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Picture this. You’ve just landed your dream job and are excited to join the team. The HR has specified that you’d undergo on the job training for, say the first three months.
And now you’re both nervous and curious about the training period.
What exactly would this training period include? Would it be all study, no play? Worse, would it feel like going back to the classroom?
These are some of the questions that pop up in the heads of the new joiners, especially fresh graduates.
The organizations, on the other hand, have completely different woes.
They want to ensure that their on the job training modules are effective, relevant to the roles, thorough, and easy to understand. So that their workforce gets a headstart right from day one. The right employee training programs hold the key to unlocking desired results, after all, whether you have a team of four, forty, or thousands of employees.
Keeping all that in mind, we’ve crafted this article to make things easier. We’ll walk you through on-the-job training meaning, its pros and cons, examples, challenges, best practices, and much more.
Let’s begin!
» What is On-the-Job Training?
In simple terms, on-the-job training, also referred to as OJT, is the training provided to the new hires of an organization to succeed in their respective roles. It is typically a mix of hands-on training and observing others on the team.
The hands-on training is an ideal, rational method for the new employees to acquire the necessary competencies, skills, and knowledge to perform tasks that their role at the company requires. Think of it as a practical experience instead of a conventional set of classroom instructions. With such on-the-job training, employees can immediately apply the knowledge they’ve gained to real projects in a real working environment.
Such training is carried out with the guidance of a more experienced colleague, a senior supervisor, or an in-house or outsourced training manager.
Several organizations also include job shadowing as a part of their on-the-job training program. Job shadowing is nothing but observing experienced teammates perform their share of job tasks to understand how they get things done.
What’s interesting is that many organizations now rely on Learning Management System (LMS) Software or Online Training Software to make the entire process much simpler and streamlined for all the stakeholders.
By the time OJT marks an end, the employees under training are capable of handling all the tasks that their role demands without any supervision.
» On-the-Job Training vs. Off-the-Job Training
While on-the-job training programs are the industry norms, there are companies providing their employees with off-the-job training as well. Even though there are significant differences between these employee training approaches, people often confuse the two.
If you, too, find it difficult to distinguish the two concepts, let us simplify it for you through the following table:
| Component | On-the-Job Employee Training | Off-the-Job Employee Training |
| Training Location | At the workplace | Often outside the actual workplace, say at a training center or classroom |
| Method of Learning | Hands-on approach | Theoretical learning |
| Goals | Role-specific and relevant skill development | Holistic, broad learning, covering more than one areas like soft skills |
| Learning Hours | Utilizes the regular office hours | Needs dedicated hours, additional to duty hours |
| Trainer | Experienced teammates, seniors, or supervisors | External trainers or professional instructors |
| Cost | Cost-effective Option | Expensive Approach |
| Examples | Hands-on tasks, job shadowing, mentorship, probation | Seminars, classroom training, conferences, workshops |
» On the Job Training Benefits and Drawbacks
On-the-job training, with its hands-on learning approach, makes new hires ready to take on their roles confidently. That, in turn, enables businesses to achieve their targets.
Are you still wondering whether you should incorporate it at your workplace though?
Here are a host of on-the-job training advantages for both the companies and employees you must know which will help you take the right call.
› On the Job Training Benefits For Organizations
1) Ability to offer relevant, tailored training programs
Every role in the organization is different from the other. In the same way, each employee has their own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all training method turns out to be a terrible idea, driving you away from your business goals. You can avoid that route with a proper OJT in place.
With on the job training, you get to provide each employee with a customized learning program based on their job role, skills, and competency. The focus is training them through practical tasks. That ensures a smoother learning curve, better engagement, and outcomes.
2) Helps save cost and time
As we explored earlier, on the job training is conducted by experienced colleagues, seniors, or in-house supervisors. You don’t have to hire an external professional to oversee the training process. Moreover, the training takes place on the office premises itself. Meaning, no need to spend on off-site facilities or additional, specialized resources and materials. That helps control costs considerably.
What’s more? On-the-job training is conducted during office hours. Thus, no one from the team needs to clock in more hours at work. That encourages a healthy work-life balance, boosting employee morale.
3) Increases employee retention ratio
With OJT comes a practical learning experience. With a practical learning experience comes the feeling of being valued at work. The feeling of being valued results in greater engagement and productivity at the workplace. That, in turn, boosts job satisfaction, making employees averse to the idea of leaving their jobs for other opportunities. The consistency of such training programs helps businesses retain their top talent for years at a stretch, cutting down their employee attrition costs significantly.
› On-the-Job Training Benefits For Employees
1) Enhanced knowledge retention
Employees undergoing OJT, whether they’re freshers or experienced professionals, get to apply what they learn to tasks immediately. This also enables them to identify any gaps and areas they need to focus more on. Such direct application of knowledge boosts their ability to retain new information and perform their tasks. All while enhancing their job satisfaction levels.
2) Faster skill development
You learn more by actually performing tasks than just studying about them in theory, they say. That’s exactly what happens through OJT. Employees practically learn by either applying their newly acquired skills or shadowing their colleagues. In both cases, they develop skills rapidly and in a far more effective way. Such rapid skill development empowers new hires to make an impact in their early days at the firm, boosting their confidence.
3) Paid training time
Getting paid while they are still under training is probably the biggest benefit of on-the-job training for employees.
4) Easy adaptation of the work culture
Since OJT facilitates on-site training, new hires get to experience the work culture of the organization first-hand. They get to know their teammates and have a chance to establish a bond from day one. That enhances dynamics within the team - be it communication or collaboration. It also strengthens team spirit which benefits the organization in chasing goals.
» On-the-Job Training Challenges
› On the Job Training Challenges For Organizations
1) Ensuring consistency
More often than not, OJT is conducted by individual trainers even in a team setup. As a result, the content material for the training and its quality may vary. That, in turn, may lead to disparity of knowledge and skills among new hires, leading to unsatisfactory results.
Ensuring the same level of quality in training across departments, therefore, becomes one of the toughest tasks for the organization.
2) Managing individual learning curve
Every employee has a distinct learning curve. One new recruit may pick up a skill faster than their fellow trainee but that doesn’t make the other trainee less competent. However, maintaining an efficient and tailored learning curve for each employee is easier said than done. Failing to do so increases errors and stress while lowering the employees’ morale.
› On the Job Training Challenges For Employees
1) Identifying and tackling skill gaps
Often the gaps in learning are not immediately apparent. Sometimes, the training modules lack the desired level of personalization. Both scenarios leave employees feeling stuck, underconfident, and less productive & engaged. Recognizing such gaps and finding a sound, timely resolution is a challenge that is difficult to overcome through OJT.
2) Striking a balance between training and productivity
Since on-the-job training happens during regular work hours, it often becomes difficult to balance training with day-to-day responsibilities. The trainers have to allocate time from their schedule, ensuring that the work doesn’t suffer. The trainees, on the other hand, need more time and extended guidance to get the hang of things, affecting the overall team productivity.
Now that we’ve explored on the job training pros and cons in detail, it’s time to explore best practices and some real world examples.
» On the Job Training Best Practices
All set to create and implement power-packed on-the-job training for employees at your organization?
Here are a few best practices you must keep in mind to reap maximum benefits out of your training programs:
- Define clear goals for each OJT training module so that your employees know what they’ll be learning and what they’re supposed to achieve through the learning.
- Make sure the goals are in alignment with the overall organizational goals.
- Select the right candidates from your workforce and groom them, if needed, to become powerful trainers.
- Review your existing on-the-job training process to find any gaps. If you can automate it using online training software or learning management system (LMS) software for employee training.
- Assess new hires on their current skills, and accordingly customize their OJT program.
- Monitor the on-the-job training programs at your organization regularly to make necessary amendments from time to time.
- Make genuine feedback an integral part of the entire process to ensure consistent efficiency of the training.
» On-the-Job Training Examples
Some of the real-life examples of on-the-job employee training include the following:
- Practicing how to use equipment and tools required for the job.
- Getting on a service call with teammates to develop effective communication and problem-solving skills. Doing so also helps one to think on their feet.
- Observing client-facing team to learn how to explain different services/products the right way.
- Learning to prep order shipment
- Shadowing customer service teammates to observe how they handle complaints and resolve issues.
- Practicing payment processing for clients under supervision.
- Learning to operate new software tools to accomplish specific tasks.
- Studying and reviewing protocols, standards, and processes for various systems, such as inventory management.
» Final Thoughts
On-the-job training, as we explored in the article, is a crucial mechanism to help employees develop the right skills for their role in the organization. Customized learning strengthens employees’ skills and helps them adapt to the work environment more swiftly. Since OJT takes place on-premises, it helps organizations control costs, improve productivity, and retain employees. Overall, it plays a major role in helping both the organization and employees inch closer to their collective, as well as individual, objectives.
