What makes training feel like a waste of time to employees?
Training feels like a waste of time to employees when what they're asked to learn doesn't match what they need at work, or when nothing about their work changes afterward. Experienced employees may already know much of the content, and a general session on communication may not touch the specific conversations they find difficult. A presentation that moves through slides without discussion or practice leaves people with little they can use the next day.
Common reasons employees disengage from training
- Generic content. The training could have been delivered at any organization and doesn't reflect your employees' jobs, customers, equipment, or schedules.
- Poor timing. It falls during a busy season, at the end of a long shift, or when work is piling up and no one is covering it.
- No input. No one asked employees or supervisors what they needed before the training was designed.
- No practice. Employees listen, but they never try the skill or get feedback on how they did.
- No follow-through. Supervisors don't know what was covered, and nothing at work supports using it.
- A substitute for change. Employees are asked to become more resilient or to manage their stress while the conditions causing that stress stay the same.
Different employees in the same session may be reacting to different things, so avoid assuming you already know which of these apply in your organization.
What makes training worth employees' time?
Training is worth employees' time when it addresses a need they recognize, gives them practice with situations they face, respects their schedules, and is supported once they return to work. That starts with asking employees and supervisors what they need. Then build the session around real examples from the work, with time for people to try new approaches, discuss how those approaches would play out in their own setting, and get feedback.
Length and timing matter as well. Keep the training as long as its content requires and schedule it when people can give it their attention. Breaking training into shorter sessions can give employees time to try what they learned and bring questions back to the next session.
The conditions for participation matter too, and they're easy to overlook. A focus group scheduled during finals week won't hear much from students, and a training scheduled during a production push or the busiest week of the month won't get much from employees. Afterward, make sure supervisors know what was covered and expect employees to use it, so what people learned has somewhere to go.
Is training the right answer to the problem we're trying to solve?
Training is the right answer to a problem only when the problem is something people can learn to do differently, so it's worth checking that before designing another program. If employees are struggling because they lack a skill or don't know a process, training can help. Sometimes, though, employees are struggling because of understaffing, unclear expectations, inconsistent supervision, or a process that makes the work harder than it needs to be. In that case a training program may be received as a sign that leadership hasn't understood what employees are dealing with.
This is especially true of wellbeing. Stress, overwhelm, and burnout are rarely resolved by isolated programs or by asking employees to become more resilient, because the conditions that create them are usually organizational as well as individual. Why isn't our wellness program reducing burnout? looks at that question in more detail.
To find out what's driving the problem, ask the people closest to the work. How do I find out what my employees actually need? covers how to ask in a way that gets honest answers. If the gap is specifically in communication, teamwork, or other people skills, Our people have the technical skills but not the people skills. How do we build those? covers how those skills are built.
The Grantibly perspective
Angelika's perspective
We don't simply move through a slide deck. As former professors and educators, we understand how people learn, how to design engaging learning experiences, and the real conditions that affect whether people can participate, and we design learning that helps people use what they learn.
We also look at what surrounds the training: how people are treated, whether they feel valued and capable, and whether their working environments help them grow and thrive. Employees understand the day-to-day realities of their jobs, so when they react to training, that reaction is worth taking seriously.
When it isn't working, the question to ask is whether the training addressed what employees need, and whether the organization is prepared to support and act on what they learned.
