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A Helping Hand for Your Training Programs

We all know the importance of thoroughly training employees, whether it be in workplace safety issues or critical HR topics such as sexual harassment or discrimination. Now, to help you get the most out of your employee training program, BLR® has created "The Instant Trainer," a series of five free webinars specifically designed for trainers looking for best practices and solutions to the common problems that affect everyone's training efforts.

The program kicks off this Thursday, Feb. 25, with "Train the Trainer," a 1-hour session aimed at helping your organization's trainers understand how to assess, identify, and develop effective training.

The sessions will be conducted by Peggy Cretella, an editor and project manager with BLR who has developed various training products in print, electronic, video, and online format, and Patricia Trainor, a legal editor for BLR’s human resources and employment law publications who has years of experience representing employers and school districts in labor and employment matters. 

Be sure to mark your calendars for these invaluable training aids:

• 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25 -- Train the Trainer. Effective training of employees is essential in today’s workplace. Few people come to a job knowing exactly how to do it in a safe and responsible manner. For these reasons, effective training is more important than ever. But trainers themselves need to be trained, to increase their effectiveness and their comfort level with the job. This session will give you the tools to help you understand how to assess, identify, and develop effective training.
• 2 p.m. Thursday, March 4 -- Building the Best Training Program: Your One-Stop Learning. This exclusive webinar will show you how to create—and run—an effective learning program that motivates and trains your workforce to be the best in your industry. This guide is a one-stop training resource. Use it to help you become a trainer who makes learning an engaging and enjoyable experience for your trainees. Employees will look forward to learning new skills and reinforcing old ones, and managers will look forward to the increased profits that your well-trained workforce will produce.
• 2 p.m. Thursday, March 18 -- HR Training to Avoid Lawsuits, Audits, and Fines. We will walk you through how to develop a training plan for legal compliance, choose the most effective training techniques, and conduct an effective training session. Training topics include sexual harassment training, discrimination, and safety training. Our training experts will also address training for supervisors and new employees, and recommended ethics training.
• 2 p.m. Thursday, April 1 -- Does Your Safety Training Make the Grade? Self-Audit for A+. A lot of time and effort has probably gone into your company’s training program. What is the result? A+ or F or somewhere in between? During this session, BLR training experts will walk you through the critical areas of review to make sure you are driving the best training program you can. Once we’ve walked through each section of your program, we’ll help to identify the remedies and next steps for issues found along the way and provide you with the tools you need to improve even the most complete program.
• 2 p.m. Thursday, April 8 -- Tips for More-Effective Safety Training. Effective training is about more than just the course material. Engaging the audience requires smart choices about how to deliver your courses, encouraging participation, and how to most effectively follow up. In Tips for More Effective Safety Training, BLR training experts will walk you through identifying and implementing the critical supporting details to make your safety training program really stick.
  

Whether your a trainer, manager, or supervisor, and whether your field is human resource or environment, safety or health, these free 1-hour sessions will help you become the best trainer you can be. Go here for more information and to sign up for some or all of the presentations.

Social Media Secrets for HR: How to Attract the Best Job Applicants and Connect with Your Current Employees

Unless you've been living in a cave, you know that millions of Americans now use social media and networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace to stay in touch with far-flung friends and family.

The shocker? It’s not kids who are driving this trend. Studies show that adults ages 25 and up (particularly Baby Boomers) are much more likely to use services like Twitter than the 12-to-24 crowd.

That’s why social media is causing seismic changes in the ways many employers recruit new hires and communicate with their current employees. To find cream-of-the-crop candidates for your job openings these days, you’ll have to move beyond newspaper ads and job fairs. You also need to start thinking beyond paycheck stuffers and print newsletters to keep your employees updated on benefits changes, workplace policies, and other critical information.

Whether you’ve already experimented with social media, or you don’t know your tweets from your RSS feeds, we'd like to invite you to join us on Oct. 19 for a fun and informative webinar, "Social Media Secrets for HR: How to Attract the Best Job Applicants and Connect with Your Current Employees." Our two HR experts will share the best practices for using social networking tools for recruiting and employee communications. You’ll learn:

* How the leading online social media services work – from the perspectives of both HR professionals and your current (and future) employees

 * The initial steps you should take to create a presence on these sites for your organization

 * The most effective ways to use these tools to post job openings, make initial contact with candidates, and check their resumes and references (without running into trouble)

 * How social media can help you share workplace news (such as benefits updates and policy changes) with your employees

 * Why these sites can give you a big boost in utilization rates for wellness programs, retirement plans, and other employee benefits programs

 * The biggest mistakes employers make in using social networking tools – and how you can avoid repeating them

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Jennifer Benz is chief strategist and founder of Benz Communications, an award-winning national employee benefits communications firm based in San Francisco. She works with dozens of clients around the country to create strategies that encourage employees to utilize their health care, wellness, financial, and related benefits. She writes and speaks frequently on employee benefits issues. Benz earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri.

Jessica Lee is the editor of Fistful of Talent, a leading human resources blog focused on recruiting and talent management issues. She also serves as senior employment manager for APCO Worldwide, a global public relations firm based in Washington, DC. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Washington.

We hope you'll join us.