There are two main types of employee training:
- In-house (on-the-job), where the training takes place in your own work environment among colleagues and with your own equipment.
- Commercial (out-of-house) training, where you are sent to seminars, courses and workshops outside of your own office.
In-house Training
Advantages
Because this form of training takes place within the office, it is normally led by a colleague or a manager that you have already worked with prior to the training, meaning that you feel more at ease being taught by someone you already know. In fact, research has shown that employees actually respond better to in-house trainers because of this and also because they are in familiar surroundings. A further type of in-house training is mentoring, where a skilled employee passes their expertise onto another employee. Because of the one-to-one aspect of this sort of arrangement, it can be very effective.
Employers may also favour this form of training, as it means their employees can continue to be productive as they can work while they learn. It can also be more cost-effective.
Disadvantages
The person carrying out the training may not be properly qualified and therefore training may not be to the highest standard. Teaching and training are particular professions in themselves and so therefore may be better delivered by someone qualified in this area. Although the fact that you would already know the trainer may be seen as a positive point, there is also the possibility that it might not be taken as seriously as if it was conducted by an outsider.
As it takes place within the office, the trainer or the trainee may become distracted by other office concerns or work that they feel they should be doing.
Commercial Training
Advantages
This gets you away from the office and the work environment which may also mean you can get away from the particular frustrations or stresses that you may have and therefore can give the training your full attention.
The trainers will be experts in their field and will be qualified in the area of employer training. The training provided therefore will possibly be of a higher standard. It has also been noted that employees feel more valued when sent on out of house training as they feel they are receiving a higher quality of training.
An added advantage for both employees and employers may be that if there are other companies sending workers for training, employees can get the opportunity to network, making contacts for themselves and also helping to create new business for the company.
Disadvantages
There is the chance that the content of the training course may not be directly relative to your work situation, especially if there are other companies attending the same course. This can lead to broad subject matter as the trainer tries to incorporate everyone. If you're on an externally-run course be sure to ask any questions relevant to you - don't let other's dictate what the trainer covers if it's not what you need to know.