When your business is only small, it might be tempting to skip the more formal aspect of training for something more relaxed, learning on the job as they go etc. After all you’re only a small team, someone can show new starters the ropes, right?
Sure, this can be an extremely effective option in some cases but the reality is that informal training can be letting both your company down and your new hire and their team before you think about the impact it has on your existing team.
Let’s take a look at a few of the issues that can arise if you don’t have any formal training on board.
Onboarding Gaps
Onboarding needs to be a complete process with steps to follow and an end point. It needs to include everything employees need to know about the company, your setup, the work and role they’re going to be undertaking within the company alongside any policies, expectations, behaviour requirements etc.
It also needs to include any training they need too.
But when this is left to whoever is available to complete, whenever they have time, things will slip through the gaps, new hires won’t learn what they need to and when things are missed, it’s not due to negligence but a lack of structure and enforcement.
And for small teams, one person not knowing what they need to can put huge pressure on everyone else.
Knowledge Retention
Informal training might initially cover the right aspects of the job role, but you won’t really know if it’s being retained or even implemented correctly down the line once the initial training phase is over. This can then lead to knowledge gaps or other employees being called upon to help correct mistakes or engage in further training to support those who don’t have the knowledge or skills they require. And this can be extremely impactful when you need people out in the field working independently right away.
This is where tools such as TrainAR can be massively beneficial. You can build a training program around what you do and what you need your employees to know. This training is then delivered to each employee as required via smart glasses. So if you have a new hire in the field who comes across an issue, instead of arranging to go back or waiting to pin down a more experienced member of staff, they can access the knowledge base and training manual there and then and get the help they need when they need it.
Staff Turnover
Staff who aren’t being trained correctly will struggle a lot more than those who know what needs to be and this can lead to them leaving prematurely. And for smaller teams, this turnover can be expensive; reports suggest this can be anywhere from 100% to 200% of the employee’s annual salary, including costs to find recruiters, lost productivity and covering the role until it’s appropriately filled.
And if you are losing experienced staff with knowledge that you need to impart on new hires to cover their role, the loss of productivity can be even higher if you don’t have extensive and effective training plans in place to help someone step into the role easily.
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