Cost-Effective Employee Training Tips for Startups

For established companies, it could be easy to budget for employee training as they have the financial resources with them. But for startups that are still finding their feet, it could be tough to allocate high budgets for employee training. This is the reason why most of the startups only look for experienced and skilled people rather than looking for freshers because they need to train them.

Hiring experienced candidates have its pros and cons. The pro is that they can add value without much of your guidance but the con is they demand a higher salary which might not be feasible for startups. Instead of paying higher, you can offer employee training within a smaller budget. These days with lots of online resources and tools, you can create effective employee training that adds value and is within the budget. To help you create a cost-effective employee training course, we have listed down a few tips that may help you.

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1) Determine your needs:

This is the first and foremost thing you have to do. As your resources are limited, you need to ensure you only provide valuable content with zero wastage. Do a case study on your employees on what skills they are lacking and the skills that you are looking for them to develop so that they can be useful in further projects. If possible, try online courses from Udemy or Skillshare, etc where the courses are affordable. If their course content is matching your requirements, then the job is done. This saves you time, effort, and money. 

2) Conduct the Training Online:

Online training is affordable and an effective way to train your employees. Startups usually have lesser physical space or some even operate remotely, so if you conduct online training all the costs for physical space and other equipment can be eliminated. It is also tough to gather all the employees at one time and conduct the training. Online training is a feasible option because it can be learned from anywhere and anytime. The course content can be reused again and again if you create good content. 

3) Make Use of Mobile Learning:

For a startup, it can be tough to provide laptops and other equipment needed for online training. Some of your employees may have access to well-conditioned laptops but some of them do not. In this case, mobile learning can be your go-to option. With a very low budget, you can conduct online training as all your employees need is a good-quality mobile device. Learning management systems like EduMe offer mobile training for your workforce without the need for desktops. Also with mobile learning, the training becomes flexible as mobiles are easy to carry anywhere and learn from them. So, all-in-all, mobile learning is a great option.

4) Use Your Current Employees:

Due to budget constraints, startups may not have the resources to bring in highly-qualified tutors and guest speakers, etc. But, you can make use of one of your highly skilled employees within your organization and make him/her as a tutor. You can offer them an incentive for teaching the employees. In this case, you are saving money and at the same time providing an opportunity to your senior employees to take up a new role and become multi-talented alongside paying them more. Your learners can also learn quickly from their senior employees as they know each other well which creates an engaging learning experience.

5) Lower the Number of Sessions:

Hosting lectures daily can be time-consuming and expensive at the same time. In such a case, lower the number of sessions per week. Conduct training sessions only when it’s needed. Pick the complicated topics and arrange lectures for them instead of covering the entire course. Promote self-learning so that employees can learn at their own pace with very little guidance from the tutor. To monitor self-learning, you can conduct weekly assessments.

Conclusion:

To wrap up, employee training can be done in the budget if you are aware of your training needs and how to use the resources that are available to you effectively. We hope this article helps you in designing a cost-effective course.