Workplace training programmes should include custom-created content, your employees will need to have knowledge specific to your organisation. Develop training modules around the tools your employees use, the products or services you sell, and your specific company policies. But that doesn’t mean you need to design your entire training programmes from scratch.
Building training modules is time-consuming and expensive. According to a long-running study, it takes between 42 and 130 hours to create one hour of e-learning. To create engaging, effective custom modules, you need a host of experts: from subject matter experts to instructional designers to artists and developers. Which ends up costing megabucks; Training Magazine’s latest Training Industry Report found that in 2018, it cost an average of £986 to train each learner.
The average training budget for mid-sized companies rose to £2.1 million in 2018, while the average training budget for small companies fell from £1 million to £355,731. With those figures in mind, you need to be mindful of how you’re spending your training budget. That’s where pre-made courses come in.
What training should be purchased off-the-shelf?
Your employees may have to take customer service courses or compliance courses, but you don’t need to build those courses yourself.
In many cases, they’re general modules that can be used by employees in a specific region or industry, and they’re already available on the market. The fact is, you can purchase them for much less than it would take to develop them in-house.
Save yourself time and effort! Focus on the strategy and leave the pre-made courses to the course design pros who crank this stuff out faster than a speeding bullet.
Here are the top three types of learning content you should get off-the-shelf:
1. Redmill Advance CII R0 & AF programmes
Many employees are looking to advance their careers and will appreciate the option to progress. Not to mention the CII confirmed last year that companies who apply or renew their chartered status need 50% of their board to hold chartered status. Unlike the bulky CII textbooks, our courses cut to the core of learning. Our structured learning helps keep your employees on track and have greater success in passing exams.
2. Compliance
In the finance sector compliance training is mandatory. Compliance works to meet key regulatory objectives to protect investors and ensure that markets are fair, efficient and transparent. Compliance also reduces system risk and financial crime. Compliance can be tricky because as laws are updated, the training must be updated as well. When you purchase off-the-shelf modules, the burden of updating training lies with the vendor, not you. Pheww!
3. Soft Skills
Do your employees communicate well? Do they struggle to retain clients? Do they know how to behave in meetings? If not, they need to brush up on their soft skills. While hard skills are the things employees need to know to do their jobs — the products you sell, for example — soft skills make your employees a pleasure to do business with and include things like punctuality, grit, and listening skills. Because soft skills apply to almost anyone in any job, these aren’t courses you have to develop yourself.
The importance of off the shelf learning
According to the latest report from Training Magazine, more companies of all sizes are spending more on outsourced training. It’s a no brainer; off-the-shelf learning is an efficient way to augment a training program while keeping costs low and still delivering engaging learning created by industry experts who know the content and have the instructional background to keep learners engaged.
Using pre-made courses to supplement your training in areas like soft skills and compliance allows you to focus your content creation energy (and the dosh) on the bespoke training only you can develop.
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