Why Do Learners Need a Centralized Training Platform? Top 7 Ways Employees Can Benefit From Corporate Training

Most organizations have training for their employees, which aims to equip them with the skills they need to perform their jobs and grow in their particular field or profession. But why should your training program be centralized in one place?

Why Your Organization Needs A Centralized Training Platform

There are many reasons why you should have a formalized training program, but here are the top reasons:

Unlimited Access to eLearning Materials: Upon uploading and publishing your eLearning course materials onto the LMS system, learning participants gain unlimited access to all required data. They can learn mobile or using just-in-time once they log in through smartphones or tablets. The added benefit of this is that they don’t have to wait until the next online learning session to perfect their work-related skills. Users can move conveniently, prioritizing their time with more efficiency, with an added bonus to global audiences operating in different time zones or shift workers with various office hours.

Keeps Organizations Updated with Compliance Regulations: An LMS platform can be an invaluable tool for organizations that must stay up-to-date with compliance regulations. Changes are inevitable and ongoing in relation to compliance with laws. Applying manual updates to a course to reflect these changes can be daunting. With a corporate Learning Management System, your company can conveniently add new compliance standards to an online training course within a few minutes. That way, corporate learners stay up-to-date with the latest regulations, protecting your business from costly non-compliance penalties. Similarly, you have the upper hand in ensuring all employees stay on the same page concerning company policies and expectations, decreasing employee turnover rates.

Easily Track Learner Progress and Performance: With the best learning software, you can easily track corporate learners’ progress. Doing so provides insights into how well they’re meeting their performance milestones and the areas that require improvement. For example, you can provide supplemental resources to boost the learning behaviors of users who cannot complete the training for various reasons. Most LMS platforms incorporate a reporting and analytics feature that enables users to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of a course. You can easily track where the learners are struggling in a specific course and make the necessary modifications.

Enhanced Learning Efficiency: An online learning system provides the benefit of complete control in functions like administration, automation, and communication with all users. Trainers, content creators, and learners can all come together for more streamlined planning and collaboration. The platform eases the management of user roles with seamless delivery of reminders, messages, and notifications. Companies don’t have to worry about scheduling a training session at a time when everyone is available, a task that can be time-consuming.

Reduced Costs of Training and Development: First and foremost, let’s address the obvious - no one wants to pay for a training program when you already have a free way to train new employees. While that may seem like an obvious statement, the cost of NOT implementing a training system may be higher than you realize. In fact, many companies report cost savings and increased ROI from using an LMS. Investing in a training platform means there are upfront costs. However, this is small in comparison to what in-person learning could be. According to Dave Evans, IBM saved around $200 million after switching to eLearning. So how did the switch save them? In this section, you’ll find out how eLearning can help significantly cut costs by simultaneously benefitting employees, management, and customers of your business. eLearning may not be free, but it can allow you to spend smarter, not more. Read more about How Investing in Online Training Can Cut Costs and Increase ROI in our free eBook.  

Business Scalability: A growing business brings happiness to the owner, but growing revenue and success can be hard to manage. Growth comes with new hires, updating products, and setting up new departments. Those changes and improvements are only possible with a proper training system to keep employees in the loop. An LMS platform enables companies to scale up their training and manage growth. It becomes easier to assign previous training materials, update current content, and add new content.

How Does Online Training Benefit Employees?

Mostly, one hears about how this benefits company efficiency or the bottom line. But how does it help the learners? In this blog, we'll explore why employees should WANT to take training, outside of company profit, in no particular order:

Internal Career Progress

Training programs can help employees achieve internal career growth by equipping them with the skills they need to take more responsibilities at work, including ones required to perform in senior positions. For instance, corporate training programs can equip employees with the leadership skills preferred in managerial roles.

Most organizations have comprehensive leadership development programs that facilitate succession planning, and a Learning Management System with great data analysis features will show administrators who is completing training sessions and how well they're preforming on them. This can become a great bargaining skill for learners during raise or promotion negotiations - they will have a viewable track record to Human Resource professionals that demonstrates high potential via such online training programs.

If a recession hits or hard times are ahead, employees who embrace constant learning and development may be retained when others become redundant. Such employees are also adaptable to changes in organization policy and governance structure. Moreover, such employees may be able to serve in different roles or switch to jobs that align with a new company strategy.

Training Increases Employability

Training is one way of enhancing an employee's value to any organization, not just their current one! If an training platform has the ability to export data or show proof of training publicly, this will make it much easier for learners to market themselves as great potential employees. For example, let's say you're in marketing and have taken multiple courses about SEO, Google Analytics, and Product Management. If you've completed the courses and obtained a certificate, you could add these employable skills to your personal resume. The next time you look for a job, you'll be able to prove how this training can help the new company, not only the old one!  

If an LMS has the ability to integrate with LinkedIn, this is even better! Knowledge Anywhere is a LinkedIn Learning LMS Integration Partner, which allows us to upload and update all LinkedIn Learning content directly in Knowledge Anywhere’s systems, providing a streamlined experience for companies, administrators, and learners, alike. Our platform also allows learners to post their certificates directly into their LinkedIn profile and allows them to show off which training was completed, who assigned it, and when it was done. interviewers often check the online presence of interviewees when deciding on a new hire. By completing training and making it available to the public eye, it's now possible to benefit from the fruits of your labor! 

Skills Competency

Training helps employees increase their knowledge and skills, leading to improved performance. Employees who understand their job and the resources they can use to enhance effectiveness are more productive than those without such training. Below are just a few examples of skills that learners can improve through training:

IT and Computer Skills: Most employees lack competency in IT and basic computer skills required to complete different tasks. Research indicates 82% of all the office jobs in the modern workplace require knowledge of computing and digital communication skills. Training programs can bridge these gaps by teaching them how to use different software applications and internal communication networks. Training programs also help workers learn the latest updates on the existing software, which can be used to improve the quality of their work.

Communication and Interpersonal Skills: As simple as it sounds, many employees are hired without the necessary soft skills needed to thrive in the workplace. Training can help bridge this gap to improve employee communication skills, enabling them to interact with others politely and avoid unnecessary conflicts. Communication training will also improve their ability to collaborate with others and work in teams when completing different tasks and projects.

Mentor Matching

Training programs provide an opportunity for employees to find mentors who can coach and guide them on their career. It is during training that employees encounter senior staff and consultants who specialize in different fields and professions. Employees can use this opportunity to get contacts, utilize mentors, and join professional networks. Exposure to such people helps employees benefit from their insights and experience on the corporate scene while creating powerful bonds. Word of mouth and networking are some of the most effective tools in career progression - training can give you the rare professional opportunity to have this power.

Increases Job Satisfaction

Training gives employees the skills to complete their work with minimal supervision, which increases autonomy and confidence in their work. Such employees feel more valued by the organization and more free without a micro-manager breathing down their back. As such, training linked to career planning is a great way of increasing the satisfaction of workers. When employees gain new skills and have strong bonds with mentors, this results in an improved perception of the organization and contentment with their work. Such employees are likely to be motivated to do their jobs and grow their career with the organization.

Let's be honest - sometimes, workplaces can be boring, especially when employees feel that they lack focus and inspiration to complete their work. Part of the disillusionment results from the feeling that the employer is using outdated technologies and workplace practices. ELearning can improve employee engagement by upgrading their skills and serving as a way to modernizing the organization with the latest technologies and practices. Such initiatives will enhance employee engagement leading to improved productivity and commitment to their jobs.

A New Form of Empowerment

Training also helps employees avoid anti-social practices such as sexual harassment and know how to protect themselves from workplace bullies. Training helps them identify the forms of language and sexual advances that may be considered as harassment. Employees also learn about the types of offensive language and hostility that can be classified as harassment or bullying.

Employees will in a position to identify various forms of harassment such as racial profiling, gender-based hostility, religious intolerance, and age-based intolerance. They can report such incidences to the management for further investigation. Empowerment is an effective way of reducing workplace stress.

Enhanced Safety

Training has real-world implications that can increase job performance and safety. Employees who undergo company training are likely to be aware of the risks posed by their job and heed all the safety precautions while reducing accidents and injuries at work.

For workers in high risk professions such as engineering and healthcare, training helps create a safety culture that ensures that everyone complies with strict protocols. Employees will be in a position to identify safety hazards early and take necessary measures before accidents happen. Workers also need to undergo regular training to acquaint themselves with the latest policies and industry standards.