To recap the situation: Like many other companies, the economic downturn forced Heavy Construction Systems Specialists Inc. (HCSS) to reduce its employee development budget over the last few years. But unlike some other companies, the Sugar Land, Texas, company was able to cut expenses without sacrificing learning for its 100+ employees.
Unique Orientation Experience
In addition to personal development (e.g., financial literacy, personal growth, and wellness) and professional development courses, HCSS offers leadership development courses and a 6-month employee onboarding program through its corporate university.
The onboarding program includes an initial orientation that is unique in that it does not cover policies and procedures, Leballo says. “We figure they can read those on their own.” Instead, “the entire orientation is about the culture of the company, discussing strengths, what the company is about, how to make a difference in the company.”
During onboarding, each new hire is paired with a mentor from a different department, who helps the individual learn about the company and meet a variety of employees, and serves as a “sounding board” for the new hire during his or her initial months of employment, he explains.
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New hires and their spouses are invited to dinner with company executives, which helps make them get to know the executives and feel comfortable sharing ideas.
HCSS, which was recently named a Top Small Workplace by The Wall Street Journal, has also been recognized as a top employer by the city of Houston and the state of Texas. The company has been one of The Best Companies to Work for in Texas five years in a row.
Lessons Learned
Companies faced with cuts to their training and development budget should look for creative ways to promote learning, according to Leballo. “You need to be very creative and really think how to run your training.”
“Use the resources you have within your company,” he continues. Find out what knowledge individual employees have and ask them to share that knowledge or mentor their co-workers.
How can you go about training your employees to be leaders? It’s never easy to find the time or the money, but leadership training has a tremendous ROI value for employers.
The Leadership Library provides you with a sensible (and economic) solution.
The Leadership Library for Employees allows you to:
- Train on demand. Employees can complete training anytime from anywhere. All they need is a computer and an Internet connection.
- Reinforce training topics with engaging graphics and quizzes to test their knowledge.
- Monitor and track the results of your training program with the built-in recordkeeping tool.
- Save costs. The more you train, the more cost-effective the training becomes.
The Leadership for Employees Library is a Web-based training tool that can be utilized by any organization. All you need is a computer and Internet access, and the library is open 24/7.
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The Leadership for Employees Library provides tools and information to employees in a leadership position, or aspiring leaders, to improve their business, leadership, and professional skills.
The courses cover a range of leadership and managerial topics, including the following:
- Email Best Practices for Employees Training
- Business Writing Skills Training for Employees
- Conflict Resolution for Employees
- Crash Course in Leadership Skills
- Effective Communication for Employees Training
- Employee Ethics Training
- Negotiating Skills for All Employees
- Organizing and Planning for Success: What Employees Need to Know
- Workplace Problem Solving Training for Employees
- Workplace Stress Management Training — Wellness Training
- Team Building Training for Employees — Workplace Team Building
- Training the Trainer: Effective Techniques for Dynamic Training
This turnkey service requires no setup, no course development time, no software installation, and no new hardware. Your employees can self-register, and training can be taken anytime (24/7), anywhere there is a PC and an Internet connection. Courses take only about 30 minutes to complete.
Training Today automatically documents training. As trainees sign on, their identifications are automatically registered. When the program is completed, the trainee’s score is entered. So when you want to see who has been trained on any subject, or look at the across-the-board activity of any one employee, it’s all there, instantly available.
Course certificates can be automatically generated from within the training center and are automatically retained for recordkeeping purposes.
Get started today on helping your employees be the best they can be!