Human Resource Training - Essay Example

 HR Training (Student’s Name) (Institutional Affiliation) HR Training Whenever numerous customer complaints arise about a business venture, the immediate impact is often associated with reduced profits and sales which later hurt the company’s reputation. Our small retail company is therefore not exempt from such a likely scenario. Having worked at the firm’s HR department for close to fifteen years, I have a strong conviction that conducting a needs assessment before adopting an employee customer service training, would help identify existing performance deficiencies. This assertion, though existing as a personal surmise, will expose any existing performance deficiencies in the following ways; i. It will highlight individual level of competency Once a needs assessment is completed, the company will be able to identify every individuals’ level of competence as regards to their current roles. For example, the company will be able to compare an employee’s knowledge or skill in one or more areas to their role. An employee whose expertise does not merit his or her placement can then transferred to another department. This will eventually enable the company to assign roles within the organization to suitable individuals. ii. It will address competency gaps among individual workers It is often a misconception to assume that all employees need training and more so the same training (Gupta et al., 2011). With a needs assessment in place, the HR department will be able to determine the number of employees who need specific training and to what extent. Consequently, this will help in making informed decisions on how to manage competency gaps among our employees. Also, this process will enable the company to categorize jobs according to complexity and amount of time required to finish each. iii. It will expose personal problems reflected at work Employees sometimes underperform due personal problems that affect their lives. Such can come in form of relationships, loss of a family member, and stress among other causes. These problems may cause individual employees to exercise aggression, negativism, and control toward colleagues or customers as a way to get back at them. A needs assessment will help identify employees with such problems and help prevent possible aggression towards others. This is possible through counseling and giving time off to affected employees. The company will greatly benefit from this since worker output will not be compromised. iv. It will determine training needs among individual employees Once competency gaps are identified, the company will be able to note the variations between the current and needed competencies among individual employees. Most organizations experience poor service delivery because they do not spare ample time and resources for employee training. A needs assessment will help the company to allocate the right resources (time and money) for training and reinforcing employee skills and knowledge. The most important part of this process is to inform the employees about the company’s products and services and goals. For example, impatient employees may be trained on how to exercise tolerance when dealing with hypersensitive customers. This will definitely give the company a positive customer feedback. v. It will address instances of employee burnouts. When there is too much negativity and complaints from the superiors and customers, some employee’s morale at work may be lowered which consequently affect their performance. Conducting a needs assessment will enable the company to identify such workers and how they can be helped. For example, establishing a consistent and efficient communication will help the company to identify individuals experiencing burn outs and why. They can then be counseled on how to deal with stress and frustration arising from work. Proposed customer service training The selected method of employee training chosen for this program is On-the-job training (OJT). Before arriving at this particular training method, other existing methods were identified, evaluated and dismissed with emphasis laid on whether they accommodated the company’s long-term goals, culture or policies. They include; case study, presentation, discussion, discovery, modeling, role play, and simulation. In the end, On-the-job training was identified since it has numerous advantages that will benefit the employees, employers and customers alike. Furthermore, apart from the fact that OJT suits the company’s culture, goals and policies, it also provides opportunity for real-time customers and staff interaction. Sloman (2017) also adds that OJT provides a live contextual awareness of what is expected by the employer from the employee. Due to the fact that the company is creating an employee training program right from scratch, implement guidelines based on the ADDIE method will be necessary. Thus, the plan will adopt the following process; Assessment, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Assessment The first part of the plan is to conduct an assessment which will determine particular needs of individual employees and specific tasks. This will be done by identifying the specific needs that each job requires based on skills, qualifications, and knowledge. The trainees are then given an impression of how the ideal employee in that specific position looks like. For example, if the job requires technological knowhow the employees can be trained on the same, if it requires knowledge in customer service the training should focus on the same, and so on. Also, assessment can partly be understanding each employee’s type of skills. For example, do they possess hard or soft skills and how can they use a combination of the two? Additionally, assessment will also involve analysis of the tools and systems that the employees use. These may include Communication systems like memos or notes, and Technology, as in are they old or new? Do they need upgrades? Design Once the needs are assessed, the next task will be designing how the on-the-job training program will look like, where it will be held, and what format it will take. The proposed OJT will combine various training methods which include; job rotation, in-person training, and in-depth classroom, alongside the use of mentors to motivate new recruits in the company. Job rotation will involve moving trainees from one job to another after they have received ample knowledge of the task involved in each rotation. In-person training will be conducted by specific professionals assigned to each trainee by the company. They will guide them on how to perform tasks and give feedback after successful completion of task. In-depth classrooms will take the form of formalized training of the programs in classrooms under close supervision of professionals. Development According to Habib et al (2015) since people use various methods of learning and that everyone has different speeds of learning, good training will require that the stakeholders determine the preferred method by individual employees before first-hand application. For example, some people learn by: practicing actual tasks or via simulations, some learn by feeling as in participating in role playing or group discussions, some by doing independent tasks such as individual thinking, taking tests, or reading while others by observation as in attending lectures and seminars. Due to these variations, different methods, materials, and resources will be included in the training. Such may encompass use of chalkboards, tests, projectors, among others. Implementation Since employee training is not a one-time event but a process, I will include learning programs periodically throughout the employee’s career. For instance, on-the-job training will include programs such as; learning about the company’s policies, responding to hypersensitive customers, filling financial reports, and so on. Since these programs might not be covered at once. Each program will be assigned a specific time-frame within which it has to be covered. Evaluation: In order to determine whether the training met both the employees’ needs and company’s needs, I will conduct follow-ups at various intervals during the training process. To ascertain whether the trainees are retaining and using the taught programs, I will develop unique guidelines to evaluate each trainee based on their cognitive and psychomotor skills. This will help determine whether they are transferring learned skills to their jobs. I will also look for overall impacts on productivity with regards to each trainees output. Lastly, at the end of the training period, I will give the trainees questionnaires in which they are required to evaluate their trainers and the whole program. Motivating Uninterested Employees Some employees may not be interested in participating in the training program. However, they can still be motivated to take part in the entire process. This can be done in two ways: First by talking to them and identifying the root cause. Before making assumptions on why an employee is not responsive to the current training program, the best approach is to talk to them and determine the cause of the problem. He/she may open up and say that the coaching methods are not interactive thus he/she feels left out. If that is the case, identifying their preferred methods and implementing them in the program will rejuvenate their interest in the program. For example adding interactive technology, rotating assignments or roles can spark their interest. Second, uninterested employees can be motivated to participate in the training through rewards and incentives. When performing trainees are awarded and their efforts acknowledged, the uninterested party might find it interesting to perform similar tasks and get even better rewards than their colleagues. Trainers should therefore ensure that each exemplary work achieved by trainees are awarded accordingly. Survey to collect feedback In order to get appropriate feedback from the employees who attend the training, a long survey will be conducted. First, I will set objectives of the survey presumably based on key areas of the training. Second, while placing emphasis on the trainee experience, the program efficacy, and the trainer’s professionalism, I will write the survey questions then test them on an internal pilot group. Fourth, I will deploy the survey to members via the internet as in social media, email, and Google forms among others. I will then collect the responses, read and analyze them. This process will entail cleaning up the data by erasing irrelevant response. It will similarly require a through summary of the data into readable formats. Finally, I will act on the results by; studying and interpreting the meaningful content, and allocating resources based on needs. References Gupta, K., Sleezer, C., & Russ-Eft, D. F. (2011). A practical guide to needs assessment. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Habib, A., Hasan, M. M., Bhuiyan, M., & Uddin, B. (2015). Customer Concentration, Corporate Social Responsibility and Idiosyncratic Risk. Sloman, M. (2017). A handbook for training strategy. Gower Publishing, Ltd. 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