How To Lead Your Industry in Online Employee Training During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Employee training has fallen by the wayside for many companies as they have scrambled to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Others have continued to deliver robust remote training due to having a dispersed workforce. No matter how hectic things get as the coronavirus crisis develops, it’s important that all organizations continue making employee training a priority. Your company can go a step further and become an industry leader in online employee training, even in the midst of COVID-19, with just a few tips.

4 ways companies can become industry leaders in online employee training during the COVID-19 pandemic

Online employee training has many benefits, including but not limited to reducing business costs, increasing productivity, and boosting employee engagement, which are all vital to companies hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.¹ Here are a few ways your company can not only offer effective training to its workers, but become an industry leader in online employee training:

1. Implement new learning technologies

It has never been more important for companies to find and implement learning technologies that promote online employee training. Now is the time for your organization to take a look at its current learning technologies and ask if they are meeting its needs. For example, is the online learning platform your organization uses giving workers 24/7 mobile access to on-demand training? Does it make it easy for administrators to track and report on employee training?

If your current learning technologies are no longer doing the trick, consider upgrading to a new, modern learning management system (LMS) that offers all the traditional features of an LMS along with tools that help you create a highly individualized learning experience for each employee.

2. Have in-house Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) create specialized training for employees

You likely have SMEs at your company. They may be seasoned employees with a great deal of knowledge in a given area. These individuals probably have a lot to contribute when your L&D team is in the training creation process. By utilizing in-house Subject Matter Experts, you will help to establish your company as a leader in training in a specific subject or subjects.

If your organization doesn’t have any SMEs on staff, develop some in-house. “Anyone can become an SME,” stated Forbes.² “For example, my company realized we weren’t fully utilizing our customer relationship management (CRM) software, so we selected an employee and asked him to be our first SME.” Which of your workers are official or potential Subject Matter Experts who could help your learning and development team create effective SME training?

3. Keep training content updated, relevant, and engaging

Being a leader in online employee training entails keeping all the training your company offers updated, including compliance and health and safety training. How often you update your online training course content depends on how often your company policies and best practices change. Your L&D team should update old courses as they create new courses, or they may opt to replace older courses with fresh courses. Either way, they are ensuring it remains relevant and engaging to the company’s employees, and also making it more sellable to other organizations within the industry; which leads to the next point.

4. Sell the training your company creates

When a company starts selling training that was specially created for its employees to other organizations within its sector, that is a sign it is becoming an industry leader in online employee training. Using LMS content management tools, organizations can craft employee training programs that perfectly meet the needs of both their workforce as well as other companies’ workforces.

Selling the training your L&D team creates is a logical way to increase revenue and make the most of your eLearning courses. If your company is interested in this, promoting the training to outside parties will be critical. Training can be promoted via social media, blogging, and an online marketplace. For companies that prefer to use an LMS to create, distribute, and sell online employee training, an extended enterprise learning management system or LMS that features an eCommerce engine will be necessary.

Create and sell training that highlights your company’s expertise with the right LMS

A learning management system like TOPYX LMS will help you create the best training for your staff. Additionally, it will put the tools necessary for managing that training in-house as well as selling it to other companies within your industry right at your fingertips. Get started not only effectively training your workforce but also creating training that can meet the needs of other companies with our Quick Start Program.

Sources:
1. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/275842
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2019/10/07/why-and-how-you-should-develop-in-house-subject-matter-experts smes/#654444172fa9