What are the Benefits of Tracking Training?

With a new generation of employees entering the workforce and rising to managerial positions - it has been found that millennials desire an outlined path for continued professional development. Onboarding gives a large hint at how the time spent at the organization will continue to run through the employee lifecycle. Now more than ever it is important than ever to develop cohesive training programs for employees to continue their growth and development.

Outside of professional developmenet that is perpetuated in-house, continued training is a requirement in many professions and therefore needs to be tracked, simply to comply with regulatory agencies. 

Aside from the benefits of decreased turnover, or simply avoiding fines from the systems that monitor continued training, additional benefits include: 

Employees that are given direction and guidance for expectations and standards are more likely to follow through on work and trainings, as well as take responsibility for completed work or work that has not yet been finished. Increased accountability is tied to higher job performance and satisfaction.

Outlined, required training throughout the onboarding process allows employees a smooth onboarding process to understand expectations for the present and near future. Training in the beginning shows employees what the standards for performance are, and allows for easy navigation for what success looks like as one progresses through a career.

Training allows for highly skilled and knowledgeable employees about workplace operations and expectations. Managing this training through tracking progress on training cycles and paths, allows for high accountability and self-awareness of what is required for success. When employees understand operational processes within an organization - things run smoother by nature.

There are many trainings that are required to be administered to new employees - not to mention to employees for ways to work with customers or clients. Tracking these trainings ensures higher compliance levels and protects your businesses against lapses in training or understanding. Tracking training takes the risk off the businesses for things like workplace safety procedures and in some worst case scenarios, lawsuits.

For many industries, staying current on certifications and licenses is imperative to success and performance on the job. Training tracking allows all certifications and licenses to be tracked in one location to ensure that employees are current and that nothing is expired. Furthermore, tracking training can allow the administrator to alert employees of upcoming expirations to recertify before that time.

Outside performance management systems that track how an employee may complete his or her job, set goals, and receive feedback. Training management systems allow for a tangible way to rate performance on the job to be used in performance reviews and promotion processes.

When employees are held accountable for their performance and work on the job, motivation increases. Typically tied to promotions, raises, bonuses and more - completing training brings with it a sense of pride and accomplishments that boosts employees’ desire to continue performing on the job. Tracking training shows the employees that an employer cares about performance and that there is a sense of accomplishment that can accompany continued training. Training is being noticed, development is important, and employees can feel validated once it is completed.

How can I increase accountability, compliance, and productivity by adopting a training management system?

Accountability, compliance, and productivity are buzzwords in any business and it seems that when a company unlocks the key to these three concepts - they have built an extremely sustainable business that has a bend towards growth. This is an ideal, and while it seems out of reach - organization is a large part of the process to achieving these. That’s what training tracking comes in.

Accountability is the obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner. It is pretty easy to see how training tracking directly ties into accountability. When employees are given clear guidelines and standards of what is expected of them to perform - it sets the stage for an employee to follow through on those expectations. If an employee does not follow through on his or her responsibilities, when training tracking is involved, it is simple to access the system, point to where the discrepancy in performance lies, and create steps to ensure the mishap does not happen again in the future. There is no room for unexplained expectations, misunderstood directions, or lack of responsibility - it has all been spelled out within the system.

"Accountability is the obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner."

Compliance tells a similar story as accountability. Compliance is simply following a rule or order. In some cases, this means rules imposed by the state, law, government, or some outside agency that dictates standards. In other cases, compliance can be brought in from managers or departments within an organization. Sometimes compliance is a response to mis-action and is now being brought into effect to ensure that the offending employee is able to take corrective action in the future. Whatever compliance looks like within the industry you work, it is important and it is able to be upheld through training management solutions.

When an employee is given clear guidelines and expectations for what success looks like on the job, they are more likely to follow through. Without deadlines, without guidance - and no, not micro managing - but mentorship or leadership, productivity cannot flourish. Without vision and some sense of direction on how training leads to success, stability, or the next promotion - employees may feel unmotivated to comply with the training program and leave potential growth on the table. While not every employee may be interested in all the training that is offered, if it is required by the employer and tracked to ensure completion - there are much higher rates of productivity across the organization. Productivity is tied back to accountability and compliance. If an employee understands the assignments and expectations, not to mention that they will be held accountable - follow through is close to inevitable.