology-based corporate eLearning programs. While one portion of the learning occurs online, another portion is instructor-led, either conducted in brick-and-mortar classrooms or virtual ones via webinars. This broadens the learner experience by granting them the convenience and flexibility to decide their own learning pace, while still enabling them to interact and receive support from instructors and fellow learners—encouraging social learning and collaboration.
Blended learning also reduces the training costs associated with face-to-face training, such as travel, accommodation, equipment, and printed training materials, so you’ll see a faster and greater return on investment.
Why You Need a Corporate Training Strategy
So many options are available as part of workplace learning. Employers often guess at what their employees need and want, or attempt an often costly and time-consuming “try and fail” approach to employee training.
A wide variety of training choices requires a targeted training strategy. A comprehensive corporate learning strategy takes some planning, but ensures that whatever training methods or approaches you invest time and money into, will create business results.
Learn more about how to map out your learning needs in this infographic.
Workplace Learning Has the Opportunity to Create Positive Business Impact
Corporate training and workplace learning – whether digital, blended, or in-person have the opportunity to create a positive business impact. Generating training engagement through well-designed and well-executed corporate training programs will create meaningful employee connections for years to come.
