Continuous training is more and more viewed as a strategic objective within companies. According to a US research(*), 70% of employers believe that employees need continuous learning simply to keep up with the demands of their current jobs and 96% of employers say ongoing education improves job performance.
But although businesses acknowledge that training their staff for their specific functions or for compliance is essential, they often do not realise the importance of training employees on their company’s policies.
According to a survey carried out by employee training software review firm, Software Advice, which was based on 1,633 adults in the US, only 56% of employees said they had received training on corporate policies. Out of those, 57% were very or extremely confident that they understood and remembered them. 44% of employees are therefore not aware of company policies.
Ensuring all employees have a good grasp of corporate guidelines, such as equal opportunities, harassment and non-disclosure policies, is extremely important for a company and can avoid future legal issues.
The survey also showed that the delivery of the training played a key part in the retention of the information. 26% of respondents who received a combination of in-person and online training were extremely confident in their knowledge of companies policies as opposed to 15% of respondents who were trained solely with online material.
Confidence level by training type
Training can be a burden for companies. Many businesses do not have the resources and budget required to efficiently train their staff and rely solely on online material.
There are however open-source learning platforms now available (Totara) that offer a cost-effective answer to training requirements:
- Open-source allows for on-site and off-site access. Staff can access training material from anywhere on their computer, tablets or phones
- Platforms offer user-centred learning: they can integrate videos, quizzes, surveys making the training more interactive and engaging therefore increasing levels of retention
- Progress of a group of learners or individuals and the stage they are at is easily monitored. Each user can also be offered a personalised training
- Platforms are easily and quickly developed and implemented
As a Totara Platinium partner, Webanywhere has already implemented many open-source learning platforms for a wide range of organisations in the healthcare, education, retail and technology sectors.
Erin Osterhaus, HR Market Researcher at Software Advice, comments:
