COVID changed how we work and how we train others to do their work. Jobs of all types are now work-from-home and even some industrial positions can have a remote component. It’s predicted right now that up to 30% of the workforce will be remote at least a few days a week this year. That means training for these positions is critically important. Here’s how to improve your training processes to ensure productivity no matter where the worker is.
Training is Key
Employee training ensures your organization will continue to function effectively, even when many of your workers are transitioning to remote work. But training is also important because the reality is that many important manufacturing staff members are older and considering retirement. Did you know there are 10,000 workers hitting retirement age every day? Employers must prepare for the inevitable. How can they do this? Through expanding the duties of their younger workforce and set up training so that no institutional knowledge is lost along with their retired workers.
Use technology to help remote workers stay engaged and collaborative. Programs such as Slack allow your workers at home to communicate in real time with workers who are in the office. Another tool to learn to embrace is Zoom or another video-conferencing application. Other manufacturing companies are investing in Learning Management Systems (LMS) to help them connect with their newly remote workers. This type of platform tracks the training progress for a remote employee. It provides an easy-to-use dashboard that allows both the employer and the employee to see the progress. An LMS gives a great deal of flexibility whether your worker is at home or in an office.
You may even use virtual or augmented reality to train your manufacturing teams. It’s a great way to train remote teams safely. It can expose them to potential job hazards in a safer and more efficient manner.
One question to ask yourself is have you made training as flexible and accessible to everyone that is both in-person and remote. How can you do this? We have some ideas:
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Make it easier to log in to training by implementing a single-sign-on policy. This means your employee will be able to access any cloud-based applications from the same sign on login page.
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Make sure to have on-demand training. Flexible working is paramount Companies that offer on-demand training that allows the worker to access training materials whenever the employees are. Allowing your workforce to train when they like will open more chances for employee retention.
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Given that your employees are located at home and at work, carefully going over all your training materials and then listing them so that everyone can assimilate the material. Training should be easy, and having centralized resources will make sense to your entire team.
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Finally, consider optimizing your training materials for mobile apps. Nearly all of your workforce has their mobile devices elevated high on the list of the things they probably cannot live without. You must accommodate their fascination with these gadgets and make sure your training materials view well on these devices.
People Plus is devoted to helping you find new employees in this new way of working in 2021. Talk with our team today about how we can help you reach your hiring goals.