What is online training?

In this article we will provide you the information about Online training for employees with How to take and How to make and types etc..

The online education has increasingly conquered people , is not to make people face the traffic, for its flexibility or, in the case of entrepreneurs, because they are reusable. This is a rising wave .

For companies, this is a simple, practical and cheap way to invest in improving their teams , after all, having virtual environments allows countless people to have access to that content simultaneously.

So, online training is any educational activity with the aim of teaching or improving skills promoted by the company and carried out on a digital platform .

It can be through a series of lectures , demonstrative classes and even complete courses carried out live with professors with established hours.

It can also be offered by the company itself or by contracted third parties .

The important thing, in this scenario, is to understand what you want to achieve with educational actions, in order to align employees with the necessary improvements to boost the performance of the company as a whole.

We’ll talk more about the process of implementing remote training later, now you’ll understand a little more about the types of training you can use .

Types of Online Training

Well, you already understand what online training is, now is the time to understand the ways this approach can be implemented in your work environment.

1-Microlearning

The term itself reveals a lot about how it is applied: micro (small) and learning (learning) . In other words, this is a method that delivers small doses of knowledge at a time .

The process is done with several multimedia resources , such as infographics or even videos with a simple language, usually taught by an education platform (we talk more about them in the last topic).

This is a more flexible methodology as it allows the student to determine their own learning pace , being a great way to achieve good results through corporate education .

2-mobile learning

These days, everyone is glued to their smartphones. Therefore, a very interesting proposal is to use this time to learn.

The learning Mobile also has an intuitive name and implies that the employee will use his cell to attend classes and perform tasks.

This is a natural expansion of distance education, allowing it to be more democratic and even more flexible .

If this is an interesting option for your company, ensure that all content produced for remote training is adapted to be delivered through smartphone and tablet screens.

3-gamification

The gamification is an excellent way of delivering content to employees as it creates a dynamic of reward that entices to seek “more points”, ie it is an active methodology.

Not only, this is a practice that has been implemented by several companies in order to increase productivity .

4-mentoring programs

This is a type of training widely accepted by corporations, in which employees with more seniority and more advanced hard skills end up mentoring the younger ones.

In this type of approach, such as mentoring , it is interesting to create formal goals and procedures to ensure that the development opportunity is being used well.

How to take online training?

Now, we come to a more practical part of the text where we talk about step by step to implement online training efficiently .

Step 1: Check the needs of the company and the public

First of all, training must be a demand of the company itself or of its employees , after all, they must be aligned with the business objectives.

In other words, the programs cannot be random and must also meet the profile of the collaborators who will make them .

These needs can be identified through performance evaluations or even raised by managers and employees.

Typically, this HR data is used to create Individual Development Plans (PDI) , but it can also be the insights needed to structure trainings.

Another important point is to identify exactly which public (company employees) needs the training .

After all, not all employees need to know something related to a specific segment. Marketing, for example, does not need to be trained in the personnel department.

Some guiding questions that will help you understand how to design the learning program are:

• Where is my employee located in relation to the business strategy ?
• What soft skills , abilities and skills are necessary to develop?
• How will the training professionally develop the team?
• What does the company most urgently need to achieve its goals?

Based on these questions, it is possible to outline the best approach for training, bearing in mind that they always need to satisfy the needs of the employee (in their position) and the company’s objectives simultaneously.

Step 2: Plan online training

Is there someone in the company who is competent to teach the courses or will it be necessary to hire third parties ?

Once the company’s needs have been identified, this is the question that must be asked .

It’s also time to think about the content , the way it will be delivered, schedule if the course is live and several other details that will depend a lot on the proposed theme.

Here, it is interesting to use innovative approaches and escape that standard model in which the student sits and listens to the teacher.

It is difficult to escape this pattern of education, however, it is possible to think of some active methodologies such as:

• Discussion forums;
• live broadcasts;
• Gamification;
• Tutoring.

HR is the master of dynamics so as not to let these actions get boring, therefore, it is important to take care from the moment of disclosure until the classes.

This is also where you will think about whether you need to use an online training platform .

They are very suitable for companies that want to provide several training options .

With that in mind, it is necessary to look for all the necessary infrastructure to make this project come to life.

Often, during the implementation of this “culture of continuous learning”, there is an excess, believing that what really matters is the way in which the material is created.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that the focus should always be on content — which should never be superficial — and delivery to contributors .

Step 3: Create a learning culture

Making changes to organizational culture is never an easy task. Therefore, the HR team must work incessantly to demonstrate the professional advantages that employees will have by joining the project.

In addition, it is important to avoid a manipulative narrative with the message “we are doing this for your future” and to be very transparent with the motivations that led to the emergence of the program.

Another point is to make clear the objectives that are sought to be achieved with online training, both for the employee and for the company.

The internal marketing is a primary tool in this whole process because it discloses the training, interact with employees and aligns expectations.

Did you understand how the process works to create a really efficient online training, meeting the company’s needs?

Now we’ll talk a little more about how to make this moment even more interactive .

How to make an interactive online training?

It is not enough to make the information available and wait for the employee to be compelled to study the topic diligently. Therefore, creating an interactive training makes the whole experience much more fun and exciting.

Of course, there will always be moments of content exposure, but it is important to insert interactive modules in order to capture attention and make students actively participate in the construction of knowledge.

Some ideas are:

• Insert elements that require interaction on each slide, if applicable;
• Include 360° interactive images and videos ;
• Propose hypothetical situations to encourage teamwork.

In the end, it is important to know the employees well in order to customize this part according to their profile, also considering the company’s area of ​​operation.

Why take online training?

We’ll start to answer that question with another one: is having skilled employees important for your company to achieve its goals ?

Online training has numerous goals that go beyond the development of technical and emotional skills.

It also serves to acclimatize the individual with behaviors and thoughts desired by the company .

Not only, leadership skills , people management and projects also need to be constantly updated.

We are part of an extremely dynamic market in which new developments appear all the time, such as agile methodologies , for example.

And after the training, employees are expected to put this knowledge into practice, revealing the second motivation for taking the training online:  contributing to the company’s growth .

This practice reveals that the company is not only concerned with the result, but is willing to invest in people , helping them in their professional growth.

We can also mention the competitive advantage that having a team that is always up to date brings. They are always on top of the best practices of the moment, the most efficient tools and always keep an inquiring mindset .

Therefore, it is important to link the company’s evolution to professional growth, this makes individuals establish roots in the company and contributes to a good employee experience .

But those aren’t the only reasons. Below are a number of advantages to adopting online training in your company.

What are the advantages of online training?

Discover now the numerous benefits of adopting an online training strategy for your business.

1-Lower cost and simpler

Something that makes companies invest a lot in the digital environment these days is its practicality. The cost of creating one is more advantageous than bringing all employees together in a physical space to teach classes.

A physical infrastructure is always more expensive and robust, making it more convenient for everyone to participate through a link at home.

This does not imply that the online environment has no costs, it is still necessary to hire teachers, have access to a teaching platform, produce support material, etc.

But other associated advantages, which we’ll talk about below, make the online class a more logical choice .

2-high range solution

The logistics of juggled the schedules of numerous departments leaves many HR analysts trembling in anticipation .

Not only, geographic limitations are a big problem, especially when having branches with employees working in home offices spread across the state, or even throughout Brazil .

In this situation, the analyst breaks out into a cold sweat to make the training happen. When opting for the online method, all this is solved in a single way.

Let’s say HR wants to give a talk about the company’s values, bringing everyone together in this scenario is as simple as sending a link from the company’s communications app.

Furthermore, it is also possible to leave the entire content recorded on a company platform, serving as a more practical onboarding .

3-Values ​​the employer brand

The employer brand is something that HR should always be working to attract talented candidates in the market.

A well-structured online training program is certainly a huge attraction for those people who want to improve themselves .

4-Flexibility for employees

Unless it’s a live class, having an online training platform makes the learning process much more flexible for the employee, who can choose the best time to learn.

Not only, because it is continuously available, it allows people hired in the future to have access to the content.

5-Stimulates self-learning

Often, professionals get a little stagnant when they get a good job.

However, this behavior is not good for the company , much less for the person, who fails to keep up with market news.

Thus, the company acts by giving the “little push” that was needed for the employee to go back to studying and challenging himself.

6-Improves productivity and quality

A well-trained team tends to perform better in their roles. This is also associated with greater motivation due to the company’s valuation program.

Leaders can have more confidence in their work, as their subordinates are increasingly specialized in their roles .

This dynamic helps to build more productive teams that, in turn, directly contribute to achieving the company’s goals.

How to ensure the effectiveness of training in virtual mode?

In addition to producing the entire training program online, HR must also be concerned with measuring the results arising from these actions .

In this way, it is possible to prove to the board that investment in employee education brings results and also to observe the possibility of improvement in the program itself .

Furthermore, having truly relevant content is essential for these trainings to be effective.

Understand below some points that can be considered when observing the effectiveness of these actions.

How to measure the results of online training?

1-Reaction

Understanding how employees received the online experience is important to identify whether the subject covered was really relevant and there were no problems during the classes.

Thus, it is possible to assess issues such as platform, teachers, content quality, dropout rate.

One of the best ways to measure the reaction is with the famous NPS, the Net Promoter Score .

2-Acquired knowledge

If the course offers a certificate, it is important to assess how much of the syllabus has been absorbed by employees. But it doesn’t have to be something as formal as proof. Often, a simple questionnaire is enough.

This is also an excellent indicator for evaluating the effectiveness of classes in building knowledge and providing for changes if necessary.

3-knowledge application

Let’s say that employees of a marketing department were trained to create dashboards to display area indicators.

It is possible to assess whether they are putting this knowledge into practice through conversations with managers or feedback from employees themselves.

The important thing is that the acquired knowledge is being put into practice and improving the company’s productivity.

4-Results

The moment of truth has arrived: measuring the results (which can be in the form of ROI ) of online training.

Therefore, it is important not only to keep detailed descriptions of the expenses involved in online training, but to have a specific objective for the training.

So, even before planning the content, it is important to know which indicator is planned to change after delivering the content to contributors. This makes life easier for HR when it comes to measuring results.