By Brittainy Young, Learning & Development Specialist, Skyllful
From gathering the proper resources to developing a curriculum, creating a training program can be an overwhelming experience. Companies often make the mistake of implementing an excellent training program without taking into consideration the day-to-day responsibilities and concerns of the actual employees that have to complete it.
Without some sort of motivation or incentive, employees are less likely to take their training seriously. This could lead to the training program being ineffective, resulting in increased employee turnover and quality issues. What’s worse is that if there is employee resistance, the training program could be intentionally derailed. With the already high turnover rates of mobile workers, it’s time for employers to look to their employees for answers.
Employees want training
According to a recent survey, millennials considered sufficient and robust training as a motivator to stay at a job. It’s evident that employees want to do their jobs well, so why not ask them what they want and need from a training program? Ask questions, create a survey, or develop an employee committee to understand their point of view. You may be surprised by the feedback.
Because mobile workers perform their job functions in the field, there needs to be an emphasis on how the training is beneficial to them and why their feedback is important. This can be done by sending out short surveys that can be accessed through their mobile devices. Be sure to ask questions that directly relate to their daily work and to use language that gives space for them to express their concerns.
Follow up after the surveys by sending out short, consistent updates on how their feedback is being used to improve the training program. Another great way to ensure your training program meets your workers’ needs is to have your learning and development team shadow your mobile workers to assess pain points that may not be revealed in surveys.
Sense of ownership
By including employees in the training development process, they adopt a sense of ownership. As a result, employees are more likely to give immediate and detailed feedback on their training experience because their opinions have been embraced from the very beginning. Employee feedback helps companies assess both the effectiveness of training and knowledge retention.
In conclusion, when creating a training program, don't forget that training incentives—which can be as simple as feeling as though their voice is heard—are essential for training effectiveness. Use your best resource—your employees—to ensure you’re training on the right content in the right way.
Take a deeper dive into the ROI of digital training with this visual guide. And if you’re looking for a digital training solution for your field workers, check out the first digital adoption platform designed specifically for frontline workforces, Skyllful.