Train Your Security Staff Online While They Work

Online training has empowered employees to study at their own pace, from wherever they are, and at any time they might want to. For many learners, though, finding some time to commit to studying can be challenging. You can get your security staff to fit their online training into their workday by implementing a few easy principles.

 

Convenient and flexible access

One of the top advantages of online training is the flexibility it provides to learners on their online training journey. Learners are able to access online training courses anytime, from anywhere, on any device.  This means that employees can do their training while they commute, while on a lunch break, or during some downtime in their workday. The flexibility of online training means that learners don’t all have to learn at the same time; everyone has their own busy schedules and tasks to complete, so learners can access their online training when they have time. Employees who can train without the pressure of needing to fit in day-to-day work tasks as well, are able to put their full energy and focus towards the learning material, encouraging long-term knowledge retention.

 

Allow employees the time they need to learn

Expecting employees to work hard throughout the week on their tasks, and then go home and learn in their own time, might be asking too much of them. The ability to study outside the office that comes with e-learning is meant to empower those employees that wish to take advantage of it—not to burden everybody. Employers should respect their employees’ work-life balance. And a great wait to prove this is to make time for their employees to study within the workday.

That’s not as difficult as it sounds. Merely shortening the typical corporate hour-long meetings (whose utility and focus diminishes towards the end anyway), can easily save employees 10 to 30 minutes per day. This time can be devoted to staff training and development instead.

Alternatively, you could build your courses in a “bite-sized” microlearning format, and encourage employees to visit those, instead of Facebook, whenever they have some downtime. If you work in any seasonal industry, you can take advantage of periods when business is low to give your employees some time off of work—on condition that they spend a good part of that time studying.

 

Make e-learning less impersonal

e-Learning is essentially remote training, meaning it can often feel impersonal. It has an emphasis on individual, self-paced learning which may feel empowering for some learners and demotivating for others. Fortunately, remote training doesn’t have to be a solitary undertaking. An effective online learning system will provide learners with the opportunity to participate in forum discussions, gain instructor feedback, and have virtual in-person training sessions.

Assigning a Training Leader to a new employee, will ensure that they get the support and motivation that they require when learning to adjust to remote training, as well as the support required when participating in industry specific training. A training leader will be able to monitor the progress of learners through their modules and can offer regular check-ins with those who are struggling to adapt to the way of learning. The most unique challenge of all virtual activity, including training staff to train remotely, is social isolation. Check-ins help employees feel a sense of community. If those workers are left ignored for too long, it could potentially impact employee health and wellness and be a drag on productivity.

 

Recognise and reward your employees’ training efforts

Learner’s study harder and get better training results when they are motivated. Motivation can take several forms and can be hard to foster with remote training. However, gamification is a great way to get your learners involved and incentivised to focus on their industry specific training. Gamification can easily be implemented in the workplace where remote training is being implemented, even for companies with limited budgets for supplementary expenses. An effective gamification model is structured around organisational goals and industry specific training, but also considers the desires of the employees. In the case of organisation, or industry specific training, rewards can be distributed for every course or certification completed. To raise the stakes and increase urgency, rewards can be issued to the first handful of employees to complete a set of courses.

 

Examples of gamification rewards could include:

• Monetary incentives
  These rewards can be small, such as a gift card.
• Public acknowledgment
  Don’t underestimate the power of peer recognition. A company-wide email blast or printed certificate can be extremely rewarding.
• Additional benefits
  Employees work hard to play hard. An extra day off, or the chance to leave early on a Friday is one of the best prizes anyone can receive.