Web-based training can be both an effective and a cost-saving method of educating your employees. But just like training that occurs in the meeting room, you need to make it clear to them exactly how they will be better for having gone through the learning process.
“You have to explain, ‘What’s in it for me?’” says Marsha Friedman, strategic project manager in the global training and development organization at Diebold Inc. “It’s a continual marketing program. How can you use this? How can it support you? It’s continually supporting their personal development goals.”
According to the 2009 ERC/Smart Business Workplace Practices Survey, the number of companies that use Web-based training programs has increased from 32 percent in 2007 to 53 percent in 2009.
The key to using this method effectively and being able to convey it to your employees is to first know what you want to accomplish with the training.
“There has to be information coming from leaders explaining why we are doing this, how we are going to use this learning and support so you are allowing your associates the time to take the training just as if they are going to the classroom,” Friedman says.
Use a pilot program to find others in the company who can help spread the word among their peers about the importance of this training.
“That allows you to find some associates out there who are going to champion it,” Friedman says. “That means a lot to have testimonials from other users.”
The benefit the company receives from Web-based training is the ability to get people from many different locations the same education without having to fly them in from around the world.
“If they can sit at their desks and take the training, you have some simple cost savings right there,” Friedman says. “You can also develop a course once and deliver it consistently across the entire organization and have much less cost in terms of time for your instructors and time for getting the material out there.”
How to reach: Diebold Inc., (800) 999-3600 or www.diebold.com
