We have an online training module but monitoring employees' use of it is becoming a full-time job. Is there a better way to prompt employees to complete online training?
David McConney, EVP/General Manager, Credit Union Core Systems, Harland Financial Solutions, Pleasanton, California
Monitoring employees training habits and behavior can be a time consuming and ongoing challenge for most Human Resource and Training departments, regardless of the type of business. Many training courses or modules offer "tracking software" that enables exception reports to be produced at will.
For mandatory training, this is a great way to determine those employees still in queue take said training. Ensuring the importance of training is communicated to employees from the top down also helps encourage better participation.
And designating individual managers with direct reports to monitor and encourage their employees to participate is often a less painful, and more successful, way in which to garner support, participation and completion of online training courses.
Greg Crandell, EVP, DigitalMailer, Inc.
Many of our clients are finding that electronic surveys offer an excellent way to track employees' use of online training, as well as its value.
At periodic intervals, send staff members an e-survey related to specific training modules, and ask them for comments. Not only will you receive valuable feedback, but if you design your program so employees' responses are visible to their supervisors, you also will be able to determine which modules have been completed.
Sending e-surveys also prompts employees to participate in the training. And, if the e-survey isn't submitted within a preset timeframe, you can automatically generate a second message, which will serve as a reminder.
Another way to encourage online training is to use an e-survey tool to test employees' understanding of each module. This reinforces learning and provides an easy way for employees to see where they need to review.
To generate enthusiasm, consider holding periodic drawings for cash, credit union logo-wear or other prizes tied to a current credit union promotion. On completion of a certain number of modules, the employee's name can be entered for a chance to win.
Christine Pearsall, VP Marketing & Sales Support, Summit Information Systems
For today's savvy training managers, absolutely! A Learning Management System (LMS) can automate training prompts for staff. By implementing an LMS, a credit union can gain even more than simply a tool for monitoring online training by providing excellent tools for making training materials convenient to access and administer.
Many LMS products available today enable you to specify custom training programs; establish certification curriculum and learning plans; and enforce course prerequisites, all while allowing you to track each employees' completion of his or her training assignments.
These applications in many cases are accessible via a web browser, providing secure access to your training materials 24x7 and delivering managers detailed usage reports. An LMS can be a win-win proposition for both staff and management-convenient access for staff resulting in increased acceptance and usage while offering monitoring capability and higher ROI for management.
The question of employee monitoring has been raised by Summit clients anticipating the release of the integrated computer based training (CBT) module for our browser-based front office solution, Branch Suite.
For clients utilizing or considering an LMS solution, we recommend that they incorporate Summit CBT programs with a database of videos, documents, and presentations managed by the LMS, making it a convenient portal for the credit union's entire training offering.
Chris Barber, WesCorp, San Dimas, Calif.
For us the answer was to automate. The software we use internally can track employee compliance and send automated reminders to non-participants.
It can also provide detailed reports to management adding additional encouragement for employee completion of the training.
In the case of the person asking the question, it may simply be an enhancement to your existing training software to enable those functions and create the process efficiency in delivering the training.
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