The importance of Employee Training and Development

Training and Development process, management and execution can be difficult but The importance of Employee Training and Development cannot be ignored. As the process have a lot of loose ends and steps to involve and achieve better desired results.

• Importance of Training
• Who Will Do the Training
• How Employees Learn Best
• Developing a Job Training Program
• Retraining
• Overcoming Obstacles to Learning
• Turnover & Retention

Importance of Training:

Teaching People How to do Their Jobs

• There are 3 kinds of training:
  • Job Instruction
  • Retraining
  • Orientation
• The big sister, big brother, or buddy system is when a old hand shows a newcomer the ropes.
• When good training is absent there is likely to be an atmosphere of tension, crisis, & conflict because nobody knows what to do.

The Benefits of Training

• Gives the supervisor more time to lead, standardizes performance, less absenteeism, less turnover, reduced tension, consistency, lower costs, more customers, better service.
• Gives the workers confidence & knowledge to do their jobs, reduces tension, boost morale & job satisfaction, reduces injuries & accidents, gives them a chance to advance.
• Gives the business a good image & more profit.

Then why is training often neglected?

• Urgency of need.
• Training time.
• Employee turnover.
• Short-term associates.
• Diversity of worker.
• Kinds of jobs (simple-complex).
• Not knowing exactly what you want your people to do & how.

Who will do the training?

• The magic apron method: people train themselves the easiest ways to get the job done, & what will keep them from getting into trouble.
• The person that is leaving trains: teaches shortcuts & ways of breaking the rules.
• Big sister, big brother, or buddy method: passes on bad habits & may resent new person as a competitor.
• The logical person to train new workers is YOURSEF!

How employees learn best:

• Learning is the acquisition of skills, knowledge, or attitudes.
• The adult learning theory is a field of research that examines how adults learn.
  • A number of the following tips come from the adult leaning theory.

How employees learn the best:

• When they are actively involved in the learning process (to do this you must choose the appropriate teaching method).
• Training is relevant & practical.
• Training material is organized & presented in chunks.
• Training is in an informal, quiet, & comfortable setting.
• When they have a good trainer.
• When they receive feedback on performance.
• When they are rewarded.

Developing a Unit Training Program

• Training plans each represent a learnable, teachable segment of the job:
  • 1^st Establish performance standards: they provide a ready made structure for a training program.
  • 2^nd Write a training objective derived form above.
  • 3^rd Develop standard procedures (list tasks & spell them out).

• This is taught in several sessions.
• It should provide checkpoints to measure progress.
• The method of training should include 2 elements:
  • Showing & telling the trainee what to do.
  • Having the trainee do it (right).
    • This is known as job instruction training.
  • The closer the training method, setup & materials are to the on-the-job situation, the better the training.
  • The location of the training should be a quiet place free of interruptions.
  • One-on-one training generally works best.
    • However, group presentations have certain advantages (general information).
  • Your training materials should include the same equipment & supplies that will be used on the job, & they should all be on hand & ready before the training starts.
  • Developing a written training plan helps you to think out all the aspects of the training & to orient everything to the new employee & the details of the job.

Moving from Plan to Action

• Training people with some experience begins with a pretest.
• Experienced associates should end up meeting the same standards as people whom you train from scratch.
• Once the training process is complete EVALUATE.

Evaluation

• Formal evaluation: uses observation, interviews, & surveys to monitor training while its going on.
• Summative evaluation: measures results when training is complete in five ways:

1. Reaction
2. Knowledge
3. Behavior
4. Attitudes
5. Productivity

Job Instruction Training (JIT)

• Also called on the job training.
• Consists of 4 steps:

1. Prepare the associate.
2. Demonstrate the task.
3. Have the associate do the task.
4. Follow through.

Retraining

• Needed when changes are made that affect the job, employees performance drops below par, when the worker has not mastered a particular technique, or your people themselves may ask for it.
• A positive one-on-one approach to retraining is referred to a
• Coaching is a 2 part process:
  • Observation of the employees performance.
  • Conversation between manager & employee focusing on job performance.

Overcoming Obstacles to Learning

• Reduce fear with a positive approach (convey confidence in the worker).
• Increase motivation:
  • Emphasize whatever is of value to the learner, make the program form a series of small successes, build in incentives & rewards.
• Adjust teaching to learners level.
• Laziness, indifference, resistance may mean a problem worker.
• Approach training from the learner’s point of view.
• Keep it simple, concrete, practical, & real.

 

• Sometimes the training program is the problem.
  • If it is abstract, academic, impersonal, or unrealistic, it will not get across.
• Sometimes the instructor causes the learning problems.
  • Trainers need to know the job well enough to teach it.
  • They need to be good communicators, able to use words other people will understand, sensitive enough to see when they are not getting through.

Turnover & Retention

• Many hospitality operations have a labor turnover of more than 100%.
• Retention is the term given to keeping employees from “jumping ship”.
• In study by the Hay Group over a ½ million employees in 300 companies were asked about important retention factors, the top 10 were:
  • Career Growth, learning & development.
  • Exciting & challenging work.
  • Meaningful work.
  • Great people to work with.
  • Being part of a team.
  • Having a good boss.
  • Recognition of work well done.
  • Autonomy & a sense of control over work.
  • Flexible work hours.
  • Fair pay & benefits.
• Strategies for improving retention:
  • Hold 50/50 meetings.
  • Practice management by wandering around.
  • Work side by side with employees.
  • Conduct exit interviews.
  • Use other methods to listen (i.e. suggestion systems).
  • Recognize a job well done.