Providing on-the-job training as a significant part of your workforce development program can provide big advantages for most companies. Employee surveys indicate on-the-job training can increase employee satisfaction and motivation, lowering turnover rates, while increasing productivity and better aligning skills with job requirements. The impact may be greater during the current high employment environment currently found in the United States.
On-the-job Training Advantages
Improved employee performance and productivity: On-the-job training allows employees to learn specific skills and knowledge related to their current job. When employees are trained in specific tasks and processes, they can perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively, leading to increased productivity for the company.
Increased employee satisfaction and motivation: Employees who receive training and development opportunities often feel more valued, engaged, and motivated in their jobs. These lead to improved performance and satisfaction.
Better employee retention: Companies that invest in the development of their employees regularly experience lower turnover rates, as employees may be more likely to stay with an organization that is invested in their growth. This reduces the cost and disruption caused by high turnover rates.
Better alignment of skills with company goals: Training and development can help ensure that employees’ skills align with the company’s goals and objectives, which can help the company achieve its strategic objectives.
Enhanced reputation: Companies that invest in the development of their employees are often viewed as being more attractive to potential employees and customers.
Increased adaptability: On-the-job training and workforce development programs can help employees to be more adaptable and able to respond to changes in the industry or company.
Better customer service: When employees are well-trained and knowledgeable, they are better equipped to provide high-quality customer service, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Cost savings: Training employees on the job can be less expensive than hiring new employees, as there is no need to pay for recruiting, hiring, or relocating expenses.
Cost and Risks of On-the-job Training
Effective on-the-job training requires a company to examine how they can best increase the skills of current and new employees and commit skilled employees to support this training. The time taken away from the line for both the trainers and the trainees will be significant.
However, many companies find the larger risks to be associated with focusing the training on too small a skill set or group of workers or ignoring providing on-the-job training at all. Focusing on a narrow set of skills or tasks may not provide employees with broader knowledge and skills that could be beneficial for their career development. Focusing on a small group of employees may lead to limited productivity improvement and may have a negative impact on the morale of those employees not able to participate in the training.
Unfortunately, the cost in time and money along with the risk of failure prevents many companies, which would greatly benefit from on-the-job training, from adequately investing in their current employees. Too often this sustains high turnover rates, increased hiring costs, and training focused on new employees at the expense of upskilling and retaining existing employees.
Overall, providing on-the-job training and workforce development can have many advantages for a company, such as improved employee performance, satisfaction, and retention. However, it also requires a significant investment of time and resources and when inadequately funded may not always provide the scope or applicability that employees may need to advance their careers. Therefore, companies should carefully consider the scope of on-the-job training and workforce development and be fully committed to a meaningful program before moving forward.
This piece was written with the help of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. A series of requests were submitted to ChatGPT and then compiled and edited to create this post.
