Chapter 8: Employee Training and
Development
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Importance of Training
Who Will Do the Training
How Employees Learn Best
Developing a Job Training
Program
• Retraining
• Overcoming Obstacles to
Learning
• Turnover & Retention
Importance of Training:
Teaching People How to do Their Jobs
• There are 3 kinds of training:
– Job Instruction
– Retraining
– Orientation
• The big sister, big brother, or buddy system is when
a old hand shows a newcomer the ropes.
• When good training is absent there is likely to be an
atmosphere of tension, crisis, & conflict because
nobody knows what to do.
The Benefits of Training
• Gives the supervisor more time to lead, standardizes
performance, less absenteeism, less turnover, reduced
tension, consistency, lower costs, more customers, better
service.
• Gives the workers confidence & knowledge to do their
jobs, reduces tension, boost morale & job satisfaction,
reduces injuries & accidents, gives them a chance to
advance.
• Gives the business a good image & more profit.
Then why is training often neglected?
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Urgency of need.
Training time.
Costs.
Employee turnover.
Short-term associates.
Diversity of worker.
Kinds of jobs (simple-complex).
Not knowing exactly what you
want your people to do & how.
Who will do the training?
• The magic apron method: people train themselves the
easiest ways to get the job done, & what will keep them
from getting into trouble.
• The person that is leaving trains: teaches shortcuts &
ways of breaking the rules.
• Big sister, big brother, or buddy method: passes on
bad habits & may resent new person as a competitor.
• The logical person to train new workers is
YOURSEF!
How employees learn best:
• Learning is the acquisition
of skills, knowledge, or
attitudes.
• The adult learning theory
is a field of research that
examines how adults learn.
– A number of the following
tips come from the adult
leaning theory.
How employees learn the best:
• When they are actively involved in the learning process
(to do this you must choose the appropriate teaching
method).
• Training is relevant & practical.
• Training material is organized & presented in chunks.
• Training is in an informal, quiet, & comfortable setting.
• When they have a good trainer.
• When they receive feedback on performance.
• When they are rewarded.
Developing a Unit Training Program
• Training plans each represent a
learnable, teachable segment of
the job:
– 1st Establish performance
standards: they provide a ready
made structure for a training
program.
– 2nd Write a training objective
derived form above.
– 3rd Develop standard procedures
(list tasks & spell them out).
Developing a Unit Training Program
• This is taught in several sessions.
• It should provide checkpoints to measure progress.
• The method of training should include 2 elements:
– Showing & telling the trainee what to do.
– Having the trainee do it (right).
• This is known as job instruction training.
• The closer the training method, setup & materials are to the onthe-job situation, the better the training.
• The location of the training should be a quiet place free of
interruptions.
• One-on-one training generally works best.
– However, group presentations have certain advantages (general
information).
Developing a Unit Training Program
• Your training materials should include the same
equipment & supplies that will be used on the
job, & they should all be on hand & ready before
the training starts.
• Developing a written training plan helps you to
think out all the aspects of the training & to
orient everything to the new employee & the
details of the job.
Moving from Plan to Action
• Training people with some
experience begins with a
pretest.
• Experienced associates
should end up meeting the
same standards as people
whom you train from
scratch.
• Once the training process
is complete EVALUATE.
Evaluation
• Formal evaluation: uses observation, interviews, &
surveys to monitor training while its going on.
• Summative evaluation: measures results when
training is complete in five ways:
1. Reaction
2. Knowledge
3. Behavior
4. Attitudes
5. Productivity
Job Instruction Training (JIT)
• Also called on the job training.
• Consists of 4 steps:
1. Prepare the associate.
2. Demonstrate the task.
3. Have the associate do the
task.
4. Follow through.
Retraining
• Needed when changes are made that affect the job,
employees performance drops below par, when the
worker has not mastered a particular technique, or your
people themselves may ask for it.
• A positive one-on-one approach to retraining is
referred to a coaching.
• Coaching is a 2 part process:
– 1. Observation of the employees performance.
– 2. Conversation between manager & employee focusing on
job performance.
Overcoming Obstacles to Learning
• Reduce fear with a positive approach (convey
confidence in the worker).
• Increase motivation:
– Emphasize whatever is of value to the learner, make the
program form a series of small successes, build in incentives
& rewards.
• Adjust teaching to learners level.
• Laziness, indifference, resistance may mean a problem
worker.
• Approach training from the learner’s point of view.
• Keep it simple, concrete, practical, & real.
Overcoming Obstacles to Learning
• Sometimes the training program is the problem.
– If it is abstract, academic, impersonal, or unrealistic,
it will not get across.
• Sometimes the instructor causes the learning
problems.
– Trainers need to know the job well enough to teach it.
– They need to be good communicators, able to use
words other people will understand, sensitive enough
to see when they are not getting through.
Turnover & Retention
• Many hospitality
operations have a labor
turnover of more than
100%.
• Retention is the term
given to keeping
employees from
“jumping ship”.
Turnover & Retention
• In study by the Hay Group over a ½ million employees
in 300 companies were asked about important retention
factors, the top 10 were:
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Career Growth, learning & development.
Exciting & challenging work.
Meaningful work.
Great people to work with.
Being part of a team.
Having a good boss.
Recognition of work well done.
Autonomy & a sense of control over work.
Flexible work hours.
Fair pay & benefits.
Turnover & Retention
• Strategies for improving retention:
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Hold 50/50 meetings.
Practice management by wandering around.
Work side by side with employees.
Conduct exit interviews.
Use other methods to listen (i.e. suggestion
systems).
– Recognize a job well done.
© 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.