Optimizing the Cost of Employee Training While Upskilling

In this blog we discuss about ways to optmize the cost of employee training.

Employee training is absolutely necessary to upskill your staff and make your business stronger in the face of the ever-increasing competition. However, employee training comes at a cost, sometimes exceeding what your training budgets. Whether your training is online, on-site, or blended, it requires investment in terms of time, cost, planning and resources.

That said, developing and implementing training don’t have to be always expensive.

When it comes to cost optimization of employee training, online training can be a game-changer. eLearning is the simplest and most cost-effective way of making training activities and materials available to employees spread geographically across cities and even countries.

Studies show that over 41.7% percent of global Fortune 500 companies are using eLearning as a means to train their employees and this figure is likely to rise in the future.

Further, studies also show that companies that invest in eLearning can potentially boost productivity by up to 50%, and that for every $1 they spend, they can boost productivity by $30.

By hosting your content on cloud-based training platforms, you can eliminate the costs for printed training material. eLearning also eliminates the need for on-site instructors, which means that you save in terms of travel and accommodation costs.

The same holds true for your employees as well – they don’t have to travel to a specific destination for training, rather than can log into their training courses from anywhere and anytime and take the training.

An LMS requires initial investment but holds good in the long run. You can use its features to create, design, develop and deploy content.

You can also update your existing content and thus save on getting your course material printed every time it is updated. Besides, you also save in terms of inventory costs.

Here’s a list of the 10 Best LMS Solutions to Consider for Employee Training

Videos are one of the best ways to deliver online training. Since video is an audio visual medium, it holds employee interest and makes learning more interesting and engaging. A good way of producing videos without big spending is to record your in-person training classroom sessions and use it for your eLearning programs.

Screen capture is another great option in case your training is about a software package or other internal system. Besides, you can also use in-house talent for voice overs etc., and thus, save on hiring external resources to create and edit your videos.

Guide: How to Create Great Video Training Content. Download Now!

Basically, you can delegate parts of the learning process to your employees. For example, a knowledgeable employee creates eLearning content for new members of the team and also assesses their progress.

In-house content distribution generally involves the top tier, or the senior-most executives, who supervise the result of the middle tier employees, who in turn, act as the instructors for the newer and junior-most employees.

Competition is not always about rivalries. You can actually exchange your teaching resources with your competitors, thus, saving on creating all your courses on your own and achieving mutual cost benefits.

This of course, does not include sharing confidential material such as your internal competitive strategies. Sharing of resources works best between companies not competing for the same markets, subcontractors and partners.

As a note of caution, avoid using branded eLearning content of your competitor as it would hurt your image amongst your employees.

Gamification is one of the best ways to improve employee engagement with the curriculum. Increased engagement results in more motivated learners and greater learning outcomes.

The rewards in gamification are also virtual, for example, moving to the next level of the course module. This means that you cut down on the cost for actual rewards and recognitions.

Learn whether Gamification is The Secret Sauce for Employee Engagement?

If you are using an LMS, you can use its reporting tools to analyze the effectiveness of your courses and also gain feedback on the performance of your employees.

You can gain insights into various aspects of your eLearning course such as learner’s engagement, knowledge retention and performance. While choosing an LMS, make sure it provides you with reporting tools and that these fit in with the specifics of your company.

Review your content to sieve out the useful from the obsolete. More learning does not necessarily mean better learning. On the contrary, it can lead to cognitive overload, causing stress and reducing the effectiveness of the training.

The other way to ensure cost optimization in employee training is to reuse the material which is still relevant. This can be in the form of video material, for example, video recording of offline lectures which can be used as content for new learners.

Then again, based on the analysis, you identify that a given course did not perform well. Rather than binning the entire course, see what can be salvaged and then reused, rearranged or rewritten.

You can also mix the salvaged portions with new content and thus reduce the cost of new content creation.

Related:5 Ways to Create Effective Interactive Training Content

Forums are an ideal platform for peer-to-peer interaction and communication. By leveraging these communication channels, you can eliminate the costs of venues and catering.

As a case in point, if video is not enough you can organize online workshops through webinars. These webinars also remove the need for venue and travel and lower the average training course per employee.

The instructor can address multiple employees in real-time. And if some learners are unable to attend the webinar during the scheduled time, they can watch the recording when they have time.

Mobile learning ensures that your employees can access the courses at the time they can benefit from it the most. Besides, they can take the training anywhere. Mobile learning also addresses the issue of clashing schedules and the need for meeting rooms.

Make sure that your eLearning course is mobile-compatible and easily accessible so that your employees can engage in constant microlearning to upskill and meet their development needs.

Microlearning is a means to tailor content to your employees’ needs, saving time in working through training content that is not relevant to them.

By implementing these strategies, you will be able to ensure cost optimization in your employee training without compromising on the quality of your content. You will also be able to ensure a high-quality upskilling experience for your employees within your budget.

Related:

• How to Choose the Right Employee Training Software
• Only 5 Employee Training Software You Need to Know About!
• 5 Ways to Create Effective Interactive Training Content
• The Best Online Corporate Training Platforms
• What are the Best Employee Training Tools for Your Business?
• Online Training Solutions and the Art of Enterprise Training Delivery
• 5 White Label Learning Platforms to Consider for Employee Training