How to Choose the Best Option to Train Employees in Small Business

Many small business owners treat training as something that should be avoided unless it was absolutely mandated by law. They consider it a necessary evil that just wastes their time and money. After all, who has time to train their employees when there are thousands of tasks to take care of. Many of them also work on tight budget, which limits the amount of money they can spend on “unnecessary” expenses such as training. This myopic thinking on training is wrong. By not providing training to their employees small business owners limit the potential of their employees and the contribution they can make to grow your business.

Just consider the benefits employee training can provide to your business.

1. Proper training can lead to better understanding of your business, which in turn improves the customer satisfaction. Higher customer satisfaction leads to higher sales and profit.
2. When employees are trained well in operations of the business they will make less errors resulting in reduced waste and higher efficiency.
3. By having better training your managers will be more knowledgeable about laws and regulations. Many small business owners get in the hot water because their managers take actions that do not comply with regulations.
4. Cross training your employees will enable them to handle multiple jobs, which will help you during crunch time when your regular employee calls in sick or quits without notice.

As you can see, proper training can help small business owners improve their business. The question is what type of training you should provide. This depends on multiple factors. You need to consider cost, available time, types of employees being trained and the purpose of the training. Here are various options you can consider to provide training.

• Classroom Training – This is the best option for training if you can afford to spend money and make employees available for long time. When you need more interaction with and between employees classroom training provides opportunity to bring everyone together. Employees will be able to concentrate on the training rather than being distracted by surroundings. Classroom training usually costs more compared to other types of training.
• Online Training – The advent of internet has made it easier to get trained on your computer. This is a good option to consider when you have employees located in multiple geographic locations. It is also helpful when you cannot make all employees available to go to the training at the same time. Online training permits employees to learn at their own pace and convenience. It also usually costs less compared to classroom training.
• DVD based Training – DVD based training is a popular option to consider compared to online training when there is less need for interaction. It also costs less compared to both classroom and online training. With the advent of streaming video many of DVD based training is being migrated to delivering video over the web.
• Simulation based Training – This type of training is not very popular because it is usually targeted for specific purpose. Military uses simulation based on video games to train soldiers in the “real world”. Airlines also have simulation chambers to provide their pilots flying lessons. Simulation based training is useful when you cannot afford to spend money on training employees on the “real” thing. This type of training is also useful for situations such as repair, assembly operations, etc.

Small business owners cannot afford not to train employees to improve their skills. With multiple options available suitable for all types of budget and time there is no excuse for not training your employees. If you feel that you would want help to monitor the effectiveness of any management training that you offer to your team, then some companies, such as, www.developingpeople.co.uk, offer a review service as part of their bespoke training packages.