Small business professionals are no strangers to hard work and its value for an organization. Oftentimes jumping into multiple tasks that are not tied to a job description but helpful for the health of the organization, small business employees and managers work tirelessly to propel a small business to success. It is not uncommon to find small businesses that go without the technology and advances of the larger corporations because of limited resources and time, but if there is one piece of software a small business should not go without - it is workforce management software.

Old habits die hard. We’ve all heard it said, and within a company it couldn’t be more true. From employee number one to employee “X” habits become culture - what is set into motion in the beginning tends to become the foundation, and changing a foundation is difficult. While sometimes it doesn’t make sense when strategizing for a business to take into consideration what you envision future success will look like, but failure to do so can lead to employee habits that eventually get your business into trouble.

Small businesses, whether a start-up or a purposefully small business by design, can face many challenges when it comes to just about every facet of the organization - from hiring the right talent, to retaining that talent in the face of more glamorous big brands, from choosing the right software that is not only affordable but is scalable, to finding the time to even explore solutions to problems before it is too late. Oftentimes, executives and managers within a small business are wearing multiple hats with various roles and responsibilities - no task is too small for a small business manager to dive into, nor is a task too large in scope to exclude all employees. Oftentimes most, if not all, employees are included in making big picture decisions, and even the smallest of voices with the seemingly littlest amount of influence are heard and considered. While each of these scenarios can present a unique challenge that are not seen as a company gets larger, this is often how small businesses rise to success - they are not bogged down by bureaucracy and red-tape especially when onboarding new solutions: software, in particular.

Perhaps you have heard of Instructional Design, perhaps you haven’t - but if you’re in the field of corporate training or working to produce content for adults or children to learn from, it’s likely helpful to have a working knowledge of instructional design. To that extent, we wanted to provide a resource in which to reference as you are creating training material, putting together courses, or working to teach others on any subject matter.

So you’re a corporate trainer - or maybe you’re not - but you have been tasked with the learning and development of your organization. Whether you are in a small business setting or at the enterprise level, there is a lot riding on your position to be able to effectively disseminate information for the masses and ensure its appeal. This is no small order, but we think if you keep these five principles in mind when working through your learning and development program - you are off to a great start in terms of ensuring your programs success.

eLearning is sweeping businesses corporate training departments and before long each company will probably embrace some aspect of online training - whether it is through the onboarding of employees, tracking continuing education units, or the other various ways that elearning can be adopted to enhance education. But everyone is a beginner at some point. Whether you are just starting out with building out online courses for employees, or you have developed many that are currently being used across the organization - developing a unified and organized approach can save time and money for your department and create expectations for the level of attention and involvement each course should get. We have created a great outline to follow when working through each one of your courses from preparation to fine-tuning.  

Online education is making up more and more of the education system, but not only that, it is replacing meetings in the business world, increasing the level of on-the-job skill mastery across organizations and overall, helping with retention of employees and raising the standard of success. While e-learning is taking the place of other sources of learning, classroom learning can sometimes be more beneficial to the intake of information than it’s online counterpart - but there are ways to ensure that students are as engaged whether they are sitting in a classroom or at their desk in an office.

Elearning has taken the business world over by storm - but one of the biggest barriers we have seen to businesses adopting this learning mindset to their own business is the cost. Creating content can be expensive, not to mention the man hours put into research, data analysis, software development and more. The costs can mount and surpass what a small or medium-sized business has to put towards the continuing education of their employees. Looking through other resources from larger or enterprise businesses, it is easy to see that they have the capital to create courses that far-exceed what an SMB’s wallet can handle. Here are our five tips to reduce e-learning costs for enterprise businesses, all the way down to entrepreneurial ventures. Education of employees is important and skimping on the costs doesn’t always mean a lesser return. Keep these tips in mind as you are budgeting for education this year!

Whether you are working to onboard an employee in an efficient manner, or working through continuing education for your staff - there are ways to make this learning more engaging and ensure that it *sticks.* Chances are if you are taking the time to educate your employees, it is important subject matter and you would like to improve the retention rate so your employees are always in the know on important on-the-job information. While you are creating your online course content, keep in mind these 10 ways to help your employees learn faster. These can be applied for anything from on-the-job training to company policies, and much more!

E-learning is not a new trend and it definitely isn’t going anywhere any time soon. From education to business, its implications are far-reaching and nowadays anyone can engage with online content to enhance their skills. That doesn’t mean that every type of online education is the same, and it definitely doesn’t mean that there aren’t popular trends each year as e-learning continues to grow. We have compiled a list of the five trends to remember when creating your online courses: