Let’s have a look. 

Employee training covers short-term goals. 

As a L&D professional, you can use employee training to help your employees do better job. The objective of employee training is to give employee all the needed skills, especially technical skills that are required to perform day-to-day tasks. A few examples of employee training are: 

• Onboarding training 
• Company-wide training on how to use certain software 
• Understanding company processes and policies 
• How to draft concise reports 

Employee training is to: 

• Increase employee’s productivity,  
• Improve their morale 
• Reduce the probability of committing mistakes 
• Retain employees 

And employee development is about improving existing skills of employees. It’s an ongoing process. It covers long-term goals and focuses on transforming mere employees to future leaders. Without employee development, growth of an organisation will stagnate. A few examples of employee development program are: 

• Conducting a workshop on career 
• Addressing how to improve workflow and inter-department communication 
• Offering personal development programs for future company leaders 

So, which is most needed? Employee Training or Employee development? 

Let’s take an example.  

Michael has left his manual testing job and joined a different tech company as a jr. software developer. 

He is excited. 

In the first few weeks, the company invests in Michael’s training.  

He is made familiar with company’s products and services. 

He is made familiar with company’s various polices. 

He is trained how to use the latest compiler to code. 

He is trained how to write project reports as per the company’s standards. 

Michael learns everything with great interest and start performing well in his daily tasks. 

Then your company forget about Michael’s growth. He is coming every day, performing his day-to-day tasks and going away. He has become like a machine. 

He sees no growth in the current company. His tech skills will become obsolete. He will get disengaged because he has no idea about the career path or if he has any growth opportunities. He will reach a saturation point, becomes less productive, and might ultimately leave the company.  

But. 

If your company doesn’t forget about Michael, and keeps investing in his overall personality development through various employee development programs? 

It’ll make him feel motivated, his work quality will improve, he will become more productive, it’ll make him more engaged in his work, and overall, he’ll feel happy. The employee development programs will also help him to climb the corporate ladder. Maybe in the next few years, he’ll become a lead developer, technical architect, or software development manager. Most companies want to invest in their employees, but there’s one question that confuses them. 

What’s the best way to develop and implement employment training and employee development programs? 

Here are 5 tips to effectively implement employee development programs 

1: Recognize your training goals  

 First and foremost, you must take your company’s objectives into account, both in the present and future tense. Are there any areas in which things could be done more efficiently? Are there any specific concerns you face that require attention?  

What are some ways that you can simplify procedures and workflows?  

You shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to conduct an audit of your company at this juncture. Once you have a firm grasp on your company’s objectives, you will be in a better position to determine how best to equip your workforce with the information and expertise they need to assist you in achieving those objectives.  

In terms of the method itself, it is recommended that one adhere to the tried-and-trusted formula. Focus on being explicit, quantifiable, reachable, relevant, and time-bound in your goal setting.  

2. Leverage Learning Experience Platforms For Personalised Skill Development

The software, in which you will conduct those training programs, is an essential component in the overall quality of your services.  When you need unique eLearning capabilities (for example, virtual laboratories in immersive learning), bespoke design, or interactions with custom third-party applications, Techademy recommends designing a custom LXP. 

In comparison to off-the-shelf LXP, custom LXP will provide you complete control over the functionality of the solution, as well as over the aggregated learning materials, and it will assist in the long-term reduction of total cost of ownership (TCO) by helping save money on per-user subscription fees.  

With the help of these adaptable solutions, businesses can give their employees more individualised and user-friendly educational opportunities. Learning eXperience Platforms (LXPs) are sometimes referred to as “Netflix-style” since it is simple to find and use appropriate content using computers and mobile devices. LEPs make learning libraries available to businesses, giving employees access to a variety of resources, such as internal and external course catalogues, videos, podcasts, blogs, and articles, and more. Employees can access relevant content through customised learning paths with the use of LXPs, which enables personalised skill development.  

One solution is Techademy. A Learning Experience Platform that is built to handle all your learning and development needs from start to finish and can be easily linked with your existing learning ecosystems via APIs.  

3. Create engaging & interactive training programs 

We live in a world where change is constant. For businesses, it means they need to keep pace with the market and offer their employees training programs to support them in acquiring new skills and staying competitive. The training experience should be engaging and interactive to get learners fully involved. It is an essential part of a successful training program and resilience – it should be able to adapt to any obstacle so that no one will ever be left behind.  

To ensure this, corporate training programs must be engaging, interactive, and well-structured to cater to all learning styles – visual and auditory. This will allow the participants to get the most out of their time in the course.  

4. Just-in-time learning

The difficulty lies in providing the appropriate training at the right moment. Information stripped of its surrounding context is quickly forgotten. The most efficient use of an employer’s resources would be to provide workers with access to data at the point of need while simultaneously making tailored training available.  

Knowledge is provided to employees at the point of action through this “just in-time training,” which allows them to understand the answer and instantly apply it to their requirements. The real-world scenario helps improve one’s ability to remember the information. The employee is aware that there is a knowledge base that they can consult if they require additional instruction later.  

High productivity is maintained by accessing information when required rather than offered.  

Access 

We rarely wait for information because we can usually find it online. For employees, accessible learning is of utmost importance 

Relevance 

Access to the relevant and job-role specific learning fills in knowledge gaps and puts learning into action right away.  

Confidence 

Focused learning modules, especially micro-learning, provide employees a sense of ownership and control and the confidence to execute.  

5. Measure L&D effectiveness 

Educational programs are not carved in stone, and the results of one cohort are not guaranteed to be repeated in subsequent courses. Every learner is unique, and as a result, they will have a varied experience with the training strategy you choose; what works for some learners might not always work for others. As a result, it is of the utmost importance to monitor and evaluate the results and demonstrate an individualized strategy for dealing with each of them as required.  

It is undisputed that L&D professionals are creating high-quality learning content that is helping companies to promote and retain employees and even increase stock value. However, evaluating ROI remains a continuous barrier.  

The Kirkpatrick model is widely used by companies to evaluate their training programs. Some companies use all four levels, while others limit themselves to a single level, depending on their needs. Getting a meaningful evaluation requires assessing the learning experience at each level, which has proven difficult.  

Here’s a whitepaper that’ll help you to know more about measuring the ROI of corporate training. 

Conclusion: 

In conclusion, employee training and employee development are two important aspects of a company’s human resources strategy. Both help to ensure that employees have the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful in their roles. While employee training focuses on providing employees with the specific skills and knowledge needed to perform their job, employee development takes a more long-term approach and helps employees to grow and develop their skills over time.