What Is Workplace Training?

Introduction to workplace training 

Workplace training refers to structured programs designed to equip employees with the necessary skills and knowledge to excel in their job duties and contribute to an organization’s success. Workplace training can include everything from initial onboarding for new employees to cross-training senior team members for additional responsibilities.

Workplace training shouldn’t be a mere formality for your organization. To be truly effective, training programs should be strategically developed and tailored to each team’s unique goals and training needs.

By recognizing the power of effective workplace training, employers can empower staff by equipping them with the proper tools and resources. A good workplace training program enables employees to perform their duties more effectively, fostering a safer, more productive, and collaborative work environment.

In this guide, we’ll explore the essentials of workplace training. Discover how to identify training needs and overcome common challenges to ensure your program achieves the desired learning outcome.

Benefits of workplace training for employers

Even though workplace training is delivered to employees to help them gain and sharpen skills, these programs provide substantial benefits for employers.

Because effective training enhances employee performance, it drives positive business outcomes like greater productivity and organizational efficiency. When employees have a better understanding of their roles, it can help them avoid preventable mistakes that are costly to the business.

Certain types of workplace training also play an important role in satisfying compliance with labor laws and industry regulations. It can mitigate risks in the workplace and ensure the organization is operating according to industry standards.

One of the long-term workplace training advantages is that it can lead to better employee loyalty and retention. According to research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 76% of employees are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training. This supports business continuity and creates a positive culture of employees dedicated to the organization’s mission.

Moreover, organizations known for training employees well can build a positive reputation in the industry, making it easier to attract top talent.

Benefits of workplace training for employees

Just as workplace training benefits employers, it also offers substantial short and long-term advantages for employees.

In the short term, employees gain essential skills that improve their performance. For instance, after completing an Excel training course, an employee may be able to analyze and process data more effectively. This makes their workload more manageable and helps them feel confident in the accuracy of their work.

Effective training programs can make for happy and productive employees. Being good at the job doesn’t just look good to customers, colleagues, and supervisors—it also feels good for the employee, leading to increased job satisfaction. The presence of quality workplace training can boost morale and help employees feel valued, supported, and that their employer is invested in their success.

In the long term, workplace training can help develop an employee’s career path and pave the way for new opportunities. Specifically, workplace learning with self-reflection elements encourages employees to take initiative and improve their skills, making them better candidates for promotions or career advancement.

Types of workplace training 

Below is a quick overview of the most common types of workplace training.

Onboarding training

This type of initial training is administered to new hires to familiarize them with the organization, their role, and new team. The goal of onboarding training is to provide new employees with the necessary tools and knowledge to be successful in their new positions and work independently.

Compliance training

Many industries, like healthcare, finance, and education, must deliver mandatory compliance training for employees to ensure they understand the legal duties and requirements that apply to their role.

Skill development training

Skill development training includes upskilling or reskilling current employees to help them gain new knowledge and stay up-to-date on emerging technologies or new processes. This can also include role-specific training like sales training and technical skills training.

Leadership training

Leadership training involves the training of soft skills like communication, problem-solving, and adaptability to prepare team members for management or leadership positions.

Safety training

Safety training informs employees on safety best practices to prevent work-related accidents or injuries.

Identifying training needs 

Once you have a good idea of the types of workplace training you need to administer, you need to understand your employees’ training needs. Identify the specific skills or knowledge your employees lack so can tailor training materials accordingly

A training needs analysis (TNA) or assessment can provide valuable insights into which employees require training and shed light on their strengths and weaknesses. This way, you can ensure the program you develop accurately targets employees’ needs and provides relevant and valuable training.

To conduct a training needs assessment, follow these five steps: 

1. Define expectations: Identify the measurable metrics or benchmarks that employees are expected to achieve.
   
2. Identify current performance: Assess employees’ actual performance.
   
3. Analyze the performance gap: Determine the gap between employees’ expected and actual performance.
   
4. Determine the cause: Investigate the potential source of the performance gap (e.g. lack of skills, insufficient resources).
   
5. Propose a solution: Compile your findings and determine a potential solution to close the gap.

After completing the learning needs analysis, you’ll be able to determine if additional workplace training will help close the performance gap. If so, you can begin designing the program to align with the identified learning needs. 

How to design an effective workplace training program 

Once you’ve pinpointed your training needs and conducted your analysis, it’s time to build your program. Center your learning objectives each step of the way to create the most valuable content possible. 

Create a training plan

Start by creating a detailed plan or storyboard for your training program. This will allow you to clearly organize your ideas and map out content in a logical sequence. At this point, you should also define the key performance metrics (KPIs) you’ll use to objectively measure employee training progress. 

Before developing the content, review your training blueprint to ensure that it serves your main learning objective. It will be much easier to make tweaks and adjustments during the planning phase than after you’ve started to generate the training materials. This step should provide you with a good idea of the main content blocks to include in your training program. 

Develop engaging training materials

With your workplace training plan in place, you can start developing training materials using the format laid out in your storyboard. This is the core of your program, and you must find the right mix of relevant, engaging, and easy-to-understand content to help employees achieve the desired learning outcomes. 

Utilize existing resources like research papers, multimedia assets, and company documents as the foundation. You may also consult with subject matter experts (SMEs) to make sure you’re sharing complete and accurate information with employees. 

Effective training programs incorporate a variety of content formats like text, videos, and interactive elements to keep learners engaged. For example, interactive quizzes or buttons encourage employees to engage with the new knowledge they’ve gained, helping to improve retention and maintain their focus. 

Choose the right e-learning tools

There are several types of training delivery methods, including in-person, online, and hybrid or blended models. 

Whether or not your team works remotely in some capacity, e-learning platforms are ideal for onboarding and continuous training. However, certain training programs, like for first aid or CPR, can be more effective through in-person or hybrid training where learners can get hands-on instruction and practice. 

When developing workplace training courses online, course authoring tools like Storyline and Rise within the Articulate 360 platform help you create programs, while course distribution tools like Reach will help you distribute them to employees. 

Build a workplace training team

The success of a workplace training program relies on collaboration across multiple departments. Enlist a cross-functional team of stakeholders to ensure your materials are accurate and resonate with employees. Key contributors may include the learning and development (L&D) team, human resources professionals, team supervisors, managers, and any others who might have valuable input. 

Each group contributes a unique perspective, helping to create an effective training framework. For example, your L&D team will design and deliver the program, while HR team members and managers can help inform the strategy behind it by identifying skills gaps.

Best practices for training delivery 

The effectiveness of a training program hinges on how it’s delivered to employees. The following tips and best practices can help organizations enhance training program delivery methods for their unique circumstances: 

• Use technology: Leverage course distribution tools like learning management systems (LMS) and e-learning platforms to enable seamless, on-demand training delivery to learners worldwide.
  
• Facilitate engaging sessions: Get employees engaged in the training through interactive group activities, quizzes, real-world application questions, and more. 
  
• Keep the target audience in mind: Consider the preferred learning method of the target audience and how they will best be able to digest the training materials.
  
• Consider the timeline: Depending on the urgency of the training, you may decide to break the program into smaller micro-sessions. This way, employees can complete shorter training sessions over a period of time, which will help them stay engaged and be less likely to get bored. 

Measuring training effectiveness 

The main goal of any training program is for learners to achieve a desired learning objective—be it gaining a new skill, getting familiarized with their new role, or learning about a new compliance standard. All of the materials you create should serve this main objective. 

Developers will need a method for measuring training effectiveness to make improvements as needed. Setting training KPIs is an important way to demonstrate learner progress and see the direct impact of the training program on your organization. 

Some specific KPIs to consider include: 

• Training ROI
• Cost savings
• Reduced error rates
• Improved output
• Time savings
• Increased sales

Tracking these KPIs will provide concrete data on whether learners have achieved the learning objective. If KPIs don’t improve as expected, you can adjust and iterate as necessary.

Additionally, you can distribute evaluation forms to employees after completing the program. This will provide you with direct feedback and further insights into its effectiveness.

Continuous improvement in workplace training and skill development 

No training program is ever set in stone. Your observations and employee feedback are invaluable for assessing what the program did well and where you could make improvements for better future outcomes. This enhances the program’s overall effectiveness and leads to further benefits like improved employee performance, workplace safety, productivity, and job satisfaction.

Typical challenges in workplace training

Despite the clear benefits to employers and employees, organizations often face common challenges in workplace training. However, with the proper planning and strategic approach, such roadblocks can be avoided.

Keep employees engaged and motivated

For many teams, a lack of employee engagement in training is a frequent challenge. It’s important to develop courses that are interesting and easy to follow while ensuring employees receive the necessary skills and knowledge.

Conducting a training needs assessment is crucial to ensure the program is relevant to employees, which in turn helps them stay engaged and motivated. Incorporating interactive elements that challenge learners to apply their new knowledge can also enhance engagement.

Customize training for different roles

The type and method of training that an employee receives will likely depend on their specific role. A one-size-fits-all training program is not always effective.

Customizing training for different positions and distributing it to the correct audiences is often easier said than done. Depending on the size of the organization, this can require a significant amount of the training team’s time and resources.

E-learning platforms that leverage AI allow teams to efficiently create tailored learning paths based on an employee’s role, skill level, and learning goals. AI tools can generate and edit course content, suggest course elements to include, and generate interactive quizzes to make the training content relevant to different learners.

Improve knowledge retention

Often, employees complete a training program and forget the new materials soon after. Knowledge retention is a key indicator of an effective training program, showing that employees are able to apply the new information in the workplace—not just in a controlled learning environment.

Incorporating role-playing or practical applications of the new knowledge can help employees retain the information better. This hands-on experience allows employees to engage with new concepts, making it easier for them to recall information in practical settings.

Emerging trends in workplace training 

A key pattern in workplace training in recent years is the increase in remote or dispersed teams. Organizations must continue to redefine how they deliver essential training. More L&D teams are leveraging e-learning platforms to make high-quality remote training programs accessible to all employees.

At the same time, digital transformation is taking hold across all industries. A growing number of organizations are adopting advanced tech like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) into various workflows, including workplace training. In fact, data from Microsoft shows that the use of generative AI in the workplace doubled in the first half of 2024 alone.

These technologies help teams work more efficiently through automation and enable personalized learning paths based on learner’s skills, progress, and objectives. E-learning tools with built-in AI assistants are transforming workplace training, enabling the rapid creation of immersive training programs.

Examples of effective workplace training programs

Across industries, geographies, and company sizes, leading organizations continue to build effective workplace training programs that drive real results using the Articulate 360 platform.

GP Strategies

A global leader in talent transformation, GP Strategies uses Articulate tools like Storyline and Rise to develop and deliver e-learning workplace training programs for more than 6,000 organizations, earning consistently high learner feedback.

Originally, GP Strategies needed to convert thousands of hours of learning from Adobe Flash to an HTML5-based tool as the platform became obsolete. It chose Storyline as one of its primary solutions based on the ability to quickly and securely generate content.

Now, GP Strategies’ developers, instructional designers, and writers enjoy more creative freedom and save time with Storyline’s easy-to-use tools and flexible platform. From the simplest to the most sophisticated topics, GP Strategies can create interactive, secure, and efficient training programs across various industries.

Ethos Farm

Global consulting agency Ethos Farm was seeking a versatile platform to help them quickly create engaging and customized training for hundreds of learners across industries like retail, hospitality, and aviation. They wanted a flexible and easy-to-use tool that didn’t compromise on quality or creativity.

Ethos Farm chose Articulate to achieve its training goals by creating engaging, effective programs. The team appreciates how Rise enables them to create quick-turnaround content, while Storyline is effective for developing more complex and interactive courses.

With Articulate’s easy-to-use customizable tools to create high-quality training programs, Ethos Farm has been able to overcome its clients’ hesitations around e-learning, boosting learner engagement and course completion rates.

Supergoop!

Supergoop! is a prestige skincare company that uses Articulate 360 to scale its product training for partners and employees around the globe.

By transitioning from traditional, costly classroom-based sessions to engaging online courses, Supergoop! is now able to provide on-demand product knowledge to both internal teams and retail partners like Sephora. This shift has supported the company’s expansion into new regions, leading to significant improvements in customer service ratings—from 2.5 to 5 stars.

Overall, Articulate’s user-friendly system ensures easy content creation and distribution, helping Supergoop! empower its teams and enhance sales performance by keeping its partners up-to-date on product launches, company news, and beauty trends.eepen knowledge and engagement with the sport, while becoming more efficient with education delivery.