15 Best Practices for Training New Employees Effectively

Every dollar spent on learning and development generates an average of $4.70 growth in business revenue per employee.

Impressive, right?

Employee training is a valuable investment that directly impacts a company's bottom line.

And we can't stress enough the importance of applying the best practices for training new employees from the get-go.

Effective employee training plans improve the time it takes for new employees to impact your business positively.

Applying these best practices for training new employees can lead to a better new employee experience. 

As a result, you'll have more satisfied employees and better retention rates.

💡15 Best practices for training new employees 

🏢 Align training to business goals

According to a survey by Deloitte, 38% of talent professionals feel their firm's workforce does not align with the business's sense of purpose.

It means companies might not equip employees with the right KSAOs: 

• Knowledge, 
• Skills, 
• Abilities, and 
• Other characteristics to achieve the firm's goals.

As we said, training is an investment.

You want to ensure your organization invests resources towards a future where you meet the business mission, vision, and strategic goals.

A well-aligned training will prepare your new employees for the high-performance standards that'll lead your business towards its goals.

Tip #1: A first step to achieving this alignment is identifying the gap in your current training program.

Is the training program impacting the right KSAOs? 

How are the employees you've trained in the past performing against your business's goals? 

Tip #2: If you don't like the answers to these questions, you need to adjust your training goals to fill the gap.

📉 Understand employees' current skill level

Assessing the new employees' current skill level lets you provide personalized training. You can tailor the training to fit each employee's strengths and weaknesses.

Each employee gets the specific skills they need to achieve your business's goals.

How can you achieve this? Easy.

• Develop a list of skills new employees should have to succeed in your organization.
• Rate these skills based on their level of importance. Communication skills, for instance, will be more critical to a sales team than an IT management team.
• Give the employees a self-assessment questionnaire to evaluate the skills listed. Evaluate them based on the level of proficiency the employee needs to perform in their assigned role.
• Identify areas in the team where either personalized or standard training is needed.

Organize the data collected in a training matrix.

Tip: A training matrix helps you analyze each employee's skills more effectively and streamline the training with their skills gap.

💪 Define employee learning needs

Carry out a training needs assessment.

Define what the employees need to know and what they should be able to do by the end of the training.

Training needs assessments help you focus your training and gives it direction.

Tip #1: Ensure that your training resources precisely target your employees' needs and subsequently meet your organization's goals.

Tip #2: Matching the training to your business's needs also prevents employees from getting frustrated and overwhelmed with unnecessary and excessive training.

🎯 Give clear learning objectives

Perhaps you know what the learning objectives are. But what about your trainees?

Communicate the desired learning outcomes of the training.

Communicating the learning objectives helps employees understand your expectations of them. 

It also creates a performance-based culture where employees learn to set goals based on your business's principles and objectives.

Wondering how to communicate your learning objectives effectively?

Tip #1: Keep them short. You don't have to get into details about the learning materials.

Tip #2: Show the connection between the training objectives and your business goals.

Tip #3: Be specific and relate each outcome to a training need.

Tip #4: Set realistic outcomes.

👂  Cater to different learning styles

You've probably noticed from other training programs that people learn differently.

Catering to the different learning styles of your employees is crucial to picking the right training methods that match their strengths.

It helps them achieve their learning objectives and keeps them motivated.

Your employees can fall under one or more of the following categories:

• 👁️ Visual learners thrive in visual content, such as videos, images, and animations.
• 👂 Auditory learners prefer learning by listening, such as lectures, group discussions, voice-over videos, instructor-led Zoom sessions, and audio recordings.
• ✍️ Reading/writing learners need to read the learning materials to absorb the knowledge. They learn best through handout notes, presentations, and manuals. If you're training through videos, use subtitles and issue properly formatted transcripts.
• 🤏 Kinesthetic learners need to be bodily engaged in the training. It can involve dialogue simulations and role-playing scenarios that mimic real-life situations they could face in the work environment.

Tip: Work on creating learning material that blends all four learning styles.

🧭 Create customizable learning paths

A learning path outlines the sequence the employees will follow to master required skills and understand concepts.

It moves your training program from confusing to effective and targeted.

Making it customizable means it can cater to each employee's individual preferences and learning needs.

Set the proper structure for employee's learning path using these tips:

• 🎯 Create goals with gradual difficulty levels that help the employee build on knowledge incrementally. They should move from point A to B effectively.
• 🛣️ Ensure the learning path aligns with the identified learning needs and the skills level of each employee.
• ✅ Be sure to create development plans for the new employees. A development plan defines the skills and competency development they'll need to achieve continuous improvement and career growth.

👩‍🏫 Find training that fits your workplace

There is no one-size-fits-all training method.

Picking a training method that fits your business will determine your success in achieving your training objectives.

Choose a training method based on the following criteria:

• Nature of your working environment: Online and video training could be the best choice in a remote setting. Adding subtitles to videos can help overcome language barriers for more inclusiveness.
• Resources available: On-the-job training and coaching are better for a tight training budget.
• Nature of the job roles: Complex technical jobs require active participation like game-based training, simulations, and role-playing.

🎮 Boost learning with visual and interactive elements

Excitement and motivation to learn will be high at first. But it soon wears off, and attention levels begin to drop.

Adding interactive and visual elements immerses the employees in their training activities. It creates a highly effective learning experience and boosts knowledge retention.

Tip: Using gamification in training is one effective way to boost the learning process.

Add gamification elements throughout the training, such as challenges, feedback, goal-oriented challenges, progress bars, points, and leaderboards.

Use scenarios to recreate real-life decision-sensitive situations that engage the employee intellectually.

👩‍💻 Take advantage of digital tools

Relying solely on traditional (formal) methods of training new employees is setting up your training program for failure.

You have to agree. 

Traditional learning methods can be slow, non-engaging, and lacking in operational efficiency.

Cue digital training tools aiming to transform your training initiatives by boosting innovation and creativity.

They make learning fun and maximize the employees' attention and knowledge retention.

Tip #1: Take advantage of learning management systems. Some come with a ready-to-use course catalog.

➡️ Check out our ready-to-use training journey templates. They come with features such as quizzes, rich content, Slack, MS Teams, email integrations, and automated notifications. 

Tip #2: Don't skip innovative training methods like microlearning. Reduce cognitive overload and boost memorability.

Tip #3: If you want to take ownership of your learning content, consider investing in a training management system. Create your own courses and customize push notifications. Some tools offer advanced features such as social learning and modern training formats. 

Tip #4: The best learning software solutions enable you to personalize training without increasing the manual workload. 

Tip #5: Use digital tools to collect feedback and drive continuous development.

📈 Measure success 

Evaluating training effectiveness shows you how valuable your training offering is and reveals areas you can improve.

It helps create effective training that promotes better employee performance, increases satisfaction, and boosts retention.

Tip: You can measure training effectiveness by collecting qualitative and quantitative data about your training program. 

Consider metrics such as:

• The number of employees who pass or fail knowledge assessments.
• Changes in employee behavior. When employees implement what they learn in workflow, it indicates knowledge retention and high-quality and relevant training material.
• Increase in learner engagement, such as completing non-mandatory courses.
• Improvement in task performance.

🏆 Stay current and relevant & Combine multiple delivery modes

Blending multiple delivery modes for training new employees helps you cater to your new employees' preferred learning styles.

Blended training also ensures that employees with scheduling conflicts still get the training they need.

Tip #1: Stay current and relevant even as you mix different delivery modes.

Tip #2: Embrace innovative technologies and learning trends that cater to the needs of the modern employee.

Here is an example:

Instructor-Led Training (ILT) is one of the most traditional methods of training. But it's still a massively effective method.

1. Modernize it by delivering it through an online platform. 
2. Incorporate microlearning techniques. A major advantage of microlearning is that employees can easily fit the microlessons into a busy schedule.
3. Illustrate your points using recent news stories.
4. Now, add peer learning into the mix.

Peer learning helps employees fill knowledge gaps by learning from their peers. It also:

• Promotes teamwork.
• Exposes employees to different perspectives.
• Supports diversity in your organization by helping employees from different backgrounds understand each other.

➡️ Discover how Freeletics is building the next generation of leaders with Zavvy. They mix distinct programs that tie with each other: microlearning, People Manager Roundtables, and Leadership Onboarding.

⚙️ Use spaced repetition to enhance knowledge retention

According to Hermann Ebbinghaus, people forget about half of the information learned within the first hour and about 70% within 24 hours.

Spaced repetition helps resolve this problem.

It fosters better learning outcomes.

Spaced repetition involves providing a refresher on the skills and knowledge learned regularly until the knowledge is firmly implanted in the employees' long-term memory.

An added advantage is that the knowledge will be easier to digest as the employee gets familiar with the work environment and their roles.

Tip: Combine spaced repetition with personalized quizzes to test their retained information and enhance recall.

✍️ Use assessments to check if you're meeting your learning objectives

Assessment tests are as necessary as training materials.

They help you know if the employee is learning what they're supposed to know about their roles and working in your organization. And if you're meeting your training objectives.

Have one or more assessment items for each learning objective. 

Tip #1: You can choose between a knowledge-based or a task-based test that matches each learning objective. Or you can mix and match. 

Tip #2: If the assessment results are below expectations, adjust your training methods as needed.

🙋 Ensure engagement around training

Employee engagement is among the top 3 challenges for learning and development professionals worldwide.

Employees engage with the training content at three levels:

• Intellectual, characterized by efficiency in absorbing the learning materials and reproducing new information.
• Emotional, involving a high level of connectivity with the content and other trainees in the program.
• Behavioral, shown by high attendance and punctuality in the training lessons.

Tip #1: It's vital to achieve all three levels of engagement with your training to succeed.

Besides, when new employees are engaged in their training, they will likely be more productive, efficient, and innovative in their roles.

Tip #2: You can add fun elements like leaderboards and contests that encourage friendly competition. Find ways to integrate collaboration into your training.

🔄 Ask for employee feedback throughout the training process

It's hard to evaluate your employees' attitudes about your training without asking them. 

Tip #1: Track learner feedback to get what's working and not. You'll get insights into how you can improve their learning experience and administer better training.

But the feedback will not help you if it's not honest. 

Tip #2: So, create a space where the employees can share their experiences without fear.

Make it possible to provide comments and relevance scores on the training courses.

Tip #3: A tool like 360 Feedback Software helps you establish a company-wide feedback system that drives performance and development. 

You get to develop a feedback culture and an open growth mindset that keeps your business on a growth trajectory.

"When entire companies embrace a growth mindset, their employees report feeling far more empowered and committed; they also receive far greater organizational support for collaboration and innovation." Carol S. Dweck's, expert in developmental psychology.

➡️ Get into action: Offer rewarding training experiences and accelerate learning with Zavvy

These best practices for training new employees will only impact your business if you integrate them into your programs.

Here's a quick recap.

• Ensure the training is taking the right direction in terms of your employees' skills needs and your business's training objectives.
• Work on creating an engaging learning environment that caters to the unique learning needs of each employee.
• Leverage employee feedback and make regular assessments to improve your training program
• Modernize and mix up your training styles. Ensure they fit your organization.
• And finally, measure your training effectiveness and change areas that are ineffective.

Don't treat new employee training as an afterthought. 

Run your employee training without having to worry about manual assignments, constant reminders, outdated formats, or progress tracking. 

➡️ Learn how our all-in-one employee training system works