Technology Survey Results - Part 3 - IT Training

The survey ratings for training definitely show a weakness. This has been a challenging area for us for a while. One thing we feel good about in training is that we now have a standardized IT Orientation plan which we give to all new hires. That only went into place a few months ago, so it has affected the hires since then, which is a minority of those who responded to the survey. We are hopeful that this new orientation plan will help to ensure that people are prepared for their technology in their new job at Pivot going forward.

Even more recently, we implemented a kind of "check-in" plan for training. This was actually only implemented this week. I now have an item on my new hire checklist to call or email each new hire 3 weeks after their hire, and then again 3 months after, to find out if they need any follow-up technology training. If they do, I help to connect them to the right resources for that training.

Sandra Rudloff has been conducting "boot camps" for new salespeople and the training there also includes a lot of the technology that our salespeople use. We do not know yet what the future plans will be for boot camps, but one way or another we will continue to work on making sure training does not fall through the cracks.

Our training improvement efforts have mainly been around the new hire processes, but we also plan training for new programs or technology as we roll it out. Here, too, it's been challenging but we are trying to figure out the best methods and vehicles. REMEMBER: Just ask us to help you with training if you feel you are lacking. We are happy to either schedule something with you ourselves, or to help connect you with the right resources.

Comment samples:

As a new hire you are getting lots of info all at one time, so sometimes hard to assimilate.

We've heard this comment about our new hire orientation "fire hose effect." New employees attend HR orientation, IT orientation, and several other training programs. It is a lot! We are trying to find a good balance now by working with the managers to schedule the HR and IT trainings on different days, to keep the training to a reasonable length, to hold specialized trainings on separate days, and to check in after 3 weeks and 3 months for any place training may have been missed. We'll keep asking for feedback and working to improve.

Specific training classes for Excel, Word, etc should be held at each office for all levels beginner, intermediate, advanced.

We actually do not provide training ourselves for the Microsoft Office programs such as Excel and Word. In today's working environment, basic training on Microsoft programs is actually considered a "given." We expect that people will have that understanding before they start their working career. We understand that there may be some who do not, or they may need more advanced training. For those situations, we help the employees to find 3rd party training. There are a LOT of excellent free online Microsoft training courses, and we have a list of those for anyone who'd like it. HR can also evaluate the situation and, if it makes sense, help the employee find external classes to attend.

New hires that come on without rudimentary skills put more work load onto others. These people should be required to complete remedial training in their first quarter. Some kind of skill test should be given yearly and anyone falling behind should have to take remedial training in the following quarter. We shouldn't shame people for not knowing 'how to' but it should be a requirement and training needs to be provided. No excuses.

Good points in this comment. It does put a burden on others when an employee cannot pull his own weight because of a lack of training. We hope that our new hire training improvements will help in this area, and -- by the way -- all the departments are working on improving their new hire training plans, not just IT.

As far as giving skill tests and more training based on the results, this would be wonderful. At this time Pivot does not have that sort of formalized training program - one that includes testing, standardized curriculum and so on. As we grow, the need for that kind of program will most likely increase and we'll be evaluating what makes sense. In the meantime, we'll keep trying to improve with the resources we have.