As a small business owner, one of the things you have to do is make sure that your employees are properly trained to perform the essential functions of the jobs that you hire them to perform. That means that part of your job involves employee training. While you might send your employees out to take classes that relate to specific skills – such as safety or computer training – it’s a fact that you’re responsible for teaching them how to perform in various aspects of their jobs. When you own or run a business, training is an integral part of your job.

Employee Orientation
As soon as you add your first employee to your team, you start wearing the hat of corporate trainer. The first training you’re likely to conduct with your new hires begins when you conduct their initial orientation session. Whether you meet with each person individually or you conduct an employee orientation class for several new workers at the same time, what you’re doing with your new team members is training.

On the Job Training
When you – or other people who work for you – start showing your new employees how to perform the various tasks that have to be completed in order to do the job you’ve hired them to do, they are also engaging in training. Showing new hires where the time clock is, teaching them how to fill out expense reports, and showing them how to log onto the network in your office are all examples of employee training.

Policy and Procedure Training
Making sure that your employees – new ones as well as those who’ve been with your for a while – are up-to-date with the latest policies and procedures also involves training. If you don’t teach the people who work for you what the rules of the office are, how do you expect them to follow said rules? The same goes for procedures. The only way that employees know the process by which work is supposed to flow in your organization is to be taught about the procedures.

Leadership Training
Perhaps the most important part of training your employees relates to the example you set for them as the leader of your organization. Keep in mind that actions speak a lot louder than words. Your team members will look to you to set the tone for what types of behaviors are acceptable in the context of your organization. The way that you conduct yourself on a day-to-day basis plays an important role in how your employees learn to act when representing your organization.

Finances Encourage your employees to stay on top of their personal finances and get out of debt. Many of them waste a lot of time thinking about credit cards debt and how they’re going to pay the bills. Some of them even waste company time applying for a 0 interest credit card offer.  Consider implementing somethign like financial peace for the workplace to help get your team out of debt.