The Top 3 Benefits of Online Training Programs

Resources

July 16, 2019

Resource: Blog Industry: Multiple Industries
Tags: Online Training, Safety

When it comes to measuring return on investment (ROI), too often people only focus on monetary value. However, the beneficial gains should be considered as well when evaluating if an asset is worth the cost.

This is especially true for assets such as online employee training software, that don’t directly generate revenue. In order to determine if online training is a good fit for you and your company, you must look at both sides of its return on investment. In addition to financial return on investment, online employee training programs offer you increased productivity, easier training compliance, and tools to monitor employee training.

Group of workers receiving online training, looking at computer

1. Increased Manager Productivity

Online employee training is often seen as a quality of life item, as opposed a necessity. But ask any training manager using online training if they would give it up, and you’ll find a different story.

Online employee training automates or eliminates a lot of tedious and time-consuming processes associated with employee training.

For instance, one of the biggest challenges of training employees is the scheduling logistics. Figuring out the best time to pull employees away from their duties is both a nightmare for you and a nuisance for employees.

Instead, online training puts the work in the hands of employees. All you have to do is schedule a start and end window for employees to take their training.

Employees then log on whenever they have some free time, and complete their training at their own pace. This also improves the effectiveness of training, as employees with different learning styles can go at the speed that is comfortable for them.

This change in the way employees are scheduled for training is why a user research study found 50% of companies that use online training see their training admins gain significant productivity. Increased productivity creates room to focus on other areas of training, as well as relieve you of some job stress.

2. Easier Training Compliance

Online training software also relieves training managers from some of the burdens of complying with safety regulations.

Many types of training, particularly safety training as mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), must be administered on a recurring basis. For example, OSHA requires certain types of confined space training to reoccur once every 12 months.

This means in addition to tracking when training was last administered, you must also know when an employee’s training is about to expire. Keep in mind that OSHA’s safety training requirements vary depending on the type of work and regulations, meaning some training will expire earlier than others.

Information as overlapping and evolving as an employee's training history will quickly become unmanageable in a spreadsheet. Instead with online training programs, all of that critical information is stored and tracked for you, with advanced logic to automatically calculate when training will expire.

When your training data is properly managed, you'll be able to easily see which employees are qualified to perform what tasks.

Additionally with online training software, you can set up automatic email alerts to notify you ahead of time when an employee's training is about to expire. These email notifications will help you stay proactive with meeting training requirements, but should also be able to alert you of any employee's who miss their refresher training.

These features will greatly reduce the burden and stress of making sure everyone meets training standards. As a bonus, maintaining training compliance will also help your organization avoid hefty violation fines and costly workplace incidents.

employee training report

3. Improved Employee Training Evaluation

Online employee training software is an excellent tool to deliver and track your employee training. Furthermore, also offers the ability to easily monitor and evaluate your training program. With online training software, you can create reports that measure training effectiveness and meet performance goals.

For instance, the training class pass rate is a key leading indicator of employee performance. If you notice a drop in this metric, it might mean it’s time to consider trying a new training delivery method. Most online training software will have popular reports and metrics such as class pass rate already built for you.

Pre-built reports make it much easier to trend and analyze data than in a spreadsheet, but tend to be limited in which information can be presented. However, the best online training software will also allow you to create your own reports to give you as much freedom with your data as possible.

Creating reports with online training software is a straightforward process that is more intuitive than spreadsheet reports. These online training reports should also be easier to access as well. Ideally, you'll be able schedule reports to be sent to you on a set reoccurring basis.

Training reports and metrics are the key to bringing value to your training program. They can help demonstrate how employee training impacts other areas of your organization. More importantly, reports and metrics allow you to evaluate your training program, and determine if it needs adjustments or changes to make it more effective.

The Next Steps to Take

If you’re wondering if online employee training is right for your organization, here’s what you should do next.

If you haven’t already, determine what are the most important features of online training software. You can do this by asking yourself some questions regarding your training needs.

Next, take a look some of the companies offering online training software. You may consider having a system developed internally, but keep in mind this tends to be costly and can be a huge time sink. In order to cover all options, sign up for a free demo or trial of some training software to see if it would be a good fit.

For instance, Vector Solutions offers online training tracking and safety training content, as well as software for the EHS department. From employee training to workplace incidents, you'll be able to house all your critical data in one location, with all the benefits we've mentioned and more! Take the next step by signing up for a free demo to learn more!

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