Make 2023 Year of the Employee with Training

3 Reasons why Training Matters in
​Small Businesses and Nonprofits

 Have you ever had a job where there wasn't any training? I have. Once I had a job and didn't get told where the bathroom was. It felt weird to ask, "Where is the restroom?". It was at that time that I told myself I would NEVER have anyone on-board without some basics for them to have the best first day ever. Here are three reasons why training matters in your small business or nonprofit.

ON-BOARDING CONSISTENCY
On-boarding should be a formal process to convey the values and culture of the organization. Each employee should be provided the same information so that they all have the same grounding as they enter the organization. Employees are deciding if this will be a good fit from the beginning. Many employees may have left a organization and/or job they loved, but you offered them a promotion or opportunity they were seeking. Make sure you are able to meet them where they are at and start to build community so they want to stay. Through the consistent on-boarding practice employees will have a sense of stability and safety to learn their own role in the organization.

COMPLIANCE IS IMPORTANT
Yep, employees can bad talk all the orientation required to start a new position, but your organization is on the line that your employees know what is expected and are compliant. Compliance is HIPAA, OSHA and many more government mandated compliance. The new compliance that your employees need to know about cybersecurity and their role in reducing it at your organization. Make sure your have annual training that refreshes your employees of all expectations you have around sexual harassment, discrimination and other items that may be grounds for termination if found the employees aren't compliant.

EMPLOYEES CAN DO THEIR BEST 
Individuals learn differently, written, hands-on or oral. Make sure your training offers different modalities so that your employees will have an opportunity to use their learning strengths. In the tight workforce right now, I know the burden that training can put on managers. Managers should think through how to scale up the training to get employees going but also have balance with their responsibilities and getting the new employee up and going. If your processes aren't written down, this is your first step. Have employees write what they do so you will always have a position "handbook". Make sure you know where this is saved and/or periodically get a copy of it. Back to my on-boarding where there was no training, I survived and I learned to do my job networking with resources and making mistakes. I know that this wasn't efficient and I also know that not everyone would have worked through it. Commit to train your employees with the basics and then support them to success.