Retaining Productive Employees Through OJT

By: Katie Bales

OVERVIEW

An important part of owning a small or large company is being able to keep the company productive. Without productivity, the company will struggle, fail, or become unprofitable. So how should companies ensure they are going to be productive? A major factor of company success is the ability to retain employees. Not just any employees, however, the most productive and thoroughly trained employees. Much time and money can go into developing training programs for employees. Out of a total estimated “365 billion [spent] on employee training programs…, researchers estimated that only 20% of that amount was actually spent on direct costs” (Derouin, Parrish, & Salas, 2005). The rest of the costs were towards “transportation to training facilities, accommodations for trainees, and temporary workplace replacements for employees attending training” (Derouin, Parrish, & Salas, 2005). Obviously, most of the money spent on these training programs was wasted since the majority of the money should have gone towards actual employee training. The solution to this problem is On-The-Job-Training (OJT). On-The-Job-Training is simply allowing employees to experience a job first hand in order to be trained. It seems like an easy fix, simply let employees learn for themselves by allowing them to experience the job themselves. However, putting employees through OJT does not mean immediate success. There are ways to fail at OJT, but there are ways to ensure success. 

IMPLEMENTING OJT APPROPRIATELY

OJT is not a training process that can always be used; certain situations will more so indicate that the practice will be successful. For example, on-the-job-training is “generally conducted one on one” (Derouin, Parrish, & Salas, 2005). In other words, employees will train by experience but will be supervised by a current employee who is capable of teaching an individual how to do a task. With a large amount of employees, OJT becomes more difficult because each supervisor will be overwhelmed with instructing too many people at one time. As a result, OJT works best with a small amount of employees. If a company is looking to hire a large amount of employees, OJT may not be as effective. As mentioned, supervisors of the company are usually in charge of training these employees when OJT is implemented. If the supervisor “adopts a superior attitude or is just too busy to be bothered” (Brink, 1947) then employees will not be thoroughly trained. Supervisors must have the time and patience to instruct the new incoming staff. The best way to avoid failing OJT is for companies to implement a policy for their supervisors “to give attention to the training of subordinates” (Brink, 1947).  Moreover, having trained employees report what they learned in training and from whom, can help guarantee that no supervisors are breaking that policy. 

EFFECTIVE PLANNING OF OJT

An important factor that plays into lessening the employee turnover rate is planning an effective OJT program.  Employers can witness themselves or through their designated supervisors the tasks new employees struggle to complete as OJT “may provide early warning about employee basic skill problems” (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2004). Employers most likely have an intricate hiring process in hopes to find the best employees for their companies. Yet, even after the process, some hired employees just do not fit well with the job. The sooner an employer can realize that an employee fails to complete a specified job, the sooner they can hire in someone new, increasing company productivity.  Supervisors work closely with the new employees and can decide they are still the right match for the job or if the difficult task can be assigned to a someone else on staff. Maintaining the work environment and delegating tasks appropriately is vital for increasing productivity.  So what does planned OJT even mean? Planned OJT includes organizing the program “according to the job performance needs of the intended learner; rather, it is driven by work demands and crises” (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2004). With unorganized OJT comes a longer training period, in which case, training expenses invested increase and employees may be worn out and left debating if the job is right for them.

ORG 331

I’ve listed ways I believe a company can ensure new employee success in completing designated tasks through the OJT practice. In class, a major topic we covered was how important it is for companies to retain employees and decrease the employee turnover rate. The employee turnover rate has a negative effect on the company and can result in loss of image to attract employees, costs invested to replace the employees, and the lack of ability to achieve organizational goals. On-the-job training can assist employers in properly training employees and encouraging the individuals to be more confident in the job they are completing, while encouraging them to continually work for the company. Be that as it may, the OJT program has to be legitimately developed; time and money must still be spent. Otherwise, a lacking program will not meet organizational goals.

JOB RELATION

Anyone interested in Human Resources can find this blog to be useful. For my career, I plan on working in Human Resources Management. Training and development is my favorite part of the job description. I found this research to be intriguing and just a reminder that in the future, I may struggle to retain good employees. Diligent work and planning must go into the hiring and training process. Although OJT may not always be the best process I can use, I now am aware of when it will be appropriate to use and how to make it a successful training program.

Work Cited

Brink, V. Z. (1947). Audit practice forum: Training on the job. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 83(000004).  Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/198226427?accountid=12924

Derouin, R. E., Parrish, T. J., & Salas, E. (2005) On the job training: Tips for ensuring success. Ergonomics in Design: The quarterly of Human Factors Applications 13:23. doi: 10.1177/10648046050130020

Rothwell, W. J., & Kazanas, H.C. (2004). Improving on-the-job training. John Wiley & Sons. Available from http://books.google.com/books?id=l6KKjy14wvUC&dq=OJT+practice&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s