19 Employee Training Programs & How to Develop Them

Rapid advances in technology are reshaping how businesses operate at every level. Your employees need to develop new skills and approaches to keep up. Staff training and development programs help ensure your teams deliver class-leading customer experiences, products, and services, even as technology and best practices advance.

In this article, we explore:

• Different types of training programs for employees
• Examples of courses you can enrol your teams in today
• Importance of employee training
• Steps for developing training programs for staff
• Future trends in employee training

19 Types of Employee Training Programs

Foundation Training Programs

These types of employee training programs are vital for all employees, regardless of their roles. They cover general topics and ways of working that align with your business and processes.

1. Onboarding and Induction Training

Starting a new job can be stressful for both the employee and the manager. Company training programs that familiarise new employees with the ways you work can be of great help. It can significantly reduce the time it takes for new hires to be effective at work. It also helps them settle in and feel comfortable.

Good onboarding training topics for employees include:

• Role-Specific Technology Training. Every business uses a different tech stack. This training ensures they understand how to use the software and tools they’ll need to perform their daily tasks.

• Company Values. Employees whose work ethic and personal values don’t align with yours are unlikely to be a good long-term fit. This training gives new hires insight into how your company works and why.

• Documentation. Allocate time during training for employees to read, understand, and sign off on company policies. This is also an opportunity to go through Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

• Site-Specific Training. Employees may need to follow specific safety procedures when working on-site. Dress codes, breaks, and other guidelines may also apply.

Best Delivery Method: On-the-Job Training, Instructor-Led Training

2. Health and Safety Training

Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) training is not only valuable in high-risk environments. Every workplace has its own requirements to keep people safe. WHS courses can be role-specific, particularly in industries like mining and healthcare. But the training can also be around foundational knowledge that everyone in the company needs to have.

All employees need to know how to handle fire risks, for example. It’s about making sure your team knows exactly what to do when things go wrong, but also how to keep the workplace healthy on a day-to-day basis.

Examples of topics you could cover in a workplace health and safety training include:

• Fire Safety Training. Ensures employees understand safety procedures, exit routes, and how to use safety equipment.

• Emergency Protocols. Covers how employees should respond to medical incidents, power failures, or cyber attacks. It gives them a clear plan for how to recognise problems, who to tell, and what steps to take.

• Workplace Hygiene and Wellness. Ensures that one sick team member doesn’t result in the whole office being out of action.

• Ergonomics. Could involve manual handling techniques for site-based workers. It could also include steps for properly setting up a workstation to avoid strain for office-based and remote employees.

Best Employee Training Method: Instructor-led training, Practical demonstrations, Practice drills, Simulations

3. Ethics Training

Ethics training helps establish the moral compass of your organisation. It ensures that employees at every level understand the standards of conduct expected of them and how to handle complex situations where the right choice might not be immediately obvious. When a team operates with high ethical standards, it builds trust with clients. It also protects the company’s reputation and creates a more respectful workplace.

Some examples of topics to cover during ethics training might include:

• Company Values. Outlines the behaviours and professional standards you expect from employees.

• Whistleblowing. Whistleblowing training informs employees of their legal rights and protections when reporting unethical or illegal behaviour in the workplace. It explains the specific channels available for calling out unethical behaviour. It may also include details of how the company handles and investigates reports.

• How to Handle Grey Areas. Helps employees navigate challenging ethical or policy situations where the right course of action isn’t always clear, and provides details on who they can turn to for help.

Best Delivery Method: Scenario-based workshops, Case studies, Social learning, Online training courses

4. Diversity and Inclusion Training

To help everyone at the workplace feel safe, comfortable, and included, attending a diversity and inclusion course can be a great idea. Being able to understand and get along with individuals from a host of different backgrounds and cultures is an invaluable set of skills that transcends the workplace and can have a positive impact on the personal lives of employees as well.

While this can be a sensitive topic, this type of employee training program can do good if handled properly. This can be achieved by including:

• Unbiased Training: Inclusion training falls flat if it purposely excludes any representative of society. Hence, carefully selected, balanced, and unbiased training should be implemented for the best results.

• Company-Provided Training: A self-developed internal training program can be more specific about your company’s exact diversity profile, and can be a valuable asset in onboarding new employees.

Best Delivery Method: Social learning, Collaborative learning, Workshops, Seminars

5. Cybersecurity Training

Cybersecurity has become an unavoidable part of modern business. Employees untrained in cybersecurity may pose a significant risk to business, so it’s vital to have clear guidelines and training in place.

Effective training in this area will include:

• Ongoing Assessment: New risks emerge every day, and so cybersecurity awareness assessments should be subject to continuous assessment to ensure employees stay sharp and that additional training is dispatched in a timely manner.

• Specialist Development Programs: Your cybersecurity staff will need regular training to keep up to date with the latest threats and how to safeguard your company against them.

Best Delivery Method: Self-directed learning, Online courses, Roleplaying and simulations

Core Competency Training Programs

These types of programs are designed to boost productivity and efficiency across your organisation. They cover areas that support day-to-day tasks and organisational processes. While the specific courses that employees are enrolled in may be unique, all employees should be enrolled in some form of competency training.

6. Technical Training

Technical employee training allows your specialist staff to be more effective in their jobs. It focuses on developing hard skills that align with daily tasks and responsibilities. It’s about the skills people need to do their jobs, whether that involves a wrench, a spreadsheet, or a stethoscope.

Good examples would be a mining company enrolling employees in industrial skill courses or a marketing agency enrolling employees in a course on SEO best practices. This type of training often leads to accreditation or a completion certificate. This ensures employees are meeting requirements and maintaining current skills.

Some employee training topics here could include:

• Equipment Operation and Maintenance. This could include training teams on how to use, maintain, troubleshoot, or even repair equipment.

• Data Management and Security. Covers the importance of proper data entry, storage, sharing, and cybersecurity. This helps your organisation reduce risk across departments.

• Industry-Specific Methodologies. Could include the latest techniques and best practices for performing a specific task or role.

Best Delivery Method: Skill-based learning, Competency-based assessment

7. Product Training

It’s important that your sales, support, and customer service teams fully understand your products and services. This helps them advise clients on the best fit for their needs. However, these aren’t the only departments that may need product training.

For tech companies, development teams also need to understand software products and their existing functionality. It’s also important for your marketing team to know your products inside and out. This ensures that they’ll target the right audiences for each product or service in advertising, social media posts, and more.

Typical product training often covers areas like:

• Market Positioning. Focuses on the problems that your products and services address and how they differ from your competitors.

• Customer Service Skills. Develops the soft skills employees need to deliver exceptional customer experiences. This includes empathy, patience, and the ability to translate complex product features into simple solutions for frustrated customers.

• Cross-Selling Skills. Identifying where a different or additional product could provide more value to a client. Training focuses on spotting cues in conversation and understanding the ecosystem of your offerings.

• Sales Techniques. Specific strategies for moving customers through the buying journey. Topics include handling objections, demonstrating the product’s unique value proposition (UVP), and how to close a deal or onboard a new client.

Best Delivery Method: Interactive workshops, Video demonstrations, Refresher training

8. Compliance Training

Compliance training is essential in highly regulated industries. These include healthcare, mining, and vocational training in Australia. When your teams understand the specific requirements they need to meet and why, they’re better prepared for workforce challenges. They’ll more easily be able to identify and address risks.

This kind of training is also often a compliance requirement in itself. Completing compliance training courses leads to accreditation or certification. By conducting training and maintaining evidence of completion, companies stay audit-ready at all times.

Note: Compliance training can also impact your insurance premiums. Insurance providers often offer lower rates to organisations that can prove their employees are trained and competent in their roles.

Training topics for employee development here will include:

• Industry Regulations. Focuses on the specific legal frameworks governing your sector. This could include the Standards for RTOs in Australia, HIPAA in healthcare, or environmental protection acts.

• Workplace Health and Safety Courses. Covers hazard identification, emergency procedures, fire safety training and the correct use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

• Record Keeping. Teaches employees how to accurately document actions, maintain privacy standards (such as GDPR or Privacy Act), and manage data trails.

Best Delivery Method: Formal certification programs, eLearning modules with assessments, Verification of competency

9. Quality Assurance Training

Quality Assurance (QA) training is not limited to QA employees alone. Site technicians, stock controllers, and even food and beverage employees can all benefit from QA training.

• QA training should adhere to local regulations, but beyond that you can create training that adheres to internal quality assurance standards, which could be higher than the norm.

Best Delivery Method: On-the-job training, Mentoring and coaching, Practical demonstrations

Role-Specific Performance Training Programs

These programs target employees in specific roles or departments. It boosts performance in particular areas, rather than being applied throughout an organisation. For example, sales training will be valuable for your Sales team, while customer service training may be valuable for support.

10. Sales Training

Sales training is straightforward. It’s a training program that will allow your sales staff and some on-site staff to be more efficient within the role of sales. This will entail a variety of sales team courses from different sources.

Sales staff training topics could include:

• Structured Development Programs: Sales requires specific training such as negotiation tactics, empathy, closing strategies, and more. The best way to ensure an efficient sales force is to create structured training plans that provide comprehensive skill coverage.

• Shadow Initiatives: When hiring new salespeople, it can be valuable for them to shadow more experienced employees for effective on-the-job training. Set out clear milestones for these initiatives.

Best Training Method: Roleplaying and simulations, Collaborative learning, Social learning, On-the-job training

11. Customer Service Training

Customer service training is not just for support staff. It can benefit any customer-facing employee, from marketers who conduct interviews to site workers who interact with customer employees. Most employees can benefit from customer service courses by equipping them with the necessary skills to treat customers right.

This type of training typically includes:

• Soft Skills Training: Being able to listen, empathise with customer needs, and effectively communicate are all critical skills for customer service employees. Hence, structured employee development programs are necessary for those who deal with customers.

• Monitored On-The-Job Training: It’s common for customer service calls to be recorded to listen to and learn from past conversations. This is an invaluable learning tool and should be prioritised in most industries.

Best Delivery Method: On-the-job training, Mentoring and coaching, Roleplaying and simulations, Case studies

12. Project Management Training

Effective project managers must have the right skills, but all employees should be able to manage their projects effectively on a personal level. Consider both specialised and basic project management courses to add to your programs.

Project management (PM) training can include:

• Industry Best Practices: Beyond normal PM best practices, you may have industry-specific best practices that must also be adhered to to ensure smooth-running projects.

• Specialised Development Program: Project managers have a demanding job, and specialised programs focused on long-term success can help you get the most out of your project leaders.

Best Training Method: Scenario-based learning, Workshops, Case studies, Self-paced online courses

13. Environmental Training

Industries like mining, manufacturing, and construction can drastically affect the environment. This makes training employees on environmental impact crucial to long-term sustainability. They must understand the impact their work has on resources, the land, and the community. This helps them work compliantly and ethically in a world where these kinds of businesses are coming under increasing environmental scrutiny.

Environmental training may include:

• Environmental Compliance. Ensures all staff understand the legal permits, emission limits, and water-usage rights that the company must strictly follow.

• Waste Management. Focuses on the specialised handling of chemical byproducts, tailings dams, and construction debris.

• Local Ecology and Biodiversity. Educates workers on the specific flora and fauna of the site. This will help them identify “no-go” zones and manage dust or noise that might affect local wildlife.

• Site Rehabilitation and Future-Proofing. Teaches staff how to progressively restore the land as they work. It ensures that once projects are finished, sites can be safely returned to the community or repurposed for future use.

Best Delivery Method: Site-based practicals, Environmental audits, Virtual Reality simulations

Interpersonal Employee Training Programs

This type of training helps employees work together seamlessly, whether they’re in the same team, or different departments. It also improves interactions with customers and partners.

14. Soft Skills Training

Both hard skills and soft skills are important in the workplace. While hard skills may boost efficiency, soft skills focus on communication, collaboration, work ethic, and more. This makes them essential in ensuring your teams work together well.

Soft skills, or power skills, can also support cross-departmental collaboration, bringing your company together as a whole. They reflect the advantages that these often overlooked abilities bring to organisations.

A soft skill development program could cover topics like:

• Workplace Communication Skills. Cover in-person communication, digital messaging, and active listening. This reduces conflict and misunderstandings, and ensures teams are aligned and well-informed.

• Creative and Critical Thinking. Critical thinking supports problem-solving, helping employees look at issues from various perspectives. Combining this with creativity helps employees come up with innovative solutions that improve existing processes.

• Collaboration. Helps employees work with colleagues in their team or outside of it. Supports brainstorming to find innovative solutions.

Best Training Method: Self-directed learning, Social learning, Roleplaying and simulations, Mentoring and coaching

15. Language and Communication Training

There are few generic skills more valuable than effective communication. Knowing how to communicate in different situations and across various departments can help to keep a business running smoothly.

Communication training should include:

• Basic Learning: It’s a good idea to include basic communication training in your onboarding process. This can help to ensure that all employees have a basic level of competency, a good communication course shouldn’t take more than an hour.

• Employee-Specific Training: Some employees, such as sales and customer support staff, should aim for a higher level of competency. Specialised development programs can help raise the bar.

Best Delivery Method: Foundation skills training, eLearning courses, Microlearning courses

16. Creativity and Innovation Training

Building creativity and innovation comes down to using opportunities to practice skills. However, project-based learning or other forms of practical training can help to strengthen these skills.

This kind of training will include:

• Microlearning: Courses will typically be small and focused within this niche, so short courses can be embraced to hone these skills.

• Project-Based Learning: Experienced staff can oversee juniors within projects, to help transfer specific techniques and skills required within your organisation.

Best Training Method: Case studies, Practical exercises, Scenario-based learning, Roleplaying and simulations

Strategic and Future Growth Training Programs

These programs are focused on organisational growth. They support strategic workforce planning by helping to prepare employees for future roles and tasks. This ensures alignment with long-term organisational goals.

17. Leadership Training

Effective leaders aren’t simply naturally talented individuals who have a knack for leadership. They’re active learners who are always learning more effective leading techniques in order to drive business success. However, nurturing these skills often requires targeted leadership training.

Typical leadership training includes:

• Seminars & Courses: There are countless leadership development training programs on the market. To be effective, leaders should attend such programs regularly to learn new tactics and best practices.

• Mentorship: Seasoned leaders should take juniors under their wing to teach them the skills and tactics that can only be won through hard work and experience.

• Microlearning: Leadership is a skill that can be added to easily with microlearning, by regularly attending leadership courses that last less than an hour on a weekly or monthly basis.

Best Delivery Method: Webinars, Workshops, Scenario-based learning, Mentoring and coaching

18. Cross-Training

Cross-training can be an effective means of keeping your business running during the off-season when staff is limited or during some kind of disaster. This entails teaching staff from different departments how to do each other’s jobs.

Cross-training should contain:

• Logical Structure: An office intern will require years of training to do an electrician’s job. This is an extreme example, but logic must apply. Pair employees in fairly similar roles in order to get the best results from cross-training.

• Regular Workshops: Consider implementing weekly or monthly workshops where employees can focus on sharing these skills and ensuring that employees stay sharp in tasks outside of their specialisation.

Best Delivery Method: Social learning, Collaborative learning, Mentoring and coaching

19. Career Development and Upskilling Training

Effective employee training programs for career development focus on holistically growing your workers. This boosts their job effectiveness and overall happiness at the same time. It should form an ongoing part of your training strategy.

This will include:

• Ongoing Audits: Conduct annual or bi-annual skills audits to identify the most necessary skills to keep your business moving forward.

• Personal Development Programs: Set up individual employee development plans, including skills identified in the audits as well as personal aspirations on skills.

Best Training Method: Self-paced learning, Online courses, Formal training, Workshops, Webinars and seminars, Mentoring and coaching

Employee Training Program Examples

• Onboarding Staff Training Example: Contribute to a Service Culture for a retail setting

• Health and Safety Training Programs for Employees Example: Manual handling courses for transport and manufacturing industries

• Ethics Professional Training Example: Whistleblowing course for exposing unethical or illegal practices in all industries

• Diversity and Inclusion Employee Training Example: Diversity, equity, and inclusion awareness course for recognising and addressing unconscious biases

• Cybersecurity Training Program Example for Employees: Upholding cybersecurity course for protecting sensitive information in all industries

• Example of Technical Training for Employees: Responding to Basic Faults in Electrical Systems for mining or engineering industries

• Product Training Program Example Course: Develop product and service knowledge course for retail workers

• Example of a Staff Training Program for Compliance: Introduction to GDPR course for administrators in any industry

• Quality Assurance Training and Development Example: Process customer feedback course for healthcare settings

• Sales Training Program Example: Sales and upselling techniques course for retail environments.

• Example of a Training Program Course for Customer Service: Customer experience management course for hospitality and retail workers

• Project Management Example Training Program: Project management basic course as foundational training for new employees in project management roles

• Environmental Employee Training Course Example: Plan and prepare for risk control course for the mining industry

• Example of Soft Skill Training Program: Motivating teams course for team leaders and colleagues across industries

• Language and  Communication Training Program Example: Communicate with internal and external customers course for food and beverage teams

• Creativity and Innovation Staff Training Example: Analytical and critical thinking training courses for various industries

• Leadership Corporate Training Program Example: Leadership and supervisory skills course for those who are new to leadership roles

• Example of Cross-Training Program for Employees: Cross-functional collaboration course as a starting point for helping teams work together in any industry

• Career Development Training Courses For Employees Example: Adaptability and flexibility course for employees who want to develop into new roles

Benefits of Training Programs for Employees

Streamlining Internal Recruiting and External Hiring

Targeted skills training helps companies develop and improve the abilities they already have. This makes existing employees better candidates for internal recruiting opportunities. It also improves external hiring processes.

Boosting Employee Performance

Workplace training is a key factor for job seekers. They want to work for companies that support their development. Employees who get to learn at work are not only happier and more confident. Skilled employees also work more productively and efficiently.

Improving Employee Retention

Employees who feel that there are opportunities to grow within your organisation are less likely to look for employment elsewhere. This improves both short-term and long-term employee retention. Better employee retention also means reduced recruitment needs and costs.

Maintaining a Competitive Edge

Focusing on upskilling and reskilling employees through training helps organisations adapt more quickly to changing markets. This gives you an edge over the competition, who may take months to catch up.

Increasing Customer Satisfaction

When your employees are both happy and skilled in their roles, they’re in the best position to help your customers. Happy customers are more likely to recommend your company to others.

Maintaining a Strong Reputation

When both customers and employees are happy, it creates a virtuous cycle that encourages more customers and skilled employees to join your organisation. You’ll earn a reputation as a reliable company that people trust and want to work for.

How to Develop Effective Training Programs

1. Identify Training Needs

The first part of any development program is identifying the skills and training your employees need the most. You should conduct a training needs analysis to construct a comprehensive view of the current and desired skills within the workplace. A skills audit can also help you identify skills and gaps across your organisation that could be addressed through targeted training or strategic hiring.

Top Tip: There are plenty of resources that can help you track skills, capabilities, and competencies across your organisation. A training matrix can also help you track employee progress across departments.