Lucy Said:

why is cross training better?

We Answered:

i'm sure you've already thought of this, but since we already know the performance of a current employee, it is much more safe to retrain them than to hire a new employee. everyone who's been involved in hiring knows that no matter how good someone looks on paper, and even in interviews, in the end hiring is a crap shoot.

in addition, giving a current employee new skillls and responsibilities shows confidence in their abilities which will motivate them to perform better and be loyal to the company. by showing employees that good performance equals personal success they will all strive to achieve more.

Randall Said:

Under what conditions will an employee not be penalised for breaking a service agreement with a company?

We Answered:

The company can go after the employee for the money particularly if they have HR department and legal department. From what you said, it seems the employer is entitled to do so. The only way I think the employee can get out of his obligation is to say that he couldn't keep his promise because of something the company did or didn't do.

Warren Said:

How does your company train employees? Managers, human resources, trainers?

We Answered:

How we train: A variety of methods depending on the position. We have some employees who require special certification. They are trained by outside experts. Any employee who does NOT need certification is first trained in policy and procedures by HR, then trained on the specific job duties by the department. All employees received defensive driving training, workplace safety, sexual harassment training (what it is, duty to report and how to prevent it), Personnel Handbook training. If the job requires it, we send our employees to school or seminars. I receive at least 17 hours of outside training each year, which is required by my state to keep my attorney's license. I train on sexual harassment, search and seizure, freedom of information, i.e. the "legal stuff."
Size if my company: We are a local government (a county) with about 500 employees.
Method used: Videos frequently; power-point; verbal seminars; mandatory reading.
Cost of training: Varies widely. Average is $65. My yearly mandatory training costs about $500.
How we know if it is effective: job performance of course; twice yearly evaluations. Some employees have to pass standardized tests. Primarily job performance.

Jason Said:

How do I find cost effective forklift training for my employees?

We Answered:

Actually, I found out that you don't have to hire a outside trainer. There's a company, safetyhead, that will sell you a package that comes with all of the forms you need so you can do the training yourself. It worked good for our guys. It meets oshas requiments and you can reuse it as many times as you need it. They have a website at www.safetyhead.com that has more info on it.

Ray Said:

What training methods would you use to train nonmanagerial employees on a new billing and recording system?

We Answered:

That depends upon the method of implementation. Is it to be phased in? ...beta tested? ...parallel processed? It also depends on the employees. Are they high school grads? ...recent hs grads? ...some college? ...older?

Classroom plus OJT seems to be the best all-around choice - but...

In the navy we would: See one - do one - teach one. By the third time you performed a task you were expected to be the subject-matter expert. I believe civilian standards are much lower.

Kyle Said:

How the Human Resource Department professionals are being training today to select and hire candidates?

We Answered:

Nothing new.
Tossing aside the over qualified and focusing on people who will stay and will do the job. Employers do not need people looking to change things. The method does not change and HR people should not need training in hiring.

Diana Said:

help! why is cross training employees better?

We Answered:

It helps to speed up efficiency but be sure to never use it as an excuse to downsize or freeze hiring.

If used properly, cross training allows employees to understand the process for beginning to end. In this case, if one person had a question about a certain job, instead of spending 2 days trying to find the person who is responsible for that job, anyone in the company would have at least some idea. To this end, it helps with the overall communication within a company.

Employees who have it in their nature to question procedures might understand why certain jobs are preformed certain ways and be less likely to walk off in frustration. Likewise, since employees would also have a “taste” of what goes on in the company, it would offer more informative, constructive feedback and suggestions to management from their employees.

It would take far less time to train an employee to do a slightly different job than it would to train an entirely new person to do the job, if that employee already had an idea of what to do. A person who’s been with the company for some time already knows the policies and procedures, so less time would have to be spent with the basic “who’s who and what’s what” if an employee is transferred instead of new talent being brought in.

Customers would feel more confident in an employee who could at least answer some of their questions rather than an employee who can only answer 1% of their questions. Customer Service, however, is a hard sale to any upper management seeing as how it is only viewed as a money sink that sees little to no financial return, unlike Sales for instance. Then again, if the salesperson knew all of the procedures and the process behind each sale they made, this could save the customer much heartache down the line as it could help prevent miscommunication and reduce misinformation.

A word of warning to companies however, if this is used as a hidden excuse to downsize and employees notice, then there will almost certainly be a huge decrease in morale and possible issues with retention as people walk out of their current jobs for a different job with a different company. Honesty is always going to be the best policy and if this tactic is used in any dishonest way then it could backfire horribly.