We Need Training!
shargold
13 Posts
We want to establish a formal training program for all employees. Topics will include supervisory training, customer service, team building, etc. Various methods will be used, such as seminars, on-site consultants, web-based.
But I need your guidance and advice. How many hours of training per year should be required?
What should be the reward and/or corrective action taken if the training is not completed timely?
Thanks for your help!
But I need your guidance and advice. How many hours of training per year should be required?
What should be the reward and/or corrective action taken if the training is not completed timely?
Thanks for your help!
Comments
After that I would list anything you feel is necessary training. Think back over the past few years: any issues that have come up that you think training might have helped. Or potential issues where you think training can help you avoid problems.
I would concentrate on WHAT training I feel is appropriate, and let that guide the number of hours required.
While I think rewards are always nice and can make training less dreaded by the employees, they are a perk and not required. For legally required training I would make sure the employees have ample opportunity to complete, then if for some reason they don't, give them a warning notice to either complete by a certain date or terminate. If they have plenty of opportunites, this should not be an issue. For non-legally required training, it is up to your company to determine how important that training is and what consequences you want to impose.
Your criteria for training should be how much is needed not how long/short it should be. Start with your problem areas, i.e. harrassment? discipline? safety? Different departments will require additional topics such as customer service, hazardous material, morale buiilding, etc.
Establishing a training program is a big undertaking. Your mission is to make it produce positive results. Once you get the ball rolling, it should become part of the employee's job. Look at these sessions as constructive and upbeat.
Mandatory training should be planned for things like sexual harassment, ethics, annual insurance open enrollment, safety, OSHA requirements, bloodborne pathogens, ergonomics in the workplace, documentation and recordkeeping for supervisors, workers compensation for the supervisor, Discrimination (application process, interviewing, personnel transactions, termination), Basic FMLA Knowledge for Supervisors and Managers and others. I suggest you might start with the latter list, some of which you surely are doing already.
I don't see the value of determining a required number of hours of training per year or penalties for not participating as was included in your question, unless you already have a solid training program in place and are just trying to tweak it around and involve more of your workforce.
Oh, and don't forget to schedule monthly S.A.V.E. training. Traveling consultants are available. x:-) One is in Tennessee.
Our President's main concern is Supervisory Training (we promote employees to management positions with no training. A common problem, I'm sure). Also customer service and team building are great ideas for staff personnel.
What training methods have you used and found to be successful (i.e. off-site seminars, on-site workshops, CD-ROM's or websites)?
Is 40 hours of training per year a reasonable request for supervisors? If too much, what do you require?
Thanks again!
First time writer. I'm kind of in a similar situation. I was an HR Coordinator laid off by a fortune 500 company at a business unit of 280 up north. I was hired as an HRM at a business unit of 40, Japanese owned and operated in the south. Supervisor training was and still is a major issue here. Employees who began with the company when it opened as operators are now supervisors without the training and without the authority either, just the pay. I've recommended formal training from a professional Hr organization or the community college, but it wasn't allowed due to the expense. So, I developed my own training materials and presentation and conducted the training myself. Upper management approved the materials and very limited time for training (2 hours, every six months on a saturday. Our manufacturing manager refused to go to the training and degrades my efforts as well as the contents of the materials. There was no formal reprimand issued to the manager and the training has gone by the way side. The executives wanted to see measurable results from the two, two hour sessions I was permitted to give over the course of a year. This was obviously impossible to do given the circumstances.
I'm probably looking for more advice than I'm giving you, but if you learn anything from my experience, you've got to make sure that upper management is fully committed to the training and they have an established goal in site that they expect to meet by implimenting the training. If not, you won't get the support you need when you need it and no matter how many hours of training you have you won't get the desired end results.