It is without a doubt that during times of an economic downturn, training is the first to suffer.  Why, when an effective and well trained work force can bring its rewards?

It may be, at this worrying time for many employers, the opportunity to look at their work force and be proactive to meet those demands that will surely come once the current situation improves.

This article will take you through some of the steps of the training cycle.

First of all, do you have a training policy? If yes, all well and good, if not, maybe now is the time.  Northgate Arinso can offer their assistance with putting this together for you to create a bespoke training policy for your organisation. 

The second step will be to undertake a training needs analysis, and this doesn’t mean waiting for the next round of appraisals.  The identification of training needs is an every day occurrence to be undertaken by an employee’s immediate line manger.  Indeed, many disciplinary hearings could be avoided if only the employee was made aware of what is required and how they should undertake there tasks.

Areas that require consideration are:

Looking at your long term training needs

Manpower planning can be defined as a “strategy” for the acquisition, utilization, improvement and preservation of an organisations human recourses - a strategy in which training plays an integral part.

The need to budget for training

In the current climate training is the one of the most popular areas to be cut due to budget constraints, however, you need to be asking if you can you afford not to train your staff?

Previously identified training requirements

A training requirement which has been identified but has not yet been thoroughly analysed may now require attention as the result of the introduction of new equipment / methodology in performing certain tasks.

Part trained / untrained workforce

If your workforce is untrained or only part trained this could lead to customer complaints.  Poor quality of work is another issue in which an inadequate and poorly trained work force may be revealed.

The impact of legislation - Health and safety.

Industrial relations: Both the trade union and labour relations act 1974 and the employment protection act 1975 have far reaching implications for training.  Most current industrial relations training consists of imparting broad general knowledge and insufficient attention is paid to the specific knowledge and skill requirements of individual jobs. It is also claimed that those who are actively involved in industrial relations play little part in training. 

Remember, trade union officials receive very good training from their Head Quarters - you need to be one step ahead of them.

Worker participation: The employment protection act places the employer under a responsibility to allow  a trade union official time off with pay, during working hours to take part in his/her duties.

Race relations: The harmful effects of failures to deal effectively with major issues in this field are becoming more apparent.  Training has an important contribution to make.  An awareness of particular groups of workers can be achieved through training.

Carrying out a training assessment

• Preparation - the training needs assessment is imperative and the person carrying out the assessment needs a clear brief as to what is required. 
• Collection of information following the assessment.
• Detailed interpretation of the data and recommendations.
• Preparing to implement the recommendations leads to…

Designing and evaluating the training programme

• Factors in the design.
• Who will facilitate the training?
• Will there be stages in the training programme?
• What duration of time will be allowed before proceeding to the next stage?
• Who will evaluate the training undertaken?

Structured training programmes will need the following:

• Set overall training objectives
• Relevant training material
• Sub-objectives
• Training modes  
• Training times / time table
• Brief the trainers/facilitators
• Deliver the training
• Monitor the training
• Evaluate
• Undertake a fresh training needs analysis and begin the cycle again.

There are many various training methods and the appropriate one must be selected to meet the challenge and the many disciplines that will require a training input.