Employee training is necessary for recruits as well as existing employees; the former needs to execute their duties efficiently, and the latter can learn new skills and advance their professional goals, benefiting the company in the process. Thus, employee training can be either of six types, and all these types of employee training can be delivered using online learning. In this article, we will take you through these six types of employee training and show how online learning makes them better.

1. Orientation

Let us start with employee orientation, which is usually the first type of training an employee gets when they set foot on-site. Orientation consists of acquainting the new employee with the company’s mission, vision, values, corporate culture, key corporate policies, benefits, and organizational structure. The orientation includes all the paperwork required when a new employee is hired. All this is done using online learning classes these days and, sometimes, done before the employee reports to work, which is known as pre-onboarding.

2. Onboarding

The next type of class is onboarding, which is a very popular type of employee training done via online learning though this training is nothing new for corporations. While orientation is company-specific, onboarding is department-specific. It is done to familiarize the new employee with the department they are going to be working in so that they can fit in and succeed in their new roles quickly. Unlike orientation, onboarding usually takes anywhere from one month to 90 days, depending upon the company.

3. Technical skills professional development

Technical skills are needed by all employees, although the level of technical skills required may be different depending upon their job role. Tech-skills development is fundamental in employee education and needs to be done regularly to keep employees updated with the latest technical know-how. Tech-skills development usually involves classes on topics such as content writing, data analysis, social media management, search engine optimization, coding, and programming, to name a general few. Of course, the extent of an employee’s essential technical skills varies from one company or industry to another.

4. Soft-skills professional development

The so-called “soft skills” are equally essential. These are desirable attributes necessary for employee growth and are imperative for an efficient, respectful, and collaborative organizational culture. Soft skills training aims to help employees enhance their skills in communication, presentation, problem-solving, conflict resolution, leadership, emotional intelligence, time management, ethics, teamwork, and adaptability. Soft-skills development is another type of training that can be done effectively through online learning.

5. Professional development about product and services

This is the big one. Product and services training is mandatory to educate employees about any existing product and services their company provides to its customers. The importance of this type of training cannot be overstated as it deals with the essential aspects of the business. Product and services training is done regularly to keep all employees up-to-date with the company’s current offerings; such training can be beautifully executed through online learning.

6. Mandatory professional development

Companies are expected to provide certain types of employee training as required by law, or they risk legal consequences. This category of training encompasses compliance training, safety training, and sexual harassment training, to name a few. The required content is sometimes suggested by the government and may differ from industry to industry; most of this training is offered in the form of online learning nowadays.

Concluding thoughts

Online learning is the quickest and most efficient way to deliver all the above types of training to corporate employees, and companies are beginning to understand that. Hiring competent online learning professionals will ensure that the online learning classes are effective and engaging and that learning is retained and applied.

So, there you have it, the six types of employee professional development that can be completed online. Do you have any additional tips, techniques, or strategies that you would like to share with our readers? If so, leave them in the comment section below.

Are you looking for a way to set up and conduct your online professional development sessions? Consider using Pedagogue. Its virtual classroom feature allows users to Livestream, make audio or video conference calls, share their screen, files or a virtual whiteboard, and much more. It only takes a second to set up your own virtual classroom and invite your students to join.