How to reduce employee turnover with personalized online training paths
Regardless of their role, experience level, or job duties, every member of your team plays a vital role in day-to-day operations. So the loss of one employee could have a domino effect on your entire organization.
The best way to lower the risk is to provide them with relevant online training resources that meet their needs and surpass their expectations. Let’s discuss the ways personalized online training paths can help you retain your top talent and reduce onboarding costs.
1. Encourage employees to set their own training objectives
Invite employees to pave their own way, starting with personalized training objectives and goals. These might center on their job duties, roles, departments, or even individual gaps that are holding them back. Of course, they still have to strive for the organizational objectives of your business. But they should also be encouraged to pursue goals that are meaningful to them and their areas for improvement.
2. Give them online training activity choices
It’s best to mix things up and give your employees ample choice regarding online training activities. Keep in mind that your staff has different learning preferences, and your online training content should reflect this.
Include visual aids, simulations, podcasts, and serious games to cover every learning preference. That way, they can pick-and-choose which online training resources resonate with them and allow them to absorb the information more effectively.
3. Pre-assess to pave the personalized online training path
Some employees may already be aware of their personal gaps and strengths or weaknesses, while others are still dealing with undisclosed issues that need to be addressed during the online training session.
Give them the chance to reveal hidden challenges and pain points through self-assessments. This also allows you to offer personalized recommendations based on their performance. They don’t necessarily have to take your advice, but doing so will unlock valuable online training opportunities.
4. Provide ongoing feedback to focus their efforts
Personalized online training paths involve a high degree of autonomy. Employees are free to choose their own online training activities and go at their own pace. However, they still need feedback to help them focus their efforts and maximize the online training benefits.
Provide immediate feedback after each online training activity, assessment, or module, to point them in the right direction. Don’t forget to recognize top performers and offer praise to keep them motivated.
5. Give employees the power to chart their own course (literally)
The most effective personalized paths give employees free rein to choose how and when they assimilate the information. So, give them the power to chart their own online training course by opting for an ‘a la carte’ design approach.
Employees are able to piece together different online training resources, modules, and activities to design their own online training course. You can also implement an open-navigation eLearning course map that allows them to visit any destination.
6. Fill skill gaps with self-paced certification programs
Most employees still need a certain amount of structure in their online training. Especially when it comes to developing more complex skills or talents. So, you might want to consider self-paced certification programs that are optional.
Employees begin with that all-important assessment to diagnose their gaps. Then the system displays a list of recommended certification paths to choose from based on the results. The certification courses themselves are more structured, in that employees must complete predetermined online training activities and pass the final example to receive the certificate. This still gives them the autonomy to decide when they bridge the skill or performance gaps while still ensuring that your workforce stays in compliance and achieves the organizational goals.
7. Use peer-based mentoring to provide individualized support
Start a mentorship online training program where peers can share their experience and help others build work-related skills. Mentoring is a great addition to personalized training paths, because it offers one-on-one support for employees who are struggling, which can effectively reduce employee turnover. Here are some other ways to promote peer-based knowledge sharing and support in personalized paths:
a. Social media groups
Launch a closed social media group that allows employees to post resources, share tips, and get the most from their personalized online training plans. For example, a corporate learner is unsure which training activity or certification course they should complete in order to improve their task performance. They can take advice from their online co-workers with similar training needs.
b. Group collaboration projects
Invite corporate learners to break into groups and work together to achieve their online training goals. They can create a presentation and upload it to the online training library, or simply meet on a weekly or monthly basis to catch up and share their experiences. Use eLearning project management tools and video conferencing software to enable them to collaborate from afar.
8. Solicit employee feedback to keep them content with the online training material
You may have LMS metrics to help you identify areas for improvement with your eLearning course design. However, you still need to get input from the people who are actually traveling down the personalized online training paths. Conduct surveys, polls, and focus groups to get employee feedback.
Determine whether there are enough online training activities and resources to choose from or if the paths give them the flexibility they need to go at their own pace. You can also solicit their feedback regarding the scope. For example, are there crucial online training topics or tasks missing from your online training course catalog?
You want to keep your employees happy and cultivate their talents, so that they keep giving it their all. These tips can help you retain your top performers with the help of personalized online training paths. You might also consider investing in a Learning Management System that supports individualized training paths, so that it’s easier to implement your strategy and reduce employee turnover.
Onboarding online training is essential to get on the right foot with your new hires and reduce turnover. But most of them don’t seem to be particularly fond of it. Discover more about why they dread onboarding training and find tips to overcome them.
