Chapter 8: Employee Training and Development

1. Chapter 8: Employee Training and Development • Importance of Training • Who Will Do the Training • How Employees Learn Best • Developing a Job Training Program • Retraining • Overcoming Obstacles to Learning • Turnover & Retention

2. Importance of Training:Teaching People How to do Their Jobs • There are 3 kinds of training: • Job Instruction • Retraining • Orientation • The big sister, big brother, orbuddy system is when a old hand shows a newcomer the ropes. • When good training is absent there is likely to be an atmosphere of tension, crisis, & conflict because nobody knows what to do.

3. The Benefits of Training • Gives the supervisor more time to lead, standardizes performance, less absenteeism, less turnover, reduced tension, consistency, lower costs, more customers, better service. • Gives the workers confidence & knowledge to do their jobs, reduces tension, boost morale & job satisfaction, reduces injuries & accidents, gives them a chance to advance. • Gives the business a good image & more profit.

4. Then why is training often neglected? • Urgency of need. • Training time. • Costs. • Employee turnover. • Short-term associates. • Diversity of worker. • Kinds of jobs (simple-complex). • Not knowing exactly what you want your people to do & how.

5. Who will do the training? • The magic apron method: people train themselves the easiest ways to get the job done, & what will keep them from getting into trouble. • The person that is leaving trains: teaches shortcuts & ways of breaking the rules. • Big sister, big brother, or buddy method: passes on bad habits & may resent new person as a competitor. • The logical person to train new workers is YOURSEF!

6. How employees learn best: • Learning is the acquisition of skills, knowledge, or attitudes. • The adult learning theory is a field of research that examines how adults learn. • A number of the following tips come from the adult leaning theory.

7. How employees learn the best: • When they are actively involved in the learning process (to do this you must choose the appropriate teaching method). • Training is relevant & practical. • Training material is organized & presented in chunks. • Training is in an informal, quiet, & comfortable setting. • When they have a good trainer. • When they receive feedback on performance. • When they are rewarded.

8. Developing a Unit Training Program • Training plans each represent a learnable, teachable segment of the job: • 1stEstablish performance standards: they provide a ready made structure for a training program. • 2ndWrite a training objective derived form above. • 3rdDevelop standard procedures (list tasks & spell them out).

9. Developing a Unit Training Program • This is taught in several sessions. • It should provide checkpoints to measure progress. • The method of training should include 2 elements: • Showing & telling the trainee what to do. • Having the trainee do it (right). • This is known as job instruction training. • The closer the training method, setup & materials are to the on-the-job situation, the better the training. • The location of the training should be a quiet place free of interruptions. • One-on-one training generally works best. • However, group presentations have certain advantages (general information).

10. Developing a Unit Training Program • Your training materials should include the same equipment & supplies that will be used on the job, & they should all be on hand & ready before the training starts. • Developing a written training plan helps you to think out all the aspects of the training & to orient everything to the new employee & the details of the job.

11. Moving from Plan to Action • Training people with some experience begins with a pretest. • Experienced associates should end up meeting the same standards as people whom you train from scratch. • Once the training process is complete EVALUATE.

12. Evaluation • Formal evaluation: uses observation, interviews, & surveys to monitor training while its going on. • Summative evaluation: measures results when training is complete in five ways: 1. Reaction 2. Knowledge 3. Behavior 4. Attitudes 5. Productivity

13. Job Instruction Training (JIT) • Also called on the job training. • Consists of 4 steps: 1. Prepare the associate. 2. Demonstrate the task. 3. Have the associate do the task. 4. Follow through.

14. Retraining • Needed when changes are made that affect the job, employees performance drops below par, when the worker has not mastered a particular technique, or your people themselves may ask for it. • A positive one-on-one approach to retraining is referred to a coaching. • Coachingis a 2 part process: • 1. Observation of the employees performance. • 2. Conversation between manager & employee focusing on job performance.

15. Overcoming Obstacles to Learning • Reduce fear with a positive approach (convey confidence in the worker). • Increase motivation: • Emphasize whatever is of value to the learner, make the program form a series of small successes, build in incentives & rewards. • Adjust teaching to learners level. • Laziness, indifference, resistance may mean a problem worker. • Approach training from the learner’s point of view. • Keep it simple, concrete, practical, & real.

16. Overcoming Obstacles to Learning • Sometimes the training program is the problem. • If it is abstract, academic, impersonal, or unrealistic, it will not get across. • Sometimes the instructor causes the learning problems. • Trainers need to know the job well enough to teach it. • They need to be good communicators, able to use words other people will understand, sensitive enough to see when they are not getting through.

17. Turnover & Retention • Many hospitality operations have a labor turnover of more than 100%. • Retention is the term given to keeping employees from “jumping ship”.

18. Turnover & Retention • In study by the Hay Group over a ½ million employees in 300 companies were asked about important retention factors, the top 10 were: • Career Growth, learning & development. • Exciting & challenging work. • Meaningful work. • Great people to work with. • Being part of a team. • Having a good boss. • Recognition of work well done. • Autonomy & a sense of control over work. • Flexible work hours. • Fair pay & benefits.

19. Turnover & Retention • Strategies for improving retention: • Hold 50/50 meetings. • Practice management by wandering around. • Work side by side with employees. • Conduct exit interviews. • Use other methods to listen (i.e. suggestion systems). • Recognize a job well done. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.