Any business owner who hires a team of employees will know that keeping them satisfied in their roles is essential to the team’s productivity and business profitability. Employees who are motivated, engaged, and satisfied with their position at work are more likely to stay loyal to your company, create a better impression when dealing with customers, and be dedicated to helping your brand grow and expand. So, what can you do to achieve this in your team? For many of today’s employees, the opportunity to train, improve their skills and knowledge, and eventually use what they’ve learned to move up the career ladder is an important factor for job satisfaction. We’ve taken a look at the ten biggest business benefits of providing online employee training to your workforce.
#1. Reduce the Cost of Training:
For many business owners, the fact that online training tends to come in much cheaper than the alternatives is one of the biggest advantages of choosing this method. An option is Online courses, whether they’re a degree program or vocational, career-based learning materials, tend to cost a lot less than their more traditional counterparts. By opting for online training, you’ll eliminate the need to purchase printed training materials or pay on-site facilitators; all the work can be done from an online portal at times and places which suit each employee best.
#2. Easier Ongoing Training:
Opting for distance courses isn’t just beneficial when it comes to costs; it can also help your employees with ongoing training, refreshing their memory, and keeping up-to-date with the information that they need. For example, if a new employee is struggling to remember how to process a refund for a customer, all they’ll need to do is log into their online training portal where the steps will be available to them. As a result, you’ll be better able to keep your employees up to date and informed on the latest company procedures, which typically leads to improved business practices and greater levels of customer satisfaction.
#3. Learn at Their Own Pace:
For many people, being able to learn at a pace that’s most comfortable to them is the best way for them to retain information. Unlike traditional classroom-based training methods, online and distance courses allow individual employees more control over their own progress, rather than forcing them to stick to a strict class timetable or keep up the pace of their co-workers. Many online training courses can also be accessed from home; this allows employees to study outside of office hours if they wish to get ahead.
#4. No On-Site Instructor Needed:
Many business owners will agree that the lack of a need for an on-site instructor is one of the biggest advantages of opting for online training programs for employees. This means that you will no longer need to worry about paying your on-site instructor or covering their travel and accommodation costs. In addition, you won’t need to sacrifice valuable working hours to corporate class learning.
#5. Quick Access to Content:
Since online training materials can be accessed quickly and easily from any connected device, employees can use it to improve their knowledge bases and skill-sets almost immediately. Thanks to online training, there’s no need for either you or your workforce to wait for new training materials to be printed or a trainer to arrive – simply log on and it’s all there ready for you to dive into. You can use pre-made programs, or simply upload new training materials where they will be made available to your employees straight away.
#6. Boost Employee Knowledge Retention:
Since online learning allows employees to go at their own pace, it tends to be a better choice for improving knowledge retention in the long term. For businesses, this is a far better achievement than simply ensuring that employees are able to remember what they’ve learned long enough to pass a test. Using online training programs, you can provide your employees with access to interactive, reality-based assessments, games and scenarios which will make it easier for them to digest all the information more thoroughly and effectively. As a result, they’ll be better equipped to utilize the information they’ve learned once they’re back in the work environment.
#7. Reduce Rates of Employee Turnover:
For many companies today, high employee turnover rates can quickly become a big problem. If employees are leaving at an alarming rate, the need to replace them can quickly become significantly expensive. This is especially true if the roles in your company tend to need some pre-training and education before a new hire can start work. In addition, high rates of employee turnover can lead to even lower satisfaction levels amongst your workforce; good employees can quickly become disheartened if they’re left to try and make things better when they’re understaffed or dealing with a large number of new staff members all the time. Employees who are given the opportunity to train, improve their learning and climb the career ladder are typically more satisfied and motivated at work. In turn, they’re much less likely to be thinking about leaving.
#8. Boost Productivity Levels:
The more productive your employees are, the better it will be for your business’ bottom line. A productive workforce not only contributes to higher levels of customer satisfaction thanks to better results but can also have a direct effect on the kind of profit that your company is turning over, leading to faster rates of business growth and expansion. Staff members who are highly trained in their role, have a solid knowledge of products and services, and are knowledgeable enough to support their colleagues when needed are typically efficient and productive members of the team.
#9. Fast, Convenient Training Updates:
When you make changes to your company policies or adjust the way things are done, you’ll want all your employees to be aware as quickly as possible, so that they can get on board with any new developments as soon as they can. Online training programs allow you to introduce changes to company policy more smoothly; informing employees is as easy as uploading the information to the learning portal where it can be immediately accessed. This makes it a far more efficient option to choose since there’s no need to wait for manuals to be re-written or re-printed.
#10. Promote from Within:
Any experienced business owner will tell you that promoting from within a company is almost always a better option than hiring from outside. Offering ongoing, high-quality online training options to your employees will prepare them for moving up to work roles which come with higher levels of responsibility, authority, and earnings. Online training programs allow you to prepare your employees for specific roles within your company, making it easier to find the right candidates for new vacancies from within your workforce. Promoting from inside as often as possible is hugely beneficial for your company; not only will you benefit from the reduced costs – it also often leads to higher levels of employee satisfaction, motivation, loyalty and productivity.
Today’s employees want to improve their knowledge in order to climb further up the career ladder. Offering online training to your staff members isn’t just beneficial for them; your company can enjoy a wide range of benefits as a result.