Training and Development
Read these sections on the process of strategically training and developing employees. In a competitive marketplace, effective training and development programs offer a recruitment tool to human resources (HR) and a valuable tool for employee retention. Knowing an organization is investing time and resources into your development can be critical.
The "Fortune 500 Focus" section describes how the Walt Disney Company conducts its training and development programs. In addition to providing training specific to each particular position in the park, the Disney Development Connection program offers continuous development to their human capital. In addition to in-house training, Disney also offers employees tuition reimbursement. In this way, Disney shows it is committed to its employees. How do these offerings affect employee performance, job satisfaction, corporate culture, and retention?
Steps to Take in Training an Employee
Key Takeaways
- Employee training and development is the framework for helping employees develop their personal and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities. Training is important to employee retention.
- There are four steps in training that should occur. Employee orientation has the purpose of welcoming new employees into the organization. An effective employee orientation can help reduce start-up costs, reduce anxiety for the employee, reduce turnover, save time for the supervisor and colleagues, and set expectations and attitudes.
- An in-house training program is any type of program in which the training is delivered by someone who works for the company. This could include management or HR. Examples might include sexual harassment training or ethics training. In-house training can also include components specific to a job, such as how to use a specific kind of software. In-house training is normally done as a second and ongoing step in employee development.
- A mentor form of training pairs a new employee with a seasoned employee. This is usually the third step in employee training. A mentor program for training should include a formalized program and process.
- External training is any type of training not performed in-house; part of the last training step, external training can also be ongoing. It can include sending employees to conferences or seminars for leadership development or even paying tuition for a class they want to take.