Intern programs have long been viewed as a way for companies to get free menial labor and for students to get tedious but necessary work experience. Many of us started our professional lives as interns and learned nothing more than how to unjam the copy machine. (Ok, that’s probably the most useful business skill I’ve got, but you see my point.) Today, however, internships are evolving. The US Department of Labor recently changed its regulations. As a result, most interns have to be paid. … [Read more...]
Powerful Employee Learning for Small Businesses on a Budget
Small businesses don’t have a ton of money to throw at training. They have to fill skills gaps and onboard new people as efficiently as possible. But most training today revolves around expensive courses, simulations, or video games. So what can you do that will effectively help employees learn without killing the budget? Start by focusing on essential employee behaviors. Even the most cost effective program wastes resources if you aren’t training people in skills that improve your … [Read more...]
Get the Benefits of Employee Training with Lower Costs
Well-trained employees are good for business. They perform better, stay in their jobs longer, and create happier customers. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get these benefits. You can use informal on-the-job training to improve performance and save money. Formal training takes a big investment. Formal training, which includes highly structured classes, courses, videos or games often come in expensive packages with high costs for development … [Read more...]
No-Nonsense Employee Training: The Best Articles of This Week
This week, we learn how to get people to collaborate better, engage employees with social learning and the arts, and calculate turnover cost. There's bonus content you can use in diversity training as well. Every week, I read dozens of articles about management, human resources, and employee development. I look for advice grounded in reality that small and large companies can easily use to help people engage, perform, and improve. I've pulled the best ones from this week so you can get … [Read more...]
Save Money by Turning Informal Learning Into Your Most Powerful Training Tool
According to the Association for Training and Development’s 2014 Industry report, the average company spends $1208 on training for one employee in one year and an average employee spends 31.5 hours in training. However, it’s estimated that only 10-15% of what an employee learns in training gets applied in everyday work. So really, that $1208 per employee only buys 3.2 to 4.7 hours of training that will actually be used and the other 26.8 to 28.3 hours per year are essentially wasted. That’s more … [Read more...]