How to Train a New Employee: The Ultimate Employee Training Checklist

When an employee starts a new job, that job has its own challenges and learning curves. In order to overcome these learning curves, training is required. But sometimes, the employee onboarding and general training experience can be more stressful than it needs to be.

This is because many companies don’t have a solid training program in place. Instead, they often offer minimal and simplistic training experiences to their staff. But in 2022, we can see that this has to change. In today’s world, people are looking for more from their employers:

94% of employees feel they would stay with an organization for longer, provided they were involved in their own learning and development cycle.

So, how do you start creating an effective employee training plan while managing a business and ensuring that all the work still gets done efficiently and on time?

In this post, we’ll share the most common questions we get asked when business owners and L&D teams are building their training strategy, along with some practical and actionable answers!

Let’s get started.

How Does Employee Training Benefit My Company?

Your people are the heart of your organization

You first need to note that your employees are the essence of your business. They are the people who will be interacting with your clients, creating new systems and processes, and becoming your future leaders. So, by taking the time to equip them with the right tools and training, you’re encouraging top talent to stay at your business. You will also develop them as individuals, and each employee will overcome performance gaps, improve skills, and broaden their knowledge. It’s a gratifying element of being part of a proactive workplace.

Your company gains competitive advantage

When you train employees, they build on their strengths and become more efficient at their jobs. When employees learn more, they become engaged and show a higher motivation and drive at work. Team members share this positivity influx, but your customers also see it. From the time a customer interacts with your staff, they’ll be able to see the level of cohesion between employees and appreciate their friendly and helpful nature. Now, customers spread the word to others about your positive culture. As a result, you start to gain a competitive advantage in the industry.

Your organization starts attracting more top talent

We all know that the recruiting process can be somewhat daunting. Sometimes, hundreds of resumes go through, and no one seems to fit into the company’s culture or fulfill the job requirement. But when your existing employees are well-equipped and trained, that information is shared throughout your industry. Suddenly, top talent comes to you instead of the other way around. Engaged employees are immensely powerful and should always be top of mind for managers and business owners.

The Ultimate Employee Training Guide – Common Questions Answered

Employee training and development programs are here to help you retain employees by enabling and equipping them to grow within your company. These training programs will also extend their skillset and help employees stretch to their full potential at their company.

Here are some essential questions and answers you should read before planning your employee training program:

How do I identify what training my employee needs?

Before you begin training employees, take a step back and analyze what knowledge gaps you have within your company. This can be done by conducting a needs analysis, where you can investigate all gaps from the top down. You will quickly start to see gaps. Now, set your learning goals in alignment with these knowledge gaps. The second part of the needs analysis is being able to speak to employees themselves. As a manager or L&D expert, you’ll only know a particular portion of gaps. Ask employees where they feel they need improvement and add this to your learning plan.

There are so many types of employee training out there. What kind of training should I choose for my team?

That’s right. There is a plethora of training types to choose from. But your choice of training should always be directly related to the learning topic. For example, if you are conducting safety training, you may want to do in-person training because it’s more of a hands-on topic. But if you’re doing leadership training, you might want to use a blended learning approach. This is where you may have phase one of your training online and phase two in-person so potential leaders can work on their soft skill training with a manager.

How do I correctly set employee expectations?

Before starting any training program:

1. Try to communicate your expectations to employees clearly. You can do this by setting up a one-on-one meeting with an employee and clearly explaining the training program.
2. Try to talk through your learning objectives and make them feel comfortable enough to answer any questions they may have.
3. Make a point of letting them know that the training is a tool to help them upskill and reskill, and it’s not a measurement of their performance. You’ll be surprised how often employees assume a bad training result could get them fired. You don’t want to send the wrong message to them.

How can I infiltrate training into onboarding without making it feel forced?

New employees are the best candidates for training because their level of motivation is already very high. They’re excited to be with your organization and want to prove themselves. Try to take advantage of the hype and equip them with a series of eLearning courses. These courses don’t have to be “tests,” but they can explain the company culture, processes, and team structures. Also, assign them a “buddy” who can show them all there is to know about the business. It’s an exciting way of educating them instead of a full day in a boardroom with a bunch of PowerPoint presentations.

Are there any other ways to enhance training?

There are many ways to make your training creative. You can add a “mentoring” element to it, where your managers mentor employees as they proceed through training courses; it’s an excellent way of understanding where your staff is and which areas they need assistance with. You can also personalize employee training experiences, allowing them to have more tailored learning opportunities specific to their job title and role. Employee development platforms can really take this personalization to the next level.

Elevate Your Employee Training Program with Advanced Career Development Software

Training employees is about upskilling and keeping them engaged. But it’s also about enhancing their learning experience and making team members feel appreciated. Here at Juno Journey, we have an employee development platform to help you build high-quality courses and onboard employees and their career paths, all in one space, because your people are the key to your organization’s success.

Click here to get in touch with our team and learn more about how Juno Journey can elevate your employees learning and development.