With summer in full swing, the last thing you may want to do right now is think about students heading back to school in the fall.

But it’s actually a perfect time to think about the workplace classroom and to begin planning for training to take place in September, when the majority of your workforce should be back from their vacations.

Training is important for you and your staff for many reasons.

It allows new employees to become familiar with company policies and procedures, and existing employees to learn about any changes, and new methods or new rules and regulations, along with refreshing skills and knowledge they already possess.

But employee development is beneficial to your company in other ways, going beyond learning core skills or ensuring compliance.

It can:

  • Reduce turnover and mistakes
  • Increase customer satisfaction, as staff members serve customers better and faster
  • Help your company stay ahead of the competition
  • Increase efficiency, and quality of output

As well, providing training shows that you value your employees by investing in them, thereby empowering them, building their confidence and increasing their job satisfaction. Along with strengthening their skills, it addresses weaknesses, and employees who are properly prepared require less supervision. It also ensures that staff members are all following the same standards, and it reinforces best practices.

Regular learning sessions also promote a culture of learning and innovation, which is invigorating for employees.

Along with formal training, it can also take the form of lunch and learn sessions, which should be voluntary — not required instruction. These types of sessions should be about employee development, whether that’s professional or personal.

Because they’re not required, lunch and learns can take on virtually any subject, such as time management or stress management tips that are useful both at work and at home, or topics that are less serious and more fun such as how to beat the afternoon slump or how to spruce up your workspace. They could even involve the presentation of an interesting TED Talk.

To encourage trainers and human resources professionals to start thinking about their fall programs, we’re devoting the month of August to the theme of Back to Class, and we’ll be posting on social media and writing blogs all about training.

As well, Velsoft offers a variety of courses for trainers to get themselves ready to offer fall sessions, such as:

  • Advanced Skills for the Practical Trainer
  • Developing Your Training Program
  • Facilitation Skills
  • Survival Skills for the New Trainer
  • The Practical Trainer
  • Using Activities to Make Training Fun
  • Making Training Stick
  • Training with Visual Storytelling
  • Developing a Training Needs Analysis
  • Measuring Training Results
  • Developing a Lunch and Learn Program