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What are employee training programs?
Employee training programs are any structures put in place to give your people the knowledge and skills they need to work within a company. Employee training is a broad category, but it can be broken down into some significant types.
The bare minimum employee training programs businesses of all sizes should offer include:
- Industry- or state-mandated compliance training (such as OSHA training or HIPAA).
- Onboarding training.
- On-the-job (OTJ) training.
Onboarding training typically covers various topics, like company culture, products and services, work standards, tool and equipment usage, and other company policies. OTJ training, meanwhile, uses hands-on learning to teach new hires the immediate skills and competencies they’ll need in their roles.
Employee training can go far beyond these basics, though. Good training can really elevate your team by teaching them new hard and soft skills, creating role clarity, increasing leadership capability, and and other benefits.
What are the benefits of employee training programs?
What are the different types of training?
Company training can take various forms, from role-playing to onboarding, or employee professional development. However, to quickly understand the different types of training, let’s categorize them by purpose, function, and technique.
- Purpose: Training types that cover a broad range of topics closely related to the different development stages of workers on the employee life cycle.
- Function: Training types that cover a narrow topic, usually based on the company’s policies or values or on the employee’s role or department.
- Technique: Training types based on how you present them to the learner, such as instructor-led.
Put simply, purpose is the “why,” function is the “what,” and technique is the “how.” These categories are not mutually exclusive; you should consider all three of them when planning any type of training.
Training by purpose
Purpose-based training types encompass many topics to help companies and employees achieve a particular goal. For instance, offering technical skills development training can aid your company’s recruitment efforts and expand an employee’s knowledge of their role.
Orientation training typically occurs during the first week a new hire joins an organization, often within the first day or two. Training topics during orientation typically include:
- Handbook policies (such as codes of conduct).
- Company mission statement and values.
- Organizational structure and leadership hierarchy.
- Administrative setup (such as company badges, computer passwords, or new hire paperwork).
- Benefits and perks.
Orientation differs from onboarding in that it deals primarily with the mechanics of the business. It’s much more administrative, while onboarding is more about performing within the role.
In contrast to onboarding training, office administrators or HR teams typically run orientation training since it focuses on topics that all employees should be familiar with. Most HR software provides ways to make orientation a smooth experience, like preboarding workflows, organizational charts, and centralized document storage for on-demand access.
Onboarding training teaches employees how to perform their jobs and how their role aligns with greater company goals and priorities. Unlike orientation training, onboarding occurs over an extended period, sometimes up to three months or a year after the new employee’s hire date.
This type of training is one of the most important things to get right as an organization. Onboarding sets the tone for the rest of an employee’s tenure. Good onboarding training can set an employee up to understand their role in the organization and what’s required to perform it; bad onboarding training can leave them confused, lost, and making mistakes.
Onboarding may look different within your organization depending on the employee’s role or department, so successful training involves collaboration among L&D, HR teams, and managers. Investing in learning management systems (LMSs), like TalentLMS, automatically delivers training to new hires at the right time during their ramp-up, ensuring they build upon previous learning.
To learn more about onboarding, check out Onboarding Best Practices & Strategies for Employees.
Some federal and state laws require training, depending on your industry. Compliance training is any training you issue employees to adhere to these regulations.
For example, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Training Requirements outline mandatory courses employers in specific industries must offer, like fire detection and prevention in construction.
States may also require you to train employees on particular subjects, such as sexual harassment and non-discrimination training in California or workplace violence prevention courses for public employers in New York. Become familiar with your state’s and industry’s laws to ensure you offer all legally required training.
When deciding on what modules to use for compliance training, search for programs that have hands-on engagement and real-life examples. You want to find training that will engage employees, so they retain the information when it’s over.
Organizations use upskilling or reskilling training as a strategy during tight talent markets to fill particular business objectives. While both focus on teaching employees new skills, upskilling focuses on expanding an employee’s knowledge within their current roles for increased performance, while reskilling prepares them with the skills needed to move into entirely different positions.
For instance, you may offer upskilling training to prepare an employee for a promotion or to take on more responsibilities. Meanwhile, you may provide reskilling training if their current job becomes obsolete after adopting new technologies and prevent layoffs.
Performance management software like 15Five supports upskilling or reskilling employees as part of your larger talent strategy. The platform’s Career Hub helps align employee aspirations with bigger-picture company goals and outline the hard and soft skills they need to advance.
Technical skills development covers any training needed for employees to stay current with their role’s latest research, skills, or technologies. For example, a software developer may take courses to become certified in the latest coding language, while a nurse completes continuing education units (CEUs) to keep their license.
In the case of the nurse, technical skills development may be a mandatory legal requirement to continue practicing. Meanwhile, for the software engineer, it may be part of their professional development goals. Software like Culture Amp helps workers build and track their employee development plans, while platforms like Coursera helps you provide the right courses.
Training by function
If purpose is the “why” of a training program, function is the “what.” Training courses by function are more narrow in scope, covering a specific aspect of business practices.
Safety training teaches employees to prevent workplace injuries or accidents between employees and customers. It can also help minimize damage to company property or equipment. Safety training is vital for companies in high-risk industries like chemical manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and transportation.
Effective safety training gives employees the tools to recognize and prevent or de-escalate safety or security threats. The training will also equip them with the knowledge of how to react to these situations after they occur, such as recordkeeping requirements or who to notify internally or externally.
TalentLMS offers several pre-built courses on safety training topics like data privacy and workplace violence prevention. Lessons are animated and interactive, increasing the likelihood of employee engagement.
Check out this trailer for TalentLMS’ bullying and violence course for HR professionals:
Technology and cybersecurity training teaches new employees how to use job-specific hardware and software as well as the strategies and tools necessary to protect confidential company and customer data. For example, a new recruiter might need training on using your company’s applicant tracking system while also learning how to detect and avoid phishing scams when interacting with candidates through company email.
Training employees on the importance of keeping data safe alongside their training tools is a great way to minimize the chance of leaking any proprietary, financial, or HIPAA-protected data.
Products and services training teaches employees in-depth about their company’s products, goods, or services. Although this training typically targets sales or marketing teams to move customers toward a purchase, companies can also make this training mandatory for all employees. Doing so makes sure they can speak knowledgeably about their offerings to customers or clients.
For instance, restaurants train kitchen and wait staff on their menu choices to learn how to make the food or help patrons place an order. Meanwhile, a retail associate must know about products to direct customers to a particular item of interest or make recommendations. As such, obligating staff to understand your business’s money-making aspects could be crucial to improving your customers’ experience.
Customer service training teaches customer-facing employees the skills, tools, strategies, and etiquette to provide excellent customer experiences. Training will typically involve learning the ins and outs of your products or services and the soft skills needed to assist, redirect, negotiate, and effectively communicate with customers.
Most companies will need to offer customer service in some fashion, so many online platforms already offer free or low-cost customer service courses you can leverage. Coursera, for example, hosts a popular Customer Service Fundamentals course that you can assign new employees to finish before interacting with your customers.
Soft skills training courses for employees comprise topics that help employees perform their duties more effectively or efficiently. Data from LinkedIn’s 2019 Global Talent Trends Report reveals that 92% of talent professionals say that soft skills matter as much or more than hard skills when making hiring decisions.
Examples of soft skills include:
- Time management.
- Public speaking and presentation.
- Teamwork.
- Flexibility.
- Organization.
Because every employee’s background and experiences differ, you can’t assume everyone comes with the same personal or professional standards. Soft skills courses can fill these gaps and give them the knowledge and tools to optimize their performance.
LMS solutions often offer soft skills courses with gamification elements and pre-built templates that you can modify to fit your particular learning instance. EdApp, for example, provides a library of more than 1,000 premade courses in the soft skill and technical arenas, such as its Problem Solver course. You can even start self-authoring lessons for free.
Communication training comprises courses to help employees effectively exchange ideas and collaborate with workers from various backgrounds or working styles. Although communication is a soft skill, it’s crucial to prioritize this kind of training to foster harmonious working relationships that lead to company innovation.
This employee training also encompasses much more than “how to talk to someone.” It also involves the subtle verbal and non-verbal interactions that impact your company’s overall culture, like employee happiness, engagement, and loyalty.
Beyond teaching theoretical knowledge, discussions, role-playing, and other hands-on training techniques are the best ways to teach communication skills. Live lessons allow employees to decode their peers’ communication while practicing their own.Software with blended learning capabilities can also help with this. Zoho People’s Corporate LMS, for example, lets you create courses with both virtual and in-person elements for a more well-rounded training experience.
For managers or those in positions of authority, leadership training teaches them the soft skills necessary to make decisions, adequately delegate responsibilities, and work collaboratively with direct reports or peers. It is one of the most important employee training programs your company can offer because all organizations, big or small, need leaders.
Leadership courses frequently include both soft and technical skill training. Leaders need a variety of soft skills to motivate teams, inspire followership, and ensure the completion of business objectives. Soft skill development might cover decision-making, task delegation, conflict resolution, and employee feedback.
In addition, leaders must be well-versed in the tools and techniques of their or their company’s trade and how to get priorities done with utmost quality and efficiency. Hard skill development courses for leaders may include certifications in project management, business development, or another industry-specific area.
At TechnologyAdvice, we offer multiple ways for employees to prepare for leadership positions. For example, we host an Emerging Leadership Academy, mentorship programs, and on-demand leadership courses in our LMS. These provide leaders the flexibility to learn at their own pace and the resources to be effective changemakers in their company.
Further reading: 7 Best Manager Training Programs for 2024
Quality assurance training teaches employees what makes an outstanding product or service for your company and how to maintain this quality standard. Effective quality assurance training can directly affect your customers’ satisfaction and loyalty.
EdApp offers several courses in quality assurance to help employees learn about process standards and documentation, ISO 9000, and audits. By using either EdApp’s massive 1,000+ ready-made courses or its AI create feature, you can craft quality assurance courses tailored to your business.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training involves teaching employees about the lived experiences of coworkers from different backgrounds. The goal is to encourage positive interactions and communication among employees while reducing the risk of discriminatory behavior in the workplace.
According to Pew Research’s 2023 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace study, 56% of workers indicate that focusing on DEI in the workplace is a good thing. Formal DEI training can illustrate your company’s sincere commitment to positive change, along with efforts like implementing employee resource groups.
It’s important to implement these programs with sensitivity and care to meet the specific needs of your organization. Consider using survey tools or skills assessment software to test employees’ knowledge before you choose what DEI courses to invest in.
Training by technique
Training by technique covers the “how” of the training process. Different people learn differently, so a good training program implements a few different learning methods. Usually, the most effective training incorporates digital and in-person training techniques, known as blended learning.
Choosing a training program for your business
There are mountains of options available when choosing employee training programs for your company. You need to consider what skills you are trying to train, what goals you are trying to accomplish with the training, and your teaching methods for each program. On top of that, you have to decide what resources will work best for you.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of these choices, so here are some tips:
- Have clear objectives. Outline the specifics of what you are hoping to gain from an employee training program. Consider who is doing the learning, and why. Build your training around those key principles.
- Create a comprehensive plan. Go into as much detail as you are able when planning your training. The more information and resources you provide when implementing a program, the easier it will be to train people in the long-term, and the more aligned they’ll be because of it.
- Ask for feedback. Don’t launch your training and never look at it again. Keep checking on how it’s working, and if it’s accomplishing your objectives. If it isn’t, it’s time to reevaluate the program.
- Invest in effective training resources. Don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to. Take a look at some of the LMS software that’s available, and see if any of it suits your needs.
Read our practical guide for next steps: How to Create a Training Program for Effective Employees
