Training as a Productivity Resource Tool

Productivity determines profitability; a well-trained workforce is more productive than an untrained workforce. Training your workforce makes business sense, however, in today’s project-focused business environment, training is often project-specific, which makes it difficult to conduct prior to the work being contracted. On the other hand, running instructor-led training courses during project development and delivery can impact:

• Timelines and ability to deliver on schedule
• Billable hours
• Logistics including time, locations, and travel to deliver training
• Experts hours off-project to support less-experienced staff as they gain confidence in applying what they have learned.

Quality eTraining solutions, such as the ‘GeT Know-How’ Autodesk software training plugin, can improve productivity by:

• Making required learning accessible on-demand, without having to sit through a complete online or in-person course in order to learn how to perform a single software function.
• Learning as you work to enable billable training hours.
• Applying learning immediately and improving long-term retention while reducing the requirement for refresher training.

Allowing for work and learning to be completed uninterrupted, according to the learner’s preferred style and at their own pace.

The modern business is increasingly project-focused. It is an approach that can be particularly efficient, but with its strongly defined scope and tight scheduling, there is little room for employee training and development. Yet, projects often come with unique skill requirements that call for just-in-time learning during the project. This can affect costs and impact both billable hours and the project schedule. Therefore, if your workforce is trained and ready to deploy, no matter how specialized the project is, you will have a significant competitive advantage.

A workforce that can be trained during the project without impacting delivery timeframes is an even bigger competitive advantage. To achieve this, organizations must incorporate agile training; quick, interactive learning solutions to keep their workforce up to date with technology and skills – positioned to respond quickly to changing project requirements. With agile training, your workforce gains not only a competitive advantage but also a productivity advantage. Employees can get more done with higher quality output, in less time, improving your organization’s capacity, reputation, and profitability.

Through productivity, comes profitability. It’s a clear connection that lays an equally compelling mandate for a trained workforce. The trouble with traditional training solutions is that it eats away at your hours, taking big chunks of time while your experts learn the ins and outs of a piece of software where they may only need to use a few functions. And the productivity payoffs only happen after the training – that is, after you have taken your best staff away from their projects, forgoing the potential progress against the schedule and billable hours (as well as incurring the thousands of dollars involved in delivering training, such as travel, venue rental, and trainer fees).

Moreover, your staff will forget one-off training if they don’t apply it immediately. It is estimated that up to 90% of learned information is forgotten within a week. A majority of that information is lost in the first couple of days, resulting in further costs as employees struggle to remember their training, attend refresher courses, or distract experts from their work as they seek assistance.

Some online learning solutions will get your further – they remove the cost of the trainer and venue, and are generally timelier and more cost-effective; however, the overall return on investment (ROI) of standard online courses tends to be less than desired. Aside from the overwhelmingly passive text-and-video-only approach, traditional online learning forces employees to use corporate resources and invest time to complete assigned training – an additional business expense. It also limits the learner’s ability to access training in real-time. This is a major concern for employees working remotely or in the field, and a significant stumbling block in achieving true agility.

How can you reduce these training costs while continuing to reap the productivity benefits of a trained workforce? Modern eTraining solutions that integrate seamlessly with project software are key to reducing training costs – both financial and resourcing.  ‘GeT Know-How’, a just-in-time eTraining plugin places a fully interactive resource within project software (including Autodesk Revit, AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Plant 3D, Inventor, and Navisworks) enabling staff to access the information they need, when they need it. This significantly reduces time spent in training and off the project.

Not only is this solution cost-effective – a seat on an eTraining course may cost as little as $100 per enrollment – but by undertaking training inside the software, employers can reap additional benefits:

• Learning within the software means learning on the job.
• Training takes place in minutes, with immediate implementation of the learning, allowing for training on billable hours.
• Learning is directly related to the project, maximizing retention and reducing time spent navigating irrelevant information.
• Training time is distributed across the project and is available when and how learners need it – especially useful for staff working non-standard hours (or remotely) when experts are not as easily accessible for assistance.
• Ease of access to specific information means that your experts with the highest billable hours don’t need to take time off to provide assistance to others.
• Incorporation of eTraining that supports multiple learning styles maximizes engagement and understanding.

Productivity, the efficiency with which inputs can be converted into outputs, is the foundation of an organization’s profitability and sustainability. A more productive workforce generates better business results. Efficient training is key to productivity and eTraining software plugins are the leading solution for minimizing training costs and maximizing benefits. By incorporating innovative eTraining productivity resources into your project planning and contracting, you position your workforce for success.