Companies know the value of properly training employees to be productive and, thus, to contribute to profits and the overall bottom line. But do you realize how expensive not achieving that goal costs? According to one survey, companies in the United States and UK spend a collective $37 billion dollars annually on retaining employees who don’t understand their jobs. In other words, “saving” money on training expenses actually is no savings at all for many businesses.
Employee training software would seem to be the answer to this dilemma, but the solutions many companies use fall far short of expectations. The software may be too old, be too difficult to use, or doesn’t meet the scope training departments require to be effective. Yet, just like how companies spend billions to keep unproductive employees, businesses stick with their original investments. Here are some reasons why employee training software just doesn’t cut it anymore:
It Was Pre-Video
Easily accessible, compact, portable, everywhere video is so prevalent in today’s digital world that you might forget that it’s a relatively new development—for example, YouTube is only about a decade old. Older employee training software might not have been designed with video in mind, and incorporating the capability might not be easily possible. However, because companies significantly invested in a system, they may be reluctant to give up on it. Modern training solutions are designed with video in mind, and some platforms can integrate with existing employee training software to provide the boost that might have been sorely lacking.
It Isn’t Mobile
Similarly, older employee training software might pre-date smartphones and tablets, residing solely on (often, desktop) computers. This ultimately limits where employees learn, how many can use the software at one time, and the quality of the learning itself. If a worker is training on a computer in a back office and then must apply those skills on the floor, some of that knowledge is going to be lost in transit. Mobile training solutions allow for learning anywhere it’s convenient, logical, and most effective.
Distribution Is an Issue
Delivering learning content to the people whom will benefit from it can be challenging for some employee training software. Timely updates are necessary so that workers are current with their skills and the processes that must be performed perfectly, but many platforms don’t lend themselves to distributing those updates in an efficient manner. Training departments either must spend too much time so that the content is up to date, or give up and instead start shipping printed training manuals to individual offices and stores. Today’s mobile training solutions automatically sync devices containing content so that updates are sent and arrive with no fuss.
Too Much Work for End-Users
If employee training software wasn’t assembled with ease of use in mind—for corporate trainers, workers on the front line, and everyone in between—it won’t deliver the impact necessary to foster learning and improve productivity. End-users will be hesitant to use a platform that’s too much work and that doesn’t give them the easy access to the content they need. As a result, the expensive software sits unused and employees are subsequently poorly trained. Integrating a mobile solution into a current system or switching to software that is more user-friendly and incorporates features, such as video, that appeal to today’s generation of workers can lead to better training, more engaged employees, and, most importantly, increased productivity that boosts profits.
What shortcomings have you experienced with your employee training software?
