The motivation and commitment of an employee are fundamental aspects of his or her performance within a company.

Undoubtedly, a well-structured skills development program based on courses that allow the improvement of skills and growth in the company is a determining factor to keep the employee motivated and engaged.

In this article, you will discover the countless benefits of implementing training paths on an e-learning or intranet platform.

Currently, there are high expectations and hopes for e-learning, one of the fastest-growing ICT (information and communication technology) sectors. For this reason, considerable investments have been made in this field. Many companies face constant personnel turnover, particularly during the recruitment period.

According to information provided by GroMar, a company mainly dedicated to the implementation of online educational resources, between 16% and 22% of the population changes jobs voluntarily within a year.

According to the trend reflected in 2021, there is no doubt that companies' branding activities can improve employee retention by 30% to 90% during their first year of employment.

To effectively undertake Employer Branding activities internally, one must first focus on the process whereby the employer is tasked with supporting the new employee's introduction to the workplace (onboarding). Many such activities take place even before the day a new person starts working (pre-onboarding). This is because some of them, such as completing tax or insurance documents, can be done by email.

Fortunately, business owners now have much greater opportunities related to training employees internally thanks to the continuous development of various e-learning tools. The employee training paths module is ideal for this role.

What is an employee's training path?

A training path is a collection of educational company documents and subject-specific courses tailored to specific positions. In other words, it is a dedicated module for designing and managing individual employee development plans. Such a tool is a resource implemented in e-learning and intranet platforms.

Currently, the most common method is the introduction of an intranet platform combined with e-learning. The growing popularity of such a solution among medium and large companies has a reason.

Companies with hundreds or thousands of employees - thanks to the integration of the above platforms, gain a simple and practical form of internal communication linked to staff development.

Once implemented, each person has a preview of their progress to date, which is a table with results where they can easily assess the direction of their progress.

Proper management of training paths is a strategy that has great onboarding potential. All paths created are permanently entered into the system, which eliminates the issues associated with repetitive implementations for each newly hired employee. Later, when a path needs to be amended, there is no need to build it from scratch - just update the content and materials.

Each position has its own training path

Each path should include a series of elements thematically tailored to the specific position. These will be differentiated in relation to the function of the department and the advancement of the position.

In addition, the module for managing training paths allows you to predict the most effective employee development plan.

It makes specifying the appropriate time for the entire paths and specific stages much simpler and more certain. The framework is estimated, taking into account the difficulty of the plan, as well as the number of elements.

The different stages of the training path must be matched to the relevant positions even if that only means taking into account their different characteristics and the industry-specific nature of training provided exclusively for specific audiences.

Nonetheless, some elements of company-wide knowledge (e.g., health and safety training) may be duplicated in different departments and positions. This is especially important when conducting internal recruitment, where working people may move between departments within the company.

In the training paths module, you can keep all the necessary information on the individually traveled stages. When an employee wants to move, for example, from the marketing team to the sales department, he or she will automatically skip the stage that occurs again on the new path and is already marked as completed. This will speed up the process of the employee's execution of the entire path.

Effectiveness of the training path model vs. individual training courses

L&D (Learning&Development) is a major area to exercise control over human resources. To have clear internal communication, each employee should know how the L&D process is taking place in the company. A determined development plan generates visible changes in the performance of individuals or groups, as well as better communication of one's observations and knowledge.

If an employee is given insight into the planned training schedule it will have a positive impact on his performance of duties. He will easily organize his working time designated for taking the training path among the rest of his scheduled tasks.

When employee training is placed irregularly and unsystematically, organizational confusion can occur. In addition to this, when we add multiple pieces of training to an employee at one time, without setting timeframes or exact deadlines for the completion of each stage, it will lead to the demolition of his private work schedule. Therefore, it is probable that the employee's efficiency will decrease.

High level of Employer Branding

Deloitte conducted a survey showing that a sense of belonging has a key impact on results and efficiency - this was the opinion of 95% of the people who answered the survey. Through the use of the training paths module, employees are provided with a clear and detailed development schedule along with the required materials for obtaining the right competencies for their current position. Implementing such measures communicates to the employer that staff education and involvement are highly valued.

With the help of the training path, various surveys and tests can also be used. This allows the company to identify the strengths of the people employed. The conclusion is that it is easier to decide who can be promoted. One should not forget how important word-of-mouth marketing is. How an employer engages in the development of its employees will affect the internal perception of the brand.

Thanks to research by Deloitte, we can learn that about 69% of candidates will not apply to a company with a poor reputation - even when they are not currently employed anywhere.

Unified login system

The most common solution is to implement an intranet system integrated with an e-learning platform, which gives the company measurably greater functional potential.

An ideal example is the possibility of uniform login to internal modules and systems by every employee of a given company.

The platforms use a directory of AD users, so all logins are done with one set of individual data for each person employed. This eliminates the risk of losing, forgetting, or misplacing one of the many passwords held, and therefore the need for administrators to get involved if access to particular systems is blocked.

Administrators add employees to the user directory, taking into account the assignment to their respective departments, teams, and positions. Such a procedure, together with accurately entered training paths, makes it possible to direct an employee automatically to the intended development plan.

As a result, this will, among other things, reduce expenses, greatly reduce administrators' work time or minimize potential errors that may occur when assigning rights.

Summary of results from the training path

Supervising the proper course of Learning&Development of employed people is very important. It is enough to assign the right supervisor to each path. For optimal results, it is recommended to match an employee from a specific branch of the company. This approach will ensure that their feedback on the outcomes is genuinely reflective of the job requirements.

General and detailed performance reports

Designated supervisors of training paths receive a weekly general report of employees. It is not uncommon for them to monitor the development of several or more people at the same time. Frequent analysis of detailed information and results takes too much time, so weekly reports contain only the necessary information.

The supervisor gets notification of the parts that have already been completed, (number of items, topic, completion time) and a preview of what stage of completion of the next ones the employee is at. The guardian receives specific data on the employee's results and outcomes for each element of the plan.

The individual overseeing a particular training program receives a detailed overview of the entire course’s progress. This includes the employee's current ranking, total points earned, and other relevant information.

Notifications for trained employees

Employed people have the opportunity to customize for themselves an ideal `preview of the current effects of training. They can do this in the main view of the platform. However, if the employer takes into account the daily rush of classes, meetings, etc., a message schedule will be very helpful. Thanks to it, incoming notifications about how much time is left to complete the various parts of the path or about the appearance of a new element can visibly optimize the work system.

Specified time to complete each stage of the training path

The overriding goal of the training path is to implement the hired person practically and substantively into current and future responsibilities. The schedule of an employee's development path is most effective if you separate it into smaller distinct parts.

Sample layout of training path elements for a new employee:

• The employee begins the implementation of training paths and learns the applicable policies, the company's organizational chart, health and safety regulations, and a list of contact persons, in case of various situations.
   
• The employee gets authorization to access company documents and undergoes a course on how and where to look for files. Finally, it is checked that the new employee knows where to find the documents he needs.
   
• Days are set aside for training - especially to introduce the specifics of the position. At the end of the week, the employee goes through several tests and completes questionnaires.

Given the variety of stages in the training path and the characteristics of each training, the whole thing requires time variation.

For this reason, in the training path management module, it is easy to adjust the execution time to specific stages, e.g. it may take two days to get acquainted with the implementation content, and then the person can proceed to the next, more demanding elements with an extended execution time of up to 5 days.

It may happen that several courses, e.g., sales courses, are connected by commercial procedures of differentiated products, which allows to link the topic into one whole.

To remember and consolidate the acquired knowledge, it is necessary to take a few days' break between stages. During the interval, there is no obstacle before completing a survey or knowledge test.

Employees can check their results at any time, the remaining time to complete the current training or have a look at the next ones.

Dedicated training path module tailored to customer needs

Before designing and preparing the structure and content of training, a comprehensive internal analysis of the company is particularly important. Without proper recognition of the company's requirements, creating effective training paths for the widest variety of positions is an unnecessary risk and a huge challenge. For the preparation of a dedicated module that will perfectly meet the individual expectations of the client, several basic factors must be taken into account:

• The organizational structure of the company - flat or multi-level,
• The size of the company and the number of employees,
• Sector or industry of operation,
• Relevant guidelines and objectives in HR activities,
• The sphere of its activities - domestic or international

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Connecting intranet functionalities

Employee training tracks are a very valuable part of an intranet or e-learning. However, if you want to maximize the quality of your employees' experience with internal Employer Branding, it's worth combining this module with other functionalities available in the e-learning platform. In this case, gamification is ideal.

Thanks to them, employed people can record their results or collect points. The results of people who participate in the same path will be visible in the form of rankings. These rankings will allow for individual badges awarded to one person per month for the best score in various categories, such as "Junior Salesperson" or "Newly Hired." In addition, the points add up to earn gifts or bonuses.

Several steps are a prerequisite for successful gamification in a company, such as socially designing the game, engaging employees in gamification through a variety of materials, or using the competitive nature of the people hired.

The benefits of applying a training paths module to a company intranet or a separate e-learning platform:

According to the #TRENDYHR_202021 - (R)evolutions of HR by Grow Agency report, 62% of the companies reviewed, have plans to improve their internal communications. 46% of them would like to improve the engagement of working people. Employee training paths help invest in a clear scheme for employee development, as well as create a competitive advantage. Among the benefits of implementing training paths, we can include:

• A clear structure for employee progress,
• Increased productivity and commitment,
• Identification of the employee with the company's values,
• Time savings - reduction of time-consuming repetitive activities and potential errors,
• Saving administrators' time,
• Comprehensive employee development experience by combining various training elements,
• a system for verifying an employee's progress along the development path,
• Effective reduction of turnover of valuable employees.