Rob Macleod — April 10, 2017 It’s no secret that corporate training departments often lack the funding and talent needed to create effective training programs. As an instructional designer, I have seen budgets slashed instructional design positions given to people that had no prior experience in building a solid curriculum. Creating a successful training program is critical for any business, taking shortcuts can often result in employee frustration and diminished performance.
So what can you do to improve employee skill levels and lower your attrition rates? In one word, eLearning. Traditional classroom training is costly and often employees with little or no training experience are placed in design or facilitation roles with no real understanding of how to build and execute an effective training program.
eLearning companies provide more than just a platform to build online learning curriculum, they also provide support that can help you create an effective training program that your employees can access from anywhere.
What are the benefits of moving to an eLearning option?
Self-Paced Learning
One of the challenges of traditional training is the idea that everyone learns at the same pace. Which results in those that learn quickly checking out, and those that need more time reluctant to participate. The result being that no one is getting what the learning experience they need to be successful. With self-paced learning modules, you can allow your current or new employee learn at their own pace, which builds confidence and increases retention.
With most of us glued to smartphones and tablets makes it an easy transition from traditional classroom to the virtual classroom. Building a learning environment that engages your learners through eLearning and chat room options for review and discussion can improve the transition from the training environment to the working environment.
Reduced Costs/ROI
If you had a solution that increased skill, improved employee satisfaction and lowered your overall cost, you wouldn’t hesitate to take it. That is what eLearning can do for your business. Cost reduction is one of the primary reasons businesses choose a virtual training or eLearning option. But unlike other cost saving measures that may result in lower quality, adding an online training option can transform your business training while saving money.
In addition to reducing overall training costs you should also assess the ROI implementing an eLearning program brings. While starting a program does involve cost at the beginning as you need to add new technology, an online learning option can still yield a positive return on your initial investment in ways you haven’t even considered, here are a few ways you can realize a positive ROI on your eLearning program:
- Flexible Learning: you no longer have to worry about where your training will take place. With a versatile eLearning partner your employees can train at their desk, at home or even on a smartphone or tablet. In addition to making it easier to distribute training, it also saves money by allowing more flexibility when scheduling training classes.
- Learning Management: How can managing your online learning help you save money? The ability to push training to employees struggling in real time can help you improve performance. When your associates are performing at high levels they are happier and less likely to call off of work, which can not only save money, it can also help you make more money as well.
- Travel Expenses: If you have more than one site, you know all too well the challenges of bringing all of your staff together in one place when they need training on new products or policy changes. When you implement a self-paced learning option you can reduce the cost of travel while still having verification that your employees are up to date on new policies and products.
eLearning is no longer an untested idea. It has been well vetted and proven to improve employee performance while saving, and continuing to save your business money. By adding new technology to your business, you can see a solid return on your investment from both the eLearning platform and the improved performance of your employees. Building an online learning program can result in a continued ROI for years, so the only question left to ask is what are you waiting for?
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