Training new employees is important for their success, as well as for the success of your business. After an employee is initially trained, additional ongoing training helps ensure continuous growth with the company. Here are some tips for training your employees.

Training New Employees
Sometimes employers hire an employee and expect them to simply figure out the job on their own with limited or no instructions. But proper training is essential for employees to get the job done correctly and to be able to meet the employer’s standards and expectations. Ideally, the person training the employee should be someone who has held the position before and knows how to do the job very well.

At first, the new employee should just watch the trainer perform a task and take good notes on how to perform it. Then the trainee should do the task while the trainer watches.

Giving Feedback
The trainee can quickly get his or her questions answered by practicing tasks in the presence of the trainer. With this method, any mistakes or misunderstandings by the trainee can quickly be spotted and remedied, preventing them from developing into bad daily habits.

Also, it is the employer’s responsibility to let employees know what is working and what is not working on the job and to suggest finding solutions to things that are not working. When employees are not given feedback, they are left guessing what will satisfy the employer.

Cross Training Employees
Cross-training employees to be able to perform tasks in various areas benefits both the employer and the employee because they can each earn more income from the additional skills.

Having employees who are trained in multiple areas also helps to ensure that someone can quickly take over a position.

The Training Matrix
To ensure that you will have employees with the necessary skills, you can use a matrix during the training process to record their qualifications in various areas. Here is an example:

The matrix keeps track of each employee and their skills needed for each department. It lets you easily see who needs more training because it lays out all the skills for each person. The matrix can also help you to track employee certifications, retraining, and re-testing of employees.

By having a strong system for training employees, you let them know that performance matters to you and that you want them and the organization to stay current with tools, policies, and procedures.