6 Ways Online Training for Employees Can Save You Money

Update 7/10/2018: This piece has been updated to include more recent information that is reflective of the most recent tech, as well as the changing costs associated with corporate training.

What's the difference between a company that's doing OK and a company that's doing great?

Is it visionary leadership? The best tech? It could be. Or it could be as simple as dedicated employees who know what they're doing.

How do you get employees who know what they're doing? By training them of course!

Many companies decide not to train their employees, convinced that training and the tools necessary to do it will cost them a lot, both directly and indirectly.

However, eLearning platforms offer not only flexibility but also help to considerably reduce training costs.

In short, you can save big when switching to online learning and avoid the expenses of classroom training.

6 ways online learning can help you save money

1. Lower travel costs

Just one employee traveling domestically can cost a business nearly $1,000 per trip. If you're a small business or just getting off the ground, that's a ridiculous amount. And if you have offices internationally, the cost can double.

Travel costs can add up when you pay to have a professional travel to your office to train your employees or when you pay to have an employee travel somewhere else to receive training. But what if you could ax these expenses from your travel budget?

Go digital! An eLearning platform will render geographical location irrelevant, as employees will be able to access it from every corner of the world, at any time. No flights, no meals, no cars, no hotels. Just your employees in the comfort of their own home or office and nothing to coordinate but time zones as everyone logs in for digital training.

2. Minimize lost productivity

Take your total number of employees. Multiply that number by their average hourly salary. Now multiply that by all the time that training sessions and travel to and from those training sessions takes. That's the productivity cost of in-person training.

That's just the training and professional development for a small team with mid-level salaries in a single year.

Now, what if you had a whole office to train? Or more complex and time-consuming information to impart? How fast would that number skyrocket out of control?

That number is the value of your lost productivity. ELearning helps to greatly reduce this loss by allowing employees access to learning materials at any time and with no travel involved. Time is money, and online training saves your company big on lost time.

3. No venue costs

Next, think about space. Is your office big enough to host a live training session?

Small companies usually need to book venues for workshops and training sessions. If you organize those on a recurring basis, this can get very costly.

ELearning courses provide an opportunity to cut down on expenses related to event management and arrangements, from the space itself, to coffee and lunch for your staff.

As an added bonus, employees will be happier that they won't have to spend their full day at a training venue. They'll also have easy access to learning materials anytime from their workstations, personal computers, or mobile phones.

The convenience for them goes along with the cost cutting for you in a way you rarely see in business.

4. Lower instructor costs

For traditional in-person training, you have to pay someone (either an employee you hire full time or an expert you bring on as needed) to teach your employees. These instructors typically charge $20 per hour, before travel expenses.

In eLearning, the time is mostly in the hands of students, successfully eliminating the need for hiring full-time trainers or instructors.

Typically, you can purchase a single module or lesson, either custom-made or generic, and keep it forever. You may never need a human instructor to connect with and educate your staff, as the materials will suffice.

You may even be able to find appropriate training material for free online.

5. Reduced material costs

Writing this is making me flash back to the astronomical textbook costs in college. If you remember those price tags, you know you want to dodge them, especially in bulk.

Moving to a virtual learning platform means you'll no longer have to invest in materials, whether it's textbooks or print outs, which are usually required during physical training sessions.

Virtual learning materials also allow employees to easily refer back to important information they need while on the job.

6. Real-time tracking

At first, this doesn't seem like an obvious way you can save with eLearning. After all, real-time score tracking is just a perk. Any decent training program, on or offline, should tell you how your employees performed. How is a little faster turnout on results going to save you any money?

With eLearning, you won't have to spend a second measuring the results of the training. (And remember what I said about lost time and productivity?) All tracking is automated, and reports are instantly generated.

Information about an employee's progress is available at all times. The majority of eLearning management solutions will help you keep track and monitor employee progress.

Automated reporting will make the entire learning process much easier for you to manage. You won't have to worry about the nature of the training—all of it will be scheduled and delivered automatically.

You'll also see which of your employees may need additional help and can then address those specific training needs on an individual basis. You can make small changes and adjustments in real time to make sure you're always getting your money's worth out of training.

No need to wait until the end of the course; if it's not working, stop using it and find something different with less time lost.

Are you saving money with online training?

Online training is an easy and effective way for your business to save money. Get into the future, get digital, and get that green!

Tell me about your experiences with online training in the comments below, or tweet me @CapterraHalden.

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