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What is employee training?

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Employee training is instruction that aims to equip employees to do their jobs. All occupations are filled with questions�from what to do first thing in the morning to how to handle complex ethical situations to who to turn to for help. Employee training aims to answer these questions before employees even sense that they will need to know the answers.

Aristotle said, �Excellence is an art won by training and habitation.� Employee training is based on the question, �What will an employee need to know in order to excel at this job?� This question is much broader than it first appears, for it includes issues of safety, ethics, intra-office relationships, and much more, in addition to the basic how-to of the job itself.

According to Training Magazine, $51.4 billion was spent on employee training in 2004. For the last fifteen years, at least $43 billion has been spent on employee training every year. Why are the nation�s companies pouring money into employee training? Quite simply, because untrained employees are unprofitable and counter-productive employees. If you avoid training employees now, you run the risk of a much more costly mistake or issue in the future.

Employee training can take on many different forms. The most common form is the traditional classroom lecture, but other employers use materials such as the Internet, workbooks or manuals, or self-study, as well as non-traditional methods including role-playing and games. Employers design whatever format they feel best suits the needs of the trainees, but regardless of the format, the goal of training remains the same�to equip employees in every aspect of their professions.

Next Page: What kinds of employees should have training?

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