Investing in training and development for employees is essential for any business that wants to improve productivity, create a positive work environment, and increase employee retention rates. However, it’s not enough to simply offer training programs without considering how to make the most of your time and theirs. To get the most out of training sessions, employers need to take a strategic approach — here are four ideas to truly inspire your employee development:

Strategy #1: Choose Training Opportunities that Align with Your Company Goals

Setting clear goals and objectives ensures alignment with your company’s mission. Training will be relevant and meaningful to employees while helping to close skills gaps that will add value to your bottom line.

For example, if your goal is to increase sales, providing sales training or customer service workshops directly related to current business problems or growth opportunities can help you move forward in the right direction.

Strategy #2: Ask Employees How They Want to Grow

Involving employees in planning and implementing training programs helps them feel valued and more invested in their own development. This approach leads to higher participation rates, better retention of information, improved job performance, and increased job satisfaction levels among staff members — ultimately leading to a more successful company overall.

Strategy #3: Experiment with Different Training Formats

Training programs can come in many forms: online courses, live webinars, hands-on learning, one-on-one coaching, in-person workshops, team-building exercises, and standard classes with tests, to name a few. Experimenting with multiple formats gives you an idea of what your employees like and how they engage and learn. Some options (such as webinars and courses) allow you to easily track attendance and engagement, giving you direct insight into the effectiveness of each program.

Strategy #4: Accept and Act on Feedback

Investing in employee training is just the beginning. To ensure your initiatives are hitting the mark, employers need to accept feedback from participants and act on it accordingly. Having a systematized way to collect feedback and apply it to future training decisions helps you choose trainings that need the needs of employees and the organization as a whole.

How HiTouch Business Services Can Help

In today’s competitive marketplace, businesses must stay ahead of the curve by developing their most valuable asset: their workforce. At HiTouch Business Services, we’re helping you make training and development a priority with products, equipment, and solutions to support employee training and development. We provide business services and solutions for every facet of your workplace: Breakroom solutions, print and marketing services, promotional solutions and unique promotional products, IT services and solutions and innovative facility services and solutions.​

Get in touch today and let’s collaborate on creating and implementing effective employee training and development programs.