The Importance of Employee Training

Training for employees has often been viewed as an optional investment that Companies and Organisations consider when there are some spare funds available or specific issues arise in the workplace. However, the recent changes in statutory employment laws such as the Employment Rights Act 2025 and the Sexual Harassment laws have meant that employers need to consider training as a necessity from now on.

What Training Should You Consider in a Small Organisation?

Our advice would be to concentrate on the areas that are governed by statutory laws. We would say that there needs to be annual compulsory training for all employees in these areas. New Starters need to complete this training as part of their initial three months of employment.

The main areas that you should consider for compliance training are listed below:

• Data Protection Act and GDPR
• Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Harassment
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• Anti-Money Laundering
• Anti-Bribery and Corruption
• Cyber Security

It is no longer enough to have policies and procedures in place to cover these areas. Any Employment Tribunal is likely to want to see how you have integrated the policies into your day to day operations. The easiest way to show this is with tracked and recorded training plans.

How Should I Go About Training Employees?

There are many different approaches you can take when deciding how best to train employees. You can do it face to face as a group session, online training platforms are very popular now, online university degrees and there are training companies you can send employees away to for intense training.

Our advice would be to look at the following:

• How much time have I got for employee training? Answering this question will give you a great steer as to what sort of training you should go for to make it efficient and effective.

• Are my workforce technically minded or would they prefer face to face communication. Older workforces may appreciate face to face training whereas younger workforces may appreciate on-demand online videos.

• Decide what training is important. Our advice would be that compliance training is imperative for all companies. After that, Health and Safety and Cyber Security would probably come next. It is important that you look at what is important for your organisation.

• Once you have decided, book the training sessions so that the whole workforce has a training plan.

• Make sure any training is recorded on each employee’s personal file. You will need this to prove that they had the training and passed the course. Without this proof, the organisation won’t be able to rely on the fact that the employee was trained.

HR Smart’s New Online Training Partner SEEDL

HR Smart have recognised that employee training is now more important than it has ever been. For this reason we have teamed up with SEEDL to deliver their online training platform to our clients.

All of our retained and Helpline clients can now have access to a full training platform that encompasses the following areas:

• Compliance
• Health and Safety
• Technology and AI
• Microsoft Office Suite
• Management Training
• Communication
• Sales

This platform was chosen because you have the option of attending live online events or watching the training on demand. The online training platform also allows organisations to upload their own training videos.

For more information on this, please see the link below:

https://www.hrsmartuk.com/hr-smart-services/online-training/

In Summary

Workforce training used to be seen as an optional investment in its employees. Now it is becoming an essential tool in dealing with grievances, disciplinaries and tribunals. Are you still thinking it’s a cost you don’t need to have in your organisation?

As always, should you need any help or advice, please email Jon at jon@hrsmartuk.com or call 01903 754107 if you think you need any specialist advice on this subject.