American workers unhappy with employer training

Find it inconsistent, boring, out of date: Survey

When it comes to employee training, employers have some work to do, according to a survey by ON24, provider of webcasting and virtual event solutions based in San Francisco.

While 100 per cent of more than 500 American workers said employee training is important, 84 per cent said there are problems with the training. The top concerns are training only happens occasionally (48 per cent) and it is inconsistent (45 per cent), followed by training material that is boring and not up to date (25 per cent) and training that is inconvenient (22 per cent).

However, 80 per cent of respondents agreed that virtual training is convenient because they can participate anywhere, anytime, using any computing or mobile device, and they also appreciated the easy online access to materials and information (56 per cent).

More than one-half (55 per cent) of the respondents said new employee onboarding is the most needed training application. And when asked to explain why training is a priority where they work, 80 per cent said it helps improve individual job performance.

However, there was variation among industries when it came to training, found ON24. Medical/pharmaceutical was ranked highest (75 per cent) on the list of industries in which training is required, followed by education (65 per cent) and finance/banking (60 per cent), found the survey.

However, these industries did not necessarily have the best training. For example, while 53 per cent of respondents said government employee training is "crucial," only nine per cent said these workers are actually well-trained.

Effectiveness of employee training programs in various industries:

• medical/pharmaceutical (49 per cent)

• technology (30 per cent)

• education (27 per cent)

• accounting (24 per cent).

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