Are Your Employees Well Enough Trained?

No matter how well the IT infrastructure in your company is designed, you cannot avoid the basic truth that people still play a major role within your organisation.

Every single time the computer system is upgraded – whether it’s a small change to make customer ordering easier or the installation of a whole new system – it’s necessary to follow this by letting all the relevant staff members know of the changes that have been made.

How this process is done can make a big difference to how successfully your staff cope with the changes. Given the basic truth that many people do not like the idea of change, it’s a good idea to give your staff adequate notice of any forthcoming work on the computer system – as much as is humanly possible under the circumstances.

Not only will this give them time to prepare mentally, it will also ensure they have enough time to put in place any other measures or contingency plans that may be necessary to allow business to continue as normal while the IT work is carried out.

But training isn’t just required in times of change. IT training should be a regular part of life at any company if maximum efficiency is to be achieved.

Terms such as multi-tasking and multi-skilled are becoming a part of more and more workplaces, and with downsizing being another area of concern in many companies it is necessary and advisable to make sure that as many staff members as possible are trained to perform the roles of their colleagues. Not only does this lead to a better all round service for the client or customer, but it also lends a greater appreciation for all roles within the company.

The level of IT knowledge required by any single staff member will depend on their job role. Some people will naturally acquire more knowledge in addition to this, while others will be hesitant to learn anything new – even if it would benefit them in their day to day work.

To this end, regular and more informal advice and assistance on improving computer skills would be beneficial to most companies, giving people the opportunity to increase their knowledge without any pressure. Combined with more formal training sessions whenever required to inform and educate the staff about new updates to the IT system this can be an encouraging combination.

In an ideal world every employee would know what skills they are lacking when it comes to using computers in a working environment. But in reality things are not so simple.

That is why it’s advisable to monitor the performance of each employee periodically, so that additional training can be offered when it is deemed necessary.