Shortening the Ramp: The Benefits of Training Manuals and Workshops

By Amanda Menking
Internal Communication Specialist, PKG Communications

Hiring and training managers often use the term "ramping up." Generally their concern is that new employees aren't ramping up quickly enough. A basic cost benefit analysis reveals it costs more to hire and train a new employee than he will contribute in the first several weeks of his employment. Even the most capable and experienced new hire requires time to learn a business' policies and procedures and to absorb an organization's culture. Training is an integral and essential part of this process.

However, despite the importance of training, it is often a low priority. Developing and implementing a training program takes time. And if your company doesn't hire new employees on a regular basis, it may seem wasteful to devote resources to training. Small businesses simply don't have the budget or workforce to dedicate a team member to training. Consequently, training usually occurs on an ad hoc basis--it's informal, undocumented and inefficient.

For companies that have operations manuals, they may consider placing a copy of their manual within proximity of their new employees to be sufficient training. Although this approach is more formal than the ad hoc scenario mentioned above, it is often just as ineffective. Instructing new employees to read existing documentation can provide a more consistent approach to training if the employees 1) read the documentation and 2) retain the information they've read. Because manuals can be dry and because a new employee can easily suffer from "information overload," this is not the best solution regardless of how expedient it might seem.

A better alternative to both ad hoc training and forced operations manual consumption is the creation and introduction of a training manual coupled with routinely scheduled training workshops.

Training manuals are designed specifically for training new employees. Whereas operations manuals may contain very specific information regarding jobs, duties, responsibilities, processes, and procedures, training manuals include information about how to become a contributing member of the company. In the best of manuals, this information is conveyed interactively via worksheets, quizzes and diagrams. The goal of a training manual is to introduce your new employees to your company and to help them adopt your company culture as well as to learn how to perform their assigned duties. A well-designed training manual can be used at the time of training and as a reference after training.

Training workshops benefit new and existing employees. Even if your company doesn't hire new employees very often, semi-annual training workshops can be beneficial for those employees who have been hired in the last six months as well as existing employees. These workshops can serve as a time that is set aside to emphasize (and perhaps re-emphasize) the importance of company standards, principles and practices. Any changes in policies, procedures or directives can also be addressed during training workshops--ensuring all employees receive the most up to date information.

Creating and implementing a formal training program is the most important part of shortening the ramp so that your new employees are able to contribute sooner. If you are too busy to devote time to training, let PKG Communications do the work for you. We would be happy to partner with you in documenting your current training process and in suggesting improvements for the future. The sooner your new employees are able to contribute, the more profitable your company will be. And, more importantly, the sooner your new employees feel like members of your organization, the stronger and more productive your entire team will be.