Going Beyond the Basics of Training: How to Develop a Future for Today’s Employees

Millennials are America's future. They are close to overtaking Baby Boomers as the largest living generation and are on track to being the most educated, according to Pew Research Center. Millennials also dominate the U.S. workforce at 56 million strong, based on the latest U.S. census data. Experts say that this generation wants to be trained and done so in a way to make an immediate impact on the organization. Employee training should not just cover the company’s core functions and approaches but provide personal growth. “They want to know they are being invested in,” says Katie McCaslin, Vice President RealPage Learning Solutions. “When the employee says they want training I think what they are actually saying is that we want more. They want to know that they have a career path and are being set up for success.” At the same time, Millennials are often referred to as the job-hopping generation for their reputation of showing less willingness to stay at the companies where they work. A 2016 Gallup report noted that half of Millennials questioned said they didn’t plan to work for their present employer within a year of the poll. It’s safe to assume that companies must balance both traits when hiring a worker born between 1980 and 1996. Expect the best but prepare to invest more to retain top talent. Making a case for evolving learning strategies This unique generation makes the case for deviating from old-school training methods, those two- or three-day educational sabbaticals that are fast becoming a thing of the past. They take too long, disrupt productivity, and more importantly are no longer effective because learning fatigue sets in. Additionally, to create an engaged and enabled workforce, companies must move away from the “transactional” style of learning, says McCaslin.  “It’s no longer enough to just check the box for on boarding new employees a...