How are you training your employees?
Well–trained employees are essential to the success of your business. A recent study done with 100 Active Living facilities concluded that employees who engaged in a definitive on boarding process with specific job training were nearly twice as productive as employees who were not put thru such a process.
Additionally, those employees who were engaged in job training beyond the usual Human Resource processing had an average stay with the company of 4.7 years, compared to only 2.5 years if not put thru a process. So that’s almost 2x time saved from dealing with searching for replacements and onboarding yet more people more frequently!
The conclusion? Training will not only arm your employees with professional or technical skills they need, but it will also motivate, and empower them. Additionally, spending additional time with new employees during the on-boarding process reinforces your commitment to their success and connects them directly to the success of your business.
Here are some helpful tips to successfully on board your employees:
Formalize a mentoring program
Match your new staff member with a senior position employee who is willing to be a mentor. Forging a mentor and mentee relationship will help develop the mentee professionally and personally. The mentee can discuss issues and ideas freely and openly with his or her mentor while giving them the opportunity to seek advice when needed. The result of this connection is improved productivity and a positive impact on retaining employees which of course results in reducing turnover costs. Lastly, we’ve found a successful mentoring system directly and positively impacts the culture of your business.
Determine your needs
Given the limited budgets and time constraint on an employee-training program, determining the needs and skills you expect from your employees and then developing a specific (and possibly on-going) training program correspondingly can maximize the value of such program and deliver the best results you want.
Develop a virtual role-playing training program
Role-playing can help employees develop exceptional communication skills with customers, and therefore helps increase customer satisfaction. This key element in the process allows your employees to experience similar situations that they are likely to encounter on the job and respond to such situations in a virtual setting.
Additionally, role playing gives both you and your staff opportunities to play back the conversation to evaluate their performance. It is a very efficient way to identify strengths and weaknesses, and to find ways to improve customers’ interaction accordingly.
Start job shadowing
Before the new employee begins, match them to an experienced employee in the same or similar job position. Let your staff watch and learn more about the job. This also gives your new team member the opportunity to ask questions and know more clearly what their duties are when they are doing the job.
Hold monthly speaker series
Having a weekly speaker event can give your employees valuable insights into their jobs, and help hone their skills as needed to be on top of other professionals in the field. It also gives them a chance to engage with speakers and their colleagues to build their network. Events like these forge a collaborative working environment where employees feel supported…and it’s fun!
And lastly, remember this…
Nothing is more important than investing in your human capital.