Remember those mandatory in-person training days?
The long commute, the lukewarm coffee, and the inevitable PowerPoint presentation with far too many bullet points?
As HR leaders, L&D professionals, or business owners often understand it’s not just the experience that’s often lukewarm (or the coffee). Traditional in-person training can be a logistical nightmare—scheduling conflicts, travel expenses, venue bookings, and finding any instructor that fits the budget.
The worst part? Employees are often passive recipients of information, rather than active participants. This leads to more resources down the drain and possibly even employees out the door.
There’s a better way, and it doesn’t involve tiring lectures or travel reimbursements. Online employee training sits in a unique position to solve many of these pain points and delivers many more online training benefits to organizations.
What are the top benefits of eLearning in the workplace?
Online employee training is a present-day necessity for organizations that want to thrive in a competitive, rapidly evolving landscape. And with the right employee training software it’s even easier.
Let’s explore the key advantages that are reshaping employee development.
1. Reduces costs all around
Traditional training often costs a lot. Costs can include paying for a place to host the training program, paying for an instructor, paying for travel, printing materials, and employees are losing out on valuable time.
It adds up quickly.
Online employee training eliminates, or drastically reduces, many of these costs. A single online module can be used by hundreds or thousands of employees, across multiple locations, without incurring additional expenses for each participant.
Furthermore, employees can complete courses faster than traditional, in-person employee training, meaning they have more flexibility to schedule their work day accordingly, and more time to apply their new-found knowledge.
2. Offers flexibility and accessibility in more ways than one
Another one of the top online employee training benefits is that it offers unparalleled flexibility. Employees can access learning materials whenever and wherever it’s convenient. Either during their commute, on their lunch break, or even from the comfort of their own homes.
On top of this, microlearning modules, personalized learning paths, and a variety of content formats (video, interactive exercises, quizzes) cater to diverse learning preferences. An employee can do 5 minutes, and come back to complete it later.
This adaptability boosts engagement and knowledge retention. Making it more effective.
3. Easy to scale and grow
Rolling out a new company-wide policy with in-person training? Prepare for logistical nightmares and ballooning costs, both of which you can avoid with online employee training.
Whether you’re training 10 employees or 10,000, the core infrastructure remains the same.
New hires can be onboarded instantly, and you can deploy updated training materials across the entire organization with a single click, regardless of location.
For growing companies undergoing mergers or navigating acquisitions, online training handles these challenges with ease.
A single setup significantly reduces repetitive tasks, freeing up valuable time and resources.
4. Provides measurable results
Forget relying on hunches or outdated performance reviews to pinpoint skill gaps.
Online training platforms provide robust data and use predictive analytics that reveal precisely where your team excels and where they need a boost. For example, a low completion rate on a cybersecurity module might highlight a company-wide vulnerability.
Furthermore, unlike traditional training, which often addresses skill gaps after they impact performance, AI-powered LMS tools proactively identify and address potential issues before they become problems.
5. Offers a consistent and standardized training experience
Your company’s knowledge is only as effective as its accessibility.
An online learning platform transforms that knowledge from scattered fragments into an organized, accessible, and constantly evolving resource. It ensures that every process, best practice, and expert insight is delivered in a clear, consistent, and standardized way.
No more scattered information—just one organized, always up-to-date resource that keeps everyone aligned and learning at the same pace.
6. Provides real-time feedback and insights
Traditional training often involves a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to assessing learning outcomes.
With online learning, feedback is immediate and continuous.
Quizzes, interactive exercises, and assessments are built directly into the learning modules, providing instant feedback to employees on their understanding of the material.
An online learning platform also gives useful data to learning and development professionals and managers. It shows which parts of the training are the best and where employees might have trouble.
7. Promotes self-paced learning
With traditional training, you’re often left relying on handouts or your own (possibly incomplete) notes. Even if the session was valuable, regaining access to that information may not be easy, or even possible to do.
Online training programs, on the other hand, give instant access to past sessions anytime, anyplace. Whether you want to revisit something you loved or catch what you missed, it adapts to your learning rhythm—allowing you to learn at your own pace.
8. Makes training personalized
Modern day training adapts to you, not the other way around. If you understand the importance of training employees you understand, that training needs to be personalized.
Instead of generic modules, employees using online learning receive targeted content based on their individual skills, experience, and job roles.
Online platforms also use data-driven insights to tailor the learning journey, maximizing engagement and knowledge retention.
Need a refresher on a specific topic? Skip ahead.
Already an expert? Fast-track to more advanced material.
9. Enhances knowledge retention
Old school corporate training sessions often leave employees feeling overwhelmed and overloaded. With eLearning training programs you can create and assign microlearning modules.
Microlearning breaks down complex information into bite-sized, digestible chunks. Think short videos, quick quizzes, or interactive scenarios – each focusing on a single, specific learning objective.
By delivering information in a way that’s easier to absorb, remember, and apply. It’s like building a house brick by brick, instead of trying to pour the entire foundation at once.
10. Easy to update and retrain
Static or outdated training materials have no place in the modern workplace.
Online employee training software offers instant updates. New regulations, product updates, or company policies are incorporated into the online employee training program in real-time.
Employees always have access to the most current and relevant knowledge. Consider it a dynamic, living training library that adapts alongside your business.
11. Showcases hidden talent and boosts internal mobility
Remember that ambitious new hire who aced the onboarding training? Or the quiet team member who consistently excels in specialized modules?
Online learning platforms don’t just track completion rates—they reveal hidden potential.
They illuminate the unique skills, learning styles, and aspirations of your employees. These insights often go unnoticed in day-to-day operations, but can be invaluable for employees’ career advancement or a company’s internal mobility efforts.
12. Reduces turnover and increases retention through skill development
Investing in your employees’ skills is a powerful employee retention strategy.
Online learning platforms provide accessible, targeted, and engaging opportunities for professional development. This demonstrates a commitment to employee growth, fostering a sense of value and loyalty.
Instead of feeling stagnant, employees see a clear path for advancement within your organization.
The direct result is reduced recruitment costs, a more stable workforce, and a deeper pool of internal expertise.
13. Improves compliance and reduces risk
Keeping up with industry regulations and compliance requirements can be a constant challenge.
Online training is a simple and efficient way to give required workplace training, track how many people finish, and make sure your workers know important policies. Automated reminders, detailed reports, and audit trails make it less likely that you will not follow the rules.
Beyond simply checking boxes, online compliance training helps create a culture of compliance, where employees understand their responsibilities and the importance of ethical conduct.
14. Improves cross-collaboration in every way
Often, departments within a company operate in silos, with limited communication and understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities.
Online training can help bridge these gaps.
Shared online modules, cross-departmental training programs, and collaborative online projects can foster a greater sense of connection and shared purpose.
15. Promotes environmental sustainability
Online training helps shrink your carbon footprint. Because let’s be real, nothing’s more eco-friendly than skipping the commute.
No travel means fewer emissions, and since everything happens in a digital space, there’s no need for printed manuals or handouts cluttering up desks (or landfills). Less waste, less hassle, and a greener way to train.
Are there any challenges around online employee training?
There are pros and cons to online training.
Some challenges around them are:
- Unequal access to technology preventing some employees from fully participating.
- The self-directed nature of online learning demands strong self-discipline and intrinsic motivation, qualities not all employees possess in equal measure.
- The lack of face-to-face interaction with instructors and peers can leave some learners feeling isolated and unsupported.
- Not all online employee training courses are created equal and poorly designed modules can be disengaging and ineffective.
- Technical glitches, from internet outages to software bugs, can disrupt the learning process.
But it’s safe to say that the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. Especially when companies take proactive steps to address these challenges. By providing engaging content, learner support, and user-friendly technology, organizations can maximize the effectiveness of online training and ensure it delivers real value.
Shift to online learning today
The shift to online learning is all about creating a culture where learning is continuous, accessible, and directly relevant to individual growth and organizational goals.
The benefits we’ve explored—from personalized development to real-time insights—are the building blocks of a more engaged, skilled, and resilient workforce.
The question isn’t whether to embrace this change, but how to harness its power to create a future where both your employees and your business can truly thrive. So, start small if you need to.
Pilot an employee training program, or even a course.
But do not delay.
Originally published on: 22 Aug 2018
