Seven Reasons Why You Need a Learning Management System

A Learning Management System (LMS) is more than just a collection of powerpoints or training booklets in three-ring binders. Digital training modules, skills assessments, and integrated reporting streamline the employee training process, whether you’re virtually onboarding new hires or further developing the management skills of supervisors. Conventional in-person training requires the constant presence of an instructor and additional overhead that’s simply unnecessary with online and remote learning methods. 

With the right LMS, your company can better develop the skills of current employees and improve ROI for staff training. Here are just a few of the things a Learning Management System can help you accomplish.

Access to digital training resources

From chain restaurants to office jobs, we’ve all seen those awkward, dated training videos that demonstrate company policies and procedures to new employees. Times have changed and your company’s learning initiatives must too. Whether your company creates their own training material or relies upon a library of existing content, your employees should have easy access to all your educational content at any time and from anywhere. What’s more, content that’s hosted online is immediately accessible to remote employees and offices at satellite locations.

Reduced costs and improved ROI

In-person training for large groups is a major huge obstacle for daily productivity and often unnecessarily costly. When poor planning and off-topic tangents derail the training session, even well-intentioned meetings fail to deliver on their intent. In addition to monopolizing the time of employees (for however long the training session lasts), these meetings also take supervisors and instructors away from other everyday tasks and responsibilities. With a Learning Management System, preparation time is minimal, the material is consistent, and individual employees can complete material at their own pace. With employees working and learning independently at different times, the disruption to daily workflow is minimized.

Ensuring training compliance

Even when the training material is engaging and useful for employees, it can place a burden on managers and instructors. Just verifying that each employee has completed the training can be tedious, requiring attendance records and follow-up emails. Employees on sick leave or vacation (and new hires or transfers) further complicate the task that should be the easiest part of the process: verifying participation and completion. A Learning Management System provides a centralized record of training sessions completed by each employee to ensure compliance throughout your company.

Closing the skill gap

Each individual employee has areas where they could improve, and the same goes for whole teams. Even your most reliable and motivated employees aren’t always the ones with the most relevant work experience or technical skills—something you may learn during the hiring process or may not discover until years later. Regardless of when during the employee lifecycle it is needed, all employees will benefit from continued education initiatives to close the skills gap. An LMS provides opportunities to train individual employees on professional skills and industry best practices without taking significant time away from your company’s daily routine.

Developing your workforce

Employees are more satisfied with their jobs when they see opportunities to develop new skills and advance their careers without looking for new employers. With a variety of training modules, you can help employees expand their skill sets, in addition to cross-training to improve collaboration and communication between departments. For supervisors and individuals with leadership potential, a Learning Management System allows the company to develop and explore that potential. When multiple employees are competing for a particular role, test scores on additional training can provide an objective metric for comparing the strengths and aptitudes of each candidate.

Easily schedule training

Whether you’re updating procedures or giving a refresher on certain policies, some training programs still need to be administered company-wide, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to cram into the break room and barely listen to a speaker for an hour or more. Bring everyone together without travel expenses or accommodations, including remote employees, staff from multiple locations, and guest speakers from across the country. LMS services allow for scheduling, document exchange, and virtual conferencing on a single platform. Hybrid presentations can include pre-recorded material as well as live discussion, answering questions as they arise. 

Collect reporting data automatically

With in-person training sessions and evaluations, manual record keeping tends to be a cumbersome distraction for instructors and rife with errors. An LMS gives clear and objective data about participation, performance, and comprehension. Key Performance Indicators from training sessions like “assignment completion” are useful as objective metrics for employee performance reviews. If the daily workflow of your company doesn’t lend itself to simple, quantitative benchmarks, then training exercises and evaluations may provide new opportunities for interoffice competition.

Whatever the scope of your current training program, a Learning Management System can supplement and expand your training capabilities. Creating new material is cost-prohibitive for many companies, but a vast selection of programs are already available. Every HR professional understands the importance of qualified and motivated employees, and training is one of the most practical ways to develop your current workforce. 

How Netchex can help

Whether getting new hires up-to-speed, developing employees’ skillsets, or updating company-wide compliance, the right Learning Management System can make the process easier and more efficient. With NetLearn, Netchex’s integrated LMS, companies can diminish skill gaps and develop your workforce with consistent online educational content delivered to your employees.

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