An effective staff training program should have both benefits and disadvantages. In this article, we will look at the benefits, disadvantages, and costs of e learning. We’ll also look at the impact on the environment. E-learning is an excellent choice for staff development because it engages the audience. Participants can take quizzes, answer questions, and get certificates at the end of the course. As an added bonus, e-learning also provides a traceable audit trail of engagement and a recognizable proof that the information was correctly understood. That’s a lot better than all your staff receiving emails, or having to host a training event for everyone.
Benefits
One of the many benefits of eLearning over classroom-style training is its cost-effectiveness. Compared to traditional classroom training, eLearning is considerably less expensive than traditional methods and helps organizations keep pace with the speed of work. The cost of classroom-style training often makes it impossible to justify the investment. By contrast, eLearning reduces overall training time by 40-60% while boosting employee retention rates by up to 60%.
The online format of Staff training also helps reduce costs. In large corporations, training requires hours of administration work. However, in e-learning, there is no need for this as employees register themselves directly on the LMS and admin staff can pull reports at any time. This way, there is less paper-based administration to manage. Elearning also offers the flexibility of learning from home or while away from the office. A recent study found that 82% of employees prefer this type of learning.
Disadvantages
One of the disadvantages of eLearning is that it can be intimidating for learners. The lack of immediate feedback can be demotivating. Therefore, eLearning should be used only if you are confident that learners will be able to complete the course. It also needs to be supplemented with other training styles and choices. Here are some of the other disadvantages of eLearning for staff training.
There are a number of benefits to E-Learning. It can reduce training costs. The cost of travel and materials is reduced. You can also reduce travel costs for staff. Moreover, eLearning can improve employee productivity. As employees can complete the course on their own time, they spend less time in traveling and more time on their work. Some people find that the flexibility of e-learning courses is beneficial for their personal and professional lives.
Costs
In the latest Training Industry Report, the average U.S. company will spend $1,071 per employee on training in 2021, a $40 decrease over 2020. Among the costs of staff training, the report breaks down the spending by company size. Small businesses will spend about $1,437 per employee in 2021, while mid-sized companies will spend about $591. Large companies will spend about $924 per employee.
The cost of creating e-learning content varies widely, ranging from $9,360 to nearly $1,490 per finished hour. A single hour of e-learning content requires an average of 74 hours of labor to produce. While these costs can be high, they do not need to be. A higher cost of creating a single course may be lower than the costs of acquiring new tools and stock photography.
Environmental impact
The traditional classroom method for staff training is the seminar hall. This requires employees to travel to the training location, which releases huge amounts of CO2. The transport of employees also increases the carbon footprint of the company, with one-third of greenhouse gas emissions coming from vehicles alone. But with the introduction of eLearning, this problem is solved. Employees are no longer required to travel to training sessions. And because they can complete the training from their home or office computers, eLearning is an effective way to lower the impact on the environment.
Unlike traditional classroom learning, which requires students to attend campus-based classes, online learning reduces this amount to a significant degree. In-person classes use huge amounts of paper, which builds up in landfills by the end of each semester. According to the National Wildlife Foundation, a single ton of paper generated by one classroom equals the weight of 16 large trees. By contrast, online learning allows students to complete coursework by storing all their readings and class information on the Internet. In addition to saving the environment, online learning is also cost-effective for organisations, which must comply with environmental laws and regulations.