Performance, competitiveness, commitment to the company... The benefits of employee training in the company are multiple for both parties. The law of September 5, 2018 “for the freedom to choose one's professional future” gives everyone, including employees, the power to take control of their professional career. In this context, companies have the challenge of stimulating the interest of employees and engaging them in value-added training for the structure. How to communicate on the vocational training internally, with employees?
Step 1: Identify the obstacles and motivations of employees
To communicate effectively with employees, it is necessary to know their interests, their motivations as well as the possible obstacles to training courses that prevent the development of skills essential to the company. On the obstacle side, lack of time, or a lack of understanding of the purpose of the training may be among the obstacles. The point of view of training managers and HR managers is not necessarily that of employees. Some see training as a way to increase responsibilities and skills in order to obtain a promotion, others for the prospects of better remuneration, still others for personal achievement. Moreover, for many employees, the main motivations for training are professional and personal development as well as the opportunity to do their job better.
-> What actions should be put in place?
1 - Ask employees about their expectations in terms of training, using surveys for example
2 - Ask them about their obstacles to the existing training system
Step 2: Establish a communication plan
Communicating about training internally involves the development of the internal communication plan. The elements gathered when defining the training plan (or skills development plan) are a key element in guiding the internal communication plan, in particular the company's needs in terms of training, but also the obstacles and motivations of employees who will make it possible to build a message adapted to their reality. An inventory of the resources available as well as the messages to be conveyed makes it possible to send the right messages with the right channels. (emailing, internal social network, internal posting, etc. Finally, identify prescribers like managers makes it possible to make them aware of the training courses and tools available so that they encourage others to get involved.
-> What actions should be put in place?
1 - bring together company needs, obstacles and motivations of employees in the face of training in order to build messages adapted to their reality
2 - Make an inventory of all possible communication media and identify prescribers, internal “influencers”
3 - perform a benchmark on how other companies communicate on training
Step 3: Communicate about the training
Communicating is not limited to displaying a list of available courses. Depending on the generations of employees, the preferred means of communication are different. For some, posting will suffice while for others, an activation on the internal social network or a creative video may have the expected effect. In any case, communications must include the details of the training offer, the training plan, the tools used, but also the resource persons for the training.
The company must also communicate to employees about the CPF, supplied in euros since 2019. It is a way to make employees aware of the training resources at their disposal and why not direct them to the training manager who can help them to orient themselves in their training choices.
-> What actions should be put in place?
1 - Use marketing and advertising levers to communicate with employees
2 - Set up internal events, such as Q&A by video in order to present the training courses, but also to give a voice to employees
Step 4: Engaging internal prescribers
As with any communication strategy, prescribers can influence the choice of whether or not to participate in training offered by the company. These prescribers may be among the most committed employees, whom it will be wise to include in training courses, almost as a preview.. Managers should also be considered, as they will be in a better position to distribute the appropriate training content to team members. He may also, of course, be interested himself ( middle managers, last served in training?), in which case he will be all the more motivated to engage his team.
-> What actions should be put in place?
1 - Train managers in training tools and encourage them to communicate about training to teams
2 - Identify the employees who are most committed to content and training tools in order to make them ambassadors and referents.
Step 5: Communicate regularly
Regularity in speaking out about corporate training is the key to keeping employees engaged with training tools and content. Any opportunity is a good time to speak out: availability of new content, statistics on internal training, internal scoreboards... In addition, personalized follow-up of the employee makes it possible to communicate to him information that concerns him directly, in particular with the help of notifications or reminders on current training courses, or when new training content that may concern him is made available. The establishment of a community space such as a forum can also engage employees regularly with each other around the subject of training, in a social learning approach.
-> What actions should be put in place?
1 - Determine regular communications on training follow-up, results, etc.
2 - Personalize communications
