Online training Having well-trained and skilled employees for day-to-day activities has always been an important consideration for HR professionals.

These trainings can be done in person or online, depending on the needs and possibilities of your company. Due to the simplicity of this approach, training has become increasingly common in organizations.

In this article, we will explain everything about how to do training, its advantages and how HR can prepare employee training in practice . See the topics that we will cover below:

• Online training: what is it?
• How to do online training?
• Online training for companies
• How can HR prepare for online employee training?
• How can corporate training be beneficial?
• Training and development x Talent retention
• Online training: what is it?

Online training aims to teach or improve the skills of employees through content and practical and pedagogical activities at a distance.

This can be done through educational platforms, and employees can access them anytime, or live at fixed times through online classes with teachers and instructors. This type of education can be provided by the company itself or contracted with partners for each need.

It is imperative that training is even more a reality for companies, especially at a time when most employees are working remotely and gaining more freedom to schedule their tasks and learn individually.

How does online training work in practice?

Online training is learning that takes place on a computer or mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. This type of learning can use a wide variety of media such as articles, training online graphics, audio, podcasts, interactive content, recorded video and presentations, live videos, and self-paced tests.

Sometimes organizations also use blended learning, which is online training combined with human support, such as interaction through forums or similar channels.

As an example of training, your organization might ask all new hires to complete a job safety course on day one.

What Is The Practical Difference Between Face-to-face And Online Training?

In training, employees do not need to leave their homes to access the content, while in face-to-face training, meetings are held physically and require employee mobility.

Face-to-face training requires all participants to be at a certain place and time for a certain period of time. This makes it difficult to choose options that would allow everyone to balance training time with other commitments.

Already in training, participants can access the content individually from anywhere, anytime available. It should be noted that this naturally promotes greater involvement.

Online training is highly adaptable to all types of technology, including mobile technologies that most people already have access to – devices such as tablets and smartphones.

How To Do Online Training?

As you already know more about conducting training, how about starting to think about its practical application? Here are some tips:

Define needs and target audience

There can be many needs of a company for the application of online training and for them to be really efficient it is necessary to understand what they are. Understand what is needed in the technical and behavioral part of your teams and know what adds to the strategic planning of the business.

Also think about who will be reached with training. Will they be for new employees, to improve current ones, for leaders, divided by sectors and areas of knowledge? Observe the various possibilities and understand how each content can fit into the profile of the collaborators.

choose format

Knowing what your priorities are, you can choose a format and define if your company has the ability to conduct training or if you need to hire a third party. Also define if the training will be live and will need the planning and agenda of the participants, or if it will be available and can be accessed at any time. 

Create a learning culture

Online training, if not in a scheduled virtual class, can be available at any time and depends on the employee’s willingness to do so.

Therefore, it is essential to foster a learning culture that involves employees and encourages them to be interested in the courses and contents offered by the company.

Online training for companies

Effective online training can improve the capacity of employees and the degree of interaction with the organization, which will reduce the number of employee turnover , thus reducing expenses. We highlight the main advantages and disadvantages of adopting this approach in your company below:

Main advantages

One of the biggest advantages of training is the flexibility it offers. Instead of attending training classes at a specific place and time, the employee can enter training when it is convenient, that is, he can choose the best time to carry out the study.

An additional advantage is cost-effectiveness, both for employees and for the organization. When an employee learns online, the cost of commuting to class can be eliminated, avoiding all accommodation costs and minimizing time away from work.

Online training is often very cost-effective, especially for large groups.

For example, many more people can be trained compared to the number that can be trained by an in-person instructor. As a result, training also enables organizations to deliver team training on a global scale.

Due to the variety of media used, online training can create a positive learning experience and can also adapt to a variety of different learning methods. And since a contributor can work at their own pace, they are more likely to understand and retain the information learned.

Disadvantages Of Online Training

While learning has many advantages, this type of training also has some disadvantages.

Distance learning requires a certain degree of organization and self-discipline; if the employee has difficulty maintaining motivation or getting organized, they may feel that training is behind schedule. The employee will also need good time management skills to participate in an training.