Page 8 - OHS, January/February 2021

TRAINING: SOFTWARE
Tips for Choosing the Best Training Software
Which training software can provide everything you need in an easy and affordable way?
CBY LEAH BROWN
onducting employee training is one of the most important things any organization can do. New employees need to be trained on
processes and procedures that may be un- familiar, while all employees must stay up to date on regulations.
As any corporate trainer can tell you— even before the COVID-19 pandemic in- troduced social distancing and widespread working from home—gone are the days of packing large groups of employees into a conference room to sit through a day of long, monotonous training presentations.1
Now, online training is king. If a compa- ny doesn’t offer an online learning library, it is assumed their resources are limited and the training content may not be fully com- pliant with standards and regulations.
So how do you decide which training software is right for the needs of your team? Here we will highlight some of the things you should consider and questions to ask yourself before making such an important investment.
Different Types of
Training to Consider
As career experts at Indeed note, there are a few different types of training an organi- zation may need, or want, to implement.2 Each of these have their own benefits, and an ideal training platform will make it easy to cover each of these topics.
Orientation. This is typically the first interaction a new employee has with the organization as a whole and with their spe- cific team. New hires will learn important things like the organizational structure and company policies and administrative pro- cedures, and will likely use this time to re- view and complete required paperwork for the HR department.
Onboarding. While orientation does include the onboarding process, this type of training is more focused on the spe- cific role of the employee. Getting plugged into any software and platforms that will be used, understanding personal and de- partmental goals and being introduced to more technical aspects of the job take
place during onboarding.
Soft skills. With many jobs becoming
more dependent on, and sometimes elimi- nated by, technological and AI advance- ments, soft skills become increasingly important, as these cannot be automated. There are a wide variety of useful soft skills, but things like communication and time management are universal and can help boost individual, team and company-wide performance.
Safety. One category of training that is often seen as the most boring, but is argu- ably the most important, is safety training. Every employee in any industry should receive safety training, because you can never be too careful. From basic first aid and workplace evacuation plans to PPE and working with hazardous materials, employ- ers should always make safety a priority.
What to Look for in a Platform
If your organization decides that an online learning management system is the right direction for you, then you need to select the best LMS for your needs. With hun- dreds of platforms available, there are many different features you should look at to find your ideal match.
training material must be able to keep the learner’s attention. Illustrating interesting visuals, implementing user-friendly navi- gation and utilizing relatable scenarios can help keep the training content fun and engaging, which in turn increases knowl- edge retention.3
While training courses need to be en- gaging, they would of course be worthless if the content is out of date. Make sure any training content you decide to use is regu- larly reviewed and updated to be consistent not only with industry trends but, more importantly, with changing requirements and regulations.
You may also want to find out if the system can seamlessly integrate custom courses. Ask about SCORM/AICC compli- ance, which refers to two different learning technology standards that communicate with an LMS.4 Not all training platforms of- fer this feature, but it can be useful for any industry or company-specific training you may already have created that you don’t want to lose.
Cross-Device Functionality. Ac- cording to the Pew Research Center5, 93 percent of Millennials, 90 percent of Gen Xers, and a whopping 98 percent of Gen Zers now own a smartphone.6 The per-
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