Ways Training Tech Can Grow Your Human Resources Performance
As technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous across industries and in most workplaces, it is important to consider the most effective strategies to leverage this trend. While it may seem daunting to implement new technology in the workplace, making appropriate use of modern resources can prove to be a boon for companies in many ways.
The Pew Research Center states that 46% of online working adults feel that their productivity has increased with the advent of modern technologies. Meanwhile, employers who may have once felt concerned with potential downsides to new tech are increasingly embracing innovative approaches to staff management and training.
With a gradual shift towards less centralized workplaces in many industries, best practices and common tools are evolving as well. Taking advantage of new technologies is no longer considered a luxury for most companies – it’s a necessity. Below we’ll touch on some of the most essential aspects of how Human Resources can take advantage of modern training tech to improve performance.
The Role of Technology in the Workplace
At first, greeted as a novelty or regarded with suspicion, no one can now deny how powerful and effective many forms of technology have become, or how the advent of the computer age has revolutionized many aspects of life across the globe. Since computer processing technology shrunk from roomfuls of machines to more workplace-friendly devices, employers have searched for ways to improve performance with technology and training.
Technology itself is not a panacea when it comes to improving your company. But there is an abundant number of ways that modern innovations can be implemented with positive results. Boosting HR performance through training tech is just one of the many ways you may seek to use technology in the workplace.
Ways Technology Can Make Your HR Team More Effective
Regardless of your industry, technology can help facilitate a wide range of improvements that will help your HR team – and company as a whole – become more effective.
Increase Collaboration
It can be difficult to develop and maintain a culture of collaboration between different individuals and teams. New training technologies can help facilitate instances of cooperative communication and networking to improve overall outcomes of employees’ work.
Motivate Employees through Gamification
Traditional training may help motivate employees by empowering them to perform their work better. However, research on gamified training methods seems to imply that building psychological incentives into work processes through the use of training tech may greatly increase employee motivation if handled correctly.
Connect Teams Virtually
Allowing team members to use modern technologies and devices can be a cheaper means of helping them stay connected. Since most employees now own their own phones, tablets, or computers, the learning curve for building a connection with these devices is often relatively small.
Improve Training Documentation
Where analog training methods also tend to require extensive hands-on documentation, new training technologies often include features that greatly reduce the amount of time needed to record and preserve training content and results.
Analyze Performance and Outcomes
With the use of new training technology, companies may be able to access into a wider range of analytic tools and data assessment features. Instead of relying on instructor reports – which may be inaccurate or even biased – employers can use tech to form a more accurate understanding of training outcomes and employee performance.
How Does Utilizing Technology for Training Help a Company?
There are numerous benefits that companies can reap from the effective use of training technology. These include:
No Time or Location Restrictions
Older and more traditional training methods usually are conducted in-person. Moreover, they may be conducted on-site at your company’s location, or elsewhere. By necessity, this requires intensive coordination, planning, and effort. Meeting times and locations must be prepared, and employees must be informed and reminded of when they are to attend. Depending on the nature of their work, interruptions of their normal schedules may range from insignificant to extremely disruptive.
Alternatively, training technologies allow employees to learn at times and places that are more personalized to their schedules, responsibilities, and needs. Whether training is set up to take place on an individual level, or if it is geared towards distance learning for groups, a more streamlined process can help create less stressful and more convenient training opportunities.
Improved Morale
Although company cultures and practices vary, maintaining employee morale can be an important factor in ensuring the success of the entire organization. Where teams feel disconnected or ill-prepared for their responsibilities, the company as a whole may experience real effects.
Using modern technology to train and connect individuals can be a simple way to affirm their self-perception as valued employees and team members. Though morale is only one of many factors that affect an organization’s health, it is wise to pro-actively prepare to use technology to benefit your company in this area.
Lower Costs
Providing employee training is often a necessary expense for companies who want to ensure that employees can perform their best. However, the cost of preparing and conducting training is not the only associated expense.
For every hour that employees spend in training, they are by necessity removed from the cycle of productivity. Excessive training time, as well as cost, can reduce your company’s ROI. Taking advantage of training technology often reduces the overall cost of training, not only in terms of expenses but in the context of time efficiency.
Boost Your Human Resources Performance With Training Technology
The use of training technologies in the workplace is a burgeoning trend. Current research seems to indicate favorable outcomes for organizations that begin implementing new technologies such as online communication and HR gamification.
Ultimately, there are few if any Human Resources teams that can afford to ignore the wide range of potential benefits that training technology may provide. For some, embracing new tech may be as simple as upgrading to more modern forms of technology which are already in place. Other teams may require a more intensive overhaul of current systems in order to bring their departments into the present while planning for the future.
If you are seeking tangible means of boosting the performance of your Human Resources department, consider the goals your team hopes to accomplish and which kind(s) of training technology is best suited to your needs. With proper research and implementation, your entire organization may benefit from the improved performance that a technologically-adept Human Resources team can achieve.
Author Bio:
Mercy Ehrler has been marketing for corporate events and learning organizations for more than 15 years. She is currently the Director of Marketing at Attune (attune.com), a global leader of meeting and training venues, virtual collaboration solutions, and end-to-end event coordination services. Ehrler’s extensive background in the industry has given her unique insight into the challenges faced by organizations when developing and executing corporate events. Drawing on this experience, she helps shape Attune’s positioning of its innovative meeting and training deli.very solutions