Why online training for your DOT compliance training program?

OK so you have lots of choices when it comes to delivering DOT supervisor training, why should you choose online training? DVDs, in-class training, bringing in consultants, each approach has its advantages and disadvantages.  We won’t dive into a lengthy pros and cons analysis here, there are plenty of articles that do that. Rather, in this post we’ll just focus on the strengths of eLearning as it related to DOT supervisor and drug free workplace drug and alcohol training.

Online training works best when…

• You need to ensure training occurs prior to performing a job. Some employee education and training can be part of a longer term initiative that allows your employee to immediately begin work and obtain skills and knowledge over time. Other training should be performed prior to an employee performing their job. Safety training for employees performing safety sensitive duties or supervisors of those employees falls into the latter category. In the case of DOT supervisor training for reasonable suspicion, employees subject to federally regulated or DOT drug testing and the supervisors of those employees should ideally receive training prior to performing their job. Time gaps are liabilities. Online training makes it easy to ensure that training is available on demand, anytime 24/7 so your supervisor can be in compliance.

• It’s costly to take employees off the job. 

• It’s difficult to schedule a mass class training session. Scheduling mass training sessions can be a bit of a roll of the dice. If you have for example, 25 or more employees who are required to complete a training course it can be tempting to round them all up and schedule a mass training course so you can check all their names off the list. A common problem with this plan is that, inevitably, a few employees might not be available because they’re needed out in the field or maybe they needed to take that day off. So what happens? You end up scheduling multiple class trainings to ensure each person has options. Now you’re juggling schedules often resulting in your having to hold a second session of the class in an attempt to ensure everyone can attend – doubling your efforts, with no guarantee all your required employees can attend either class.

• Your employees are dispersed or mobile. If you have a dispersed or employees working remotely or onsite, then scheduling in-class training is pretty much off the table. In this case, online training maybe more than just a good option, it might be your only option.

• You need to document training for compliance purposes. Most online training programs track the name, date and time a course was taken by an employee as a native part of the process. Even if you’re keeping a separate training log it’s always nice to know you have back-up records accessible anywhere, anytime.

• You need to re-train employees over time. Best practices for most any type of training, safety training in particular, would be that employees are exposed to the course material more than once. Although repetition hasn’t proven a fail-safe way to ensure employees are retaining information, it doesn’t help that people forget a good chunk of information over time. Online training courses can work as a great supplement to any training approach even if it’s not your primary method.

• You want to ensure comprehension. Although no one particular training method represents a fail-safe way to ensure information retention and comprehension, online courses can ensure employees are not just passively participating. If you’re simply setting and employee in front of a DVD or even holding mass class training you have no real way to ensure employees are engaging with the information. They simply might break out their cell phone and check the scores for yesterday’s games or check Facebook or daydreaming about that upcoming fishing trip next week. Online training courses, like AtHandTraining.com courses, only allow the user to obtain a certificate of completion after passing multiple in-content quizzes and passing a final test. Users simply must acknowledge the correct answers to critical key points to progress the course. In addition, eLearning can increase retention up to 60%

Even just a few years ago utilizing online training might have been a challenge for some organizations because it couldn’t be guaranteed that all employees have access to PC’s or the internet. However, internet connectivity is commonplace now and the rise of mobile devices with internet access has made online training easier than ever to deploy. Over 77% of U.S. corporations report using online learning to enhance their employees training and educational programs. We at AtHandTraining have it easy to deploy our online courses as our courses can be delivered to any mobile smart phone, iPhone, any PC or Mac, any Windows or Android based tablet and any iPad (with the free Articulate app).