The Future Of Work: Best Practices For Training Remote Employees

Your human resource (HR) department is responsible for recruitment, administration, training and development, performance management, and many other tasks. However, this role has become increasingly difficult due to the rise in remote and hybrid employees.

In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, just 4.7% of UK employees worked from home. In 2024, 14% of people continue to work remotely and 26% work hybrid.

Alongside other remote working developments, the urgency for HR teams to provide quality remote training is even more apparent, as 61% of remote employees feel they need additional training to perform their jobs better.

This article will explore remote training and five best practices for creating an effective program for your remote employees.

What is Remote Training?

Remote training is an employee training program aimed at people who work from home or remotely rather than at an office. It is part of the learning and development (L&D) process.

Remote training is delivered through virtual classes, online courses, podcasts, webinars, and other e-learning tools.

Here are the benefits of remote training:

• Boosts employee productivity and performance. Providing your remote employees with relevant training helps build their workplace skills and knowledge, increasing their productivity and performance.

• Low costs. Remote training eliminates or significantly minimises many expenses related to on-site training sessions, such as transporting employees to a set location.

• Improved employee knowledge retention. Employees can frequently visit remote training materials, leading to improved learning and knowledge retention.

• Supports the employee’s learning style. The training material can come in formats such as audio, video, presentations, or a combination. This supports every employee’s unique learning style.

• Improved employee retention rate. If remote employees are given the opportunity to learn and develop within their role and the organisation, they are more likely to feel appreciated and want to remain within your organisation.

• Saves time. Remote training saves time as the training material only needs to be created once and reused.

5 Best Practices For Training Remote Employees

Ensure training resources are accessible

Employees should be able to easily access all their training resources. This is where a Learning Management System (LMS) comes in, enabling remote workers to access high-quality training on one platform.

However, with the implementation of another digital platform, employees must remember yet another password.

To make your chosen LMS more accessible, give your employees access to a secure web link or set up individual logins with Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication.

Make the training interactive and engaging

Remote work can often lead to employee disengagement because there is a lack of social interaction with coworkers, leading to isolation and loneliness.

So, HR teams must overcome the traditional training culture of slide decks and text-heavy guides and instead embrace interactive and engaging training methods. Here are some of the ways to make your remote training resources interactive:

• Incorporate interactive images or videos into each slide if you are using presentations and PowerPoint.

• Incorporate certain gaming elements. Many remote training software options include gamification features, such as competing for points, badges, and rankings on a leaderboard.

• Encourage discussions and questions via video calls or instant messaging platforms.

Interactive training programs increase productivity and performance by focusing on keeping employees engaged at work.

Create realistic goals

HR managers must create effective, realistic, and measurable goals for employee training. It is important to identify:

• What does your company want to accomplish with this training? For example, train a new employee or bridge a knowledge gap.

• What outcomes will employees achieve at the end of the training program? For example, will they be able to take on a new role or be more engaged?

• What parameters might affect the design and delivery of your training program? For example, a budget for training software or tight deadlines for filling a role.

When setting training goals, it is recommended to use the following SMART format:

• Specific. Training goals need to be specific.

• Measurable. Learning outcomes need to be measurable.

• Attainable. Training objectives are easily attainable, given the time and resources.

• Relevant. Your training goals are relevant to an employee’s desired growth.

• Time-bound. The goals need to have a deadline.

Monitor training effectiveness

It’s important to track the effectiveness of your remote training because it helps you understand whether your employees are absorbing the material, which materials and methods are most successful, and which ones need improving or replacing.

Performance reviews, one-to-one sessions, and observation feedback are almost impossible when working remotely. However, there are several ways to measure training effectiveness in a remote setting, such as:

• Post-training surveys to collect valuable feedback;

• 1:1 video call discussions;

• Interactive quizzes or tests.

Use a variety of formats

As mentioned, each employee has a unique learning style. So, the best approach for remote training is to use a combination of different training formats. This can help keep employees engaged and improve knowledge retention.

Here are some remote training formats you can use:

• Audio learning.

• Video learning.

• Downloadable worksheets.

• Interactive presentations and slide decks that employees can watch at their chosen pace.

• Virtual instructor-led sessions via webinars or video calls.

It is essential to provide employees with opportunities to apply their new knowledge and skills through practical exercises and quizzes.

Conclusion

As you know, remote and hybrid working is growing, and a distributed workforce poses many challenges in terms of training.

However, following these five best practices to design, create, and implement a remote training program is vital to ensure your employees’ skills continue to develop. In addition, an effective remote training program will boost employee productivity, retention, and team morale.

Consider implementing a Learning Management System to take your remote training program to the next step.