Did You Get the Memo? Corporate Training Goes Online!

Every scene in the film Office Space elicits groans of recognition from corporate employees. From endless memos to challenging bosses, there are a lot of demands to meet and manage every day—even without TPS reports. The last thing any worker needs, then, is yet another endless series of boring meetings to learn new skills and responsibilities.

And yet, every day American office workers spend enormous amounts of time at meetings—and there is a high cost to business when there are too many meetings. According to Chart Learning Solutions, Inc., “There are over 11 million meetings taking place in the US every day … the cost of time lost after ineffective meetings can amount to $800,000 per year for every 1,000 employees. This is called the meeting ‘recovery syndrome.’ People have to work harder to make up for lost time.” The facts are clear: “Some companies have monthly, weekly, or even daily meetings. This is almost always a bad thing. Too many meetings can crush an employee’s productivity and their ability to stay focused on their work.”

Obviously, though, there are times when employees have to learn new skills or when companies need to communicate new policies, so corporate training is a regular feature of many businesses. One study found that companies “spend as much every year on their own training and learning programs as the nation spends on all of its colleges and universities. The benefits they expect to achieve commonly include increased revenues produced by more highly trained or motivated employees, along with improvements in employee recruitment and retention.”

Today’s companies have borrowed a page from the success of online colleges and utilize online corporate training as a more efficient way to provide opportunities for employees to learn workplace regulations, develop new skills, and complete new credentials that may enhance their careers. In a way that is similar to online college programs, online corporate training can solve many different problems in workplace communication and time management issues, and provide broader, more flexible education programs for their employees.

How Can Employers Utilize Online Training?

• Company-wide training is useful for explaining changes in corporate policy to all employees. Topics might include new computer programs, diversity and interpersonal training, leadership skills, the distribution of human resources information, and legal policies relevant to the business. For example, employers can utilize training programs offered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to maintain workplace safety and employee health, as well as inform workers of their rights and employee grievance processes. Specifically, OSHA offers programs for general industries as well as specialized programs for the Construction and Maritime industries. In 2011, OSHA provided online training to more than 135,000 workers.
• Requirement-centered training programs are those in which employees can learn skills specific to their positions. In Texas, some law enforcement agencies have recently adopted online training to complete necessary state-mandated jailer licensing requirements. Randall County Sheriff Joel Richardson reports that online training saves money, because it “prevents his office from having to pay a deputy or training officer overtime to teach a classroom.”  Like earning a college degree online, requirement-centered training also allows employees to earn credentials that can lead to promotion and job-advancement. For example, International Management Assistance Corporation (IMAC) offers human resources management training at its IMAC Online Training Academy. The courses have just been approved by the HR Certification Institute (HRCI) and deal with some of the more difficult issues in human resources management, including workplace violence, high-risk terminations, and work stoppage management.

What are the Benefits of Online Corporate Training?

1. Flexibility of Scheduling: Each employee can work on their training at times that fit more easily into their regular workloads. This will prevent missed deadlines and employee stress.
2. Greater Effectiveness: Online training also allows individuals with different learning styles to succeed. Employees can repeat lessons that they do not understand or wish to focus on more attention on without holding up all their colleagues. This means that employees have a greater chance of truly incorporating their new knowledge into their positions.
3. Measurable Outcomes: Online training includes assessment opportunities, in which employers can measure how well workers have understood the material and identify areas of confusion.
4. Cost-Effectiveness: Historically, companies have sent employees to training centers or created their own training programs by hiring experts to come into their office facilities. Online training takes advantage of previously created material that can be used again and again, reducing the costs in many ways.

Like online college and university courses, online training can address all of these problems by providing workers with the flexibility to balance their educational needs and complete their work responsibilities with greater focus and productivity. The next generation of workers, who are likely to have completed at least one college course online, will be able to continue their education at work, furthering their professional development.