4 Most Effective Ways to Reduce Training Costs Without Sacrificing Quality

New employees bring a fresh pair of eyes in the company, that’s for sure, but before they can be proficient in the job, they need to be trained. Have you ever wondered how much it costs to train new hires? If so, are you aware there are ways to reduce these costs? Read on to find out.

What is the cost of training employees?

New employee onboarding comes with its costs. Training is necessary to make them accustomed to the new position and you must spend time and money to make sure the new hire understands their job responsibilities and doesn’t end up doing sloppy work.  

According to the Association for Talent Development’s State of the Industry Report, the average training cost per employee is $1,252. That’s a considerable amount of money to spend on a new hire which might result in turnover, anyway, and then the process of training (and spending) would have to be repeated again and again.

What about hidden costs?

Money is not the only thing one spends on employee training. You also need to invest your valuable time that you could’ve used on other important matters. According to the same ATD report, employers put in an average of 33.5 training hours per employee.

Except for the supervisor and employee’s time during the training, other hidden costs include instruction materials, equipment for formal training; and the cost of a mentor’s time, if one is scheduled. Moreover, there’s the loss of productivity until the new employee masters the job.

If only there was an easier (and less costly) way around this…

How to reduce these costs?

1. Choose online training

For better efficiency and lower costs, eLearning is the solution. Either create an eLearning blog that you’ll share with your staff, or produce some instructional videos you can use with all your future new hires OR use an LMS where you have both of these features and many more.

2. Tutorials, webinars, online conferences

Recording videos might seem like a hassle, but you need to keep in mind that you only have to produce one and reuse it with all of your new hires. And here’s another pro tip to create videos without spending too much: only conduct an in-person training once, and record it for further use as eLearning content.

If you’re teaching your employees how to use new software, then go for screen capturing; it is also a great way to create video content.

Moreover, for a more direct approach, you have webinars and web conferencing/video conferencing solutions. These platforms enable team members to get their training from multiple destinations.

Workers who can access tutorials on their computers, laptops, smartphones or tablets can provide valuable contributions from around the world, and companies could noticeably reduce their costs over several years.

3. Find an LMS that meets your training needs AND is affordable

A Learning Management System (LMS) helps you structure the content into modules, courses, and lessons, track your employees’ performance, communicate with your employees, and much more. It’s important to find one that suits your industry In some LMSs, like Kiwi LMS,  you can get a free demo just to try it out and see for yourself what a life-saver it is.

4. Use Microlearning Strategies

Microlearning is a non-traditional learning strategy that you have to use if you’re choosing eLearning. Microlearning is learner-centric, which means the learner has the power to choose the content they want to learn. Moreover, it increases employees’ performance since it is accessible as bite-sized content at a time the learner wants. It is a cost-effective training tool and is very engaging since it includes multimedia elements and motion graphics.

Here you are then, the four most effective ways to reduce training costs without sacrificing quality.