How to “uncomplicate” training management
In most businesses, it is important to have qualified or even certified employees, in some cases the business can only operate if they have employees that are certified in a specific qualification on payroll. To ensure that the risk to your business is managed it is important to manage your training and certification needs in a Training management system.
Remember that investing in your Employees upskilling and training is more important that most other actions in your business.
As Zig Ziglar said:
“The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is to not train them and keep them.”
What should we keep in mind for Training Management?
There are a few things that needs to be tracked around your employees training when you run a business.
Training Providers and Courses need to be managed
A basic LMS (Learning Management System) system allows you to load all your Suppliers that offer courses and the courses they offer your business. Additional data is can also be stored in the system, like the cost of training, the BBBEE contribution level of the Provider, your account manager at the supplier, and more.
Employees and their training records need to be managed
Some employees will ask for training, others will be happy not to get any. Training can really go both ways, but if you need employees that are qualified to do the job, you cannot afford not to keep them trained up and qualified.
Partnerships that require training depends on your Training management records
In the day and age of Technology partnerships like Microsoft Partner Network, or IBM Partners, and other similar technology partners, it is extremely important to ensure that training is conducted and recorded since it directly impacts your partner status and hence business opportunities and the cost of these opportunities. When the level of qualification for your engineers are at the level required from the partnership, the Partner Benefits become the Return on Investment you were hoping for.
As and Example, the licensing model used by Microsoft allows free licensing allocation for your business, allowing you to save thousands a month in licensing fees, if your Engineers are correctly qualified.
Who needs training
Now that we have the training course setup and being made available, we need to identify who needs training, this could be through three major channels:
- Performance Management might identify the need to training. When a KPI needs attention, training or skills development might be needed to assist the Employee in achieving the levels required by the position
- The Job Title might require a specific course or training for everyone in that position. For Example, Ethics training for Sales representatives, or a technical skill for IT staff, etc.
- Operating Certifications to allow your business to be certified to conduct its business.
Having the information available from these channels will ensure training needs for the business are managed correctly.
Who is on training and when
Keeping a list of current Employees that are on training via the Training Logbook will allow you to manage the ongoing costs and what Employees are currently on training and to follow up if they are completing their courses.
It might also be wise to keep track of training that is being paid for by the company to ensure staff sign their work back agreements if it is something your company has in place, if no records are kept of who is attending what training this would not be possible.
Manage what we are spending on Training
Training budgets are important and as with any other budget its normally based on the previous years spend, and not really science has gone into it to ensure that the money was spent effectively.
How do you measure that your training investment is creating a ROI for your business? If your Training is connected to the Performance management system, like in HRSimplified (Read more here) then it is possible to track how the employee’s performance has increased since the last performance management review in the 360 degree section of the application.
Conclusion:
Its important to have training management system to ensure you have accurate date that help you make these decisions and ensure your business is certified to operate.
Having Training Management Insights can only help if all the data is contained in one system, so when selecting your HRIS system ensure that it either integrates with a TMS system or at least includes it as part of the system.
Training Management in HRSimplified
