Workplace training is more improved than ever. When 94% of employees stay longer at companies that offer development programs, considering your training opportunities is a way to tackle some of the biggest workplace challenges. Part of why workers will stay longer at these types of companies is because training can help improve their connection to what they do and help them perform better. 

To help your company determine what kind of development to offer, read on to learn about 8 proven training methods and why training is so important. 

Understanding Training to Improve Employee Performance

Training is helping your employees learn new skills or develop new strategies to improve their processes. As you help your workers learn how to do their jobs better, that can help them improve their performance. For example, teaching your people how to use a new software program could help them speed up their day-to-day tasks and avoid potential errors. By implementing development opportunities, you could help your employees learn how to better do their work and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your organization as a whole. 

• Enhanced skills and competencies. Your workers can gain new skills and learn how to do certain tasks better. Upskilling your employees can help improve how smoothly your company runs because more people will know how to do certain things. 
• Improved employee morale and engagement. Most employees these days want to learn and improve their skills. Giving them these opportunities can help them feel that your company cares about their careers, which boosts engagement. 
• Higher productivity and efficiency. Employees who know how to work effectively are often more productive and efficient. Teaching your people how to do certain things or work smarter can help them get faster and more accurate. 
• Retention through professional growth. Ultimately, when your employees get the training they want, they’re more likely to stay with your company. You’ll better be able to avoid turnover issues and have a more skilled workforce. 

• Instructor-led training (ILT). This involves a professional trainer coming in and running a course for your organization. The trainer usually is an expert in an area and knows how to keep your team members engaged. 
• E-learning and online courses. You could use a digital version with videos and activities to click through online. These types of programs work well for fully virtual workforces in particular since they can be done from anywhere. 
• Workshops and seminars. Another option is to have hands’ on activities where people can try the skills immediately with instructor supervision. You might also have panels and hear from a variety of people about a topic. These can also be done in a virtual environment where the discussions are pre-recorded, and the activities can be done anywhere. 
• Mentorship and coaching. Another way to provide training is to set up a mentorship program where your more experienced employees can show newer workers how something works. This approach can also help your employees to build relationships among each other. 

8 Key Types of Training to Improve Employee Performance

Training can come in so many forms, and these are 8 of the ones that can help your employees learn important skills and boost their performance. 

Onboarding Training

Start out right by training your employees from day one. Having a solid onboarding program can improve your customer satisfaction and boost your company’s revenue. Part of that is because it helps your workers understand their role at the company and certain key processes that allow them to do their jobs more effectively. 

For example, IBM created a two year structured program that introduces its employees to the technical aspects of the job, as well as the company culture. Creating this program has helped IBM get all of their employees on the same page, even though the company operates in 170 countries around the world. Creating structured onboarding programs can set your teams up for success. 

Skills Development Training

Skills development training teaches employees particular hard or soft abilities that can help them work more effectively. It could involve anything from learning how to operate a software program or something less tangible like collaboration. Teaching your workers how to do something that’s necessary for effective work can help your teams become more efficient and operate more smoothly. 

For example, spending time on a soft skill like teamwork can help everyone at your organization learn strategies to work with each other. That can then make projects run more smoothly and ultimately make your employees more productive. 

Leadership and Management Training

Sometimes extra training can be helpful for groups that have more responsibilities: like your leadership and management teams. Having leadership specific training can be a way to help these individuals gain the skills they need to run teams and oversee your other employees. These training sessions could focus on learning effective communication, advanced problem-solving, and conflict resolution. 

Consider offering leadership training for employees who are interesting in becoming management in the future. Having workshops for these individuals can help you train up the next generation of leaders and create a highly skilled team of management for your organization. 

Compliance and Safety Training

Some types of training are necessary to create a safe and comfortable workplace, like sexual harassment training. Some industries have compliance requirements as well, such as FERPA in education and HIPAA in healthcare. Providing education on these laws and any safety regulations at your business can help your stay compliant and support your employees’ wellness. 

In general, these types of training will focus on providing your team members with knowledge. These kinds of training opportunities differ from skills development because they’re highly-specific and designed to transfer information, rather than help people learn how to do something. 

Performance Improvement Training

One way to improve your employees’ performance is to focus in on that and provide training designed to cater to weak spots in your workers’ abilities. For example, you might notice through surveys or observations that many people at your company are struggling with communication, which could be hindering how they work as a team and complete projects. This type of program would provide knowledge and workshops on how to improve in that area. 

You could hold training sessions for your team members as a whole or for smaller groups that could benefit.

Customer Service Training

If your company works directly with your customers or clients, it could be beneficial to also hold training sessions for those who are customer-facing. You could cover skills for interacting with customers, communicating effectively, and problem solving—all of which can help these team members perform better. Having regular and effective training programs are a great way to boost your customer experience because your workers will be better prepared to help them. 

Diversity and Inclusion Training

Diversity and inclusion training can help your employees learn more about how to interact with each other and make an environment where everyone feels welcome. Creating an inclusive workplace allows each employee to feel safe and supported, allowing them to do their best work. This transfers into how your company could perform. Gartner research shows that 75% of organizations with diversity exceed their financial goals, so creating a space that fosters diversity can help your company achieve its goals. 

Health and Wellness Training

Health and wellness training programs are where your employees can learn important knowledge about how to take care of themselves. These kinds of trainings can come in a wide variety of forms like: 

• Smoking cessation programs 
• Financial wellness training
• Health screenings
• Nutrition seminars

The goal with these programs is to teach your employees about aspects of their holistic wellness and help them feel better. Having this kind of support for your employees can help them focus more on work, which helps them be more productive. 

• Employee feedback surveys. Send out surveys for every employee to share their thoughts on a training program. These forms can help you better understand what your workers are getting out of the sessions and where you might want to adjust anything. 
• Performance reviews and metrics. If your performance metrics go up after regular training, that can help you see if something is effective. Tracking these numbers can help you determine what’s working and if you want to add more training. 
• Long-term tracking of skill development. You might also want to measure what skills your workers have over time. Consider having regular check-ins where employees can mark what skills they’ve developed, so you can get an idea of what areas still need improvement. 
• ROI analysis of training investments. Tracking the return on investment for what you spend on creating training can help evaluate how effective a program is. A higher ROI would indicate something is working well. 

Choosing CPS HR

To help you implement training that can improve employee performance, CPS HR is here to help. CPS HR can provide your teams with the courses that can teach them the skills they need to increase their performance. Check out CPS HR’s Training Center for professional training solutions that can elevate your workforce’s performance.