Common Excuses Why Businesses Don’t Change up Training Methods (+ What It’s Costing Them)

88% of large companies, 77% of midsize companies, and 64% of small companies reported using videos as their primary form of onboarding and internal training. New hires show up before or after hours to a classroom to watch a long video, take a test immediately, and then head home.

“Watch” a video. Take a test. Finish training. It’s that simple. It’s always been this way, so why change it, right?

The fact of the matter is this: Your entire training group could pass with flying colors on the test covering the material they just watched, but what happens when it comes to putting this quick-to-learn, quicker-to-forget knowledge into real-world application?

Your answer for this is in your metrics: employee retention, employee satisfaction score, time-to-productivity, ROI, opportunity to upsell, etc.

In the long run, it doesn’t matter if you got an A on the test if you don’t retain the knowledge and understand why you got the A. 

Without extended practice, the forgetting curve gets steeper and steeper– it’s not an opinion; it's science.

Retention is maximized through ongoing learning, peer-to-peer discussions and feedback, and close-to-reality role-playing.

So why isn't every business using peer-to-peer training as their standard method?

We’ll unpack the most common excuses and myths in this article, as well as shed light on the real costs behind traditional training methods.

Grab your coffee; let’s get started. 

“We’ve used this same training method for years, why change now?”

Ever heard the saying, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it? Well, the reality of this in relation to frontline training is that you might never know if something is broken, as the people who’d weigh in their honest opinions aren’t always confident to do so. You have to remember these are new hires in your company; they’re still finding their footing. Communication and trust are buildable factors, and not every new person coming through your door is going to speak up if or when they don’t understand something.

Research reports that “Employees are distracted when watching a training video. In a survey published by Kaltura in 2019, 67% of employees said they do not give a training video their full attention. They skim through videos, watch videos without sound, or listen while doing something else. Only 28% say that they always pay attention to training videos. On the other hand, 6% say that they never pay attention to training videos.”

Engagement is needed for high-impact businesses to succeed in sales onboarding, establish cohesiveness across channels and stores, and reach ideal sales quota levels.

‍Invest in your employees, and they’ll invest in you. Ongoing learning practices develop deeper confidence, decrease time to productivity, and help new hires reach benchmarks faster than traditional training methods, saving businesses time and maximizing ROI. 

“It’ll cost too much to change training methods.”

The data speaks differently. For most industries, the average turnover cost per employee is equivalent to 6-9 months of an employee's salary, while others state it could cost up to two times the employee's annual salary. This isn’t an easy-to-stomach price tag.

‍For the cost of one in-person trainer, you could train 100 employees with Upduo. Yes, you read that correctly: one hundred employees. 

Costs of training methods boil down to:

• Implementation time
• Video cost
• Effectiveness of training
• Morale of employees

There are many metrics you can’t put a price on, but that could also mean big costs for your business. Every new video costs money, an average of 30k per training video. To which I ask, how fast does your industry move? How often do you need a new video?

All these questions and costs are not only minimized, but they’re also less admin with Upduo.

“I need a system of checks and balances.”

We know that top-level roles don’t have the bandwidth to sift through training surveys, and there’s really no reason for you to anyway. 

Peer-to-peer with Upduo is all about validation through a system of checks and balances. Within minutes, peers are matched to relevant peers within your organization for micro-learning sessions, guided by talking prompts that have been personally tailored to gauge training success. After a session, each individual must provide feedback. The session is reviewed by our intelligent AI reporting and processed into weak and strong skill areas for future use. 

No more blind spots. No more insecurity. No more skill gaps. No more hesitation to ask clarifying questions. Every role is supported throughout the peer-to-peer process so nothing, and most importantly, no one, falls through the training cracks.

"Upduo is just for onboarding new hires. It won't address ongoing training needs."

One of Upduo’s main missions is continuous, multi-exposure, sustainable learning. We’ve seen firsthand how knowledge can dwindle after long periods of inactivity, and since not all relevant knowledge is constantly practiced, this is inevitable.

We’ve seen the “aha!” moments when a trainer remembers forgotten, not-commonly-used-but-still-relevant information. It’s refreshing. Having that built-in opportunity to recall stored information through peer-to-peer training, whether in the role of trainer or trainee, is heavily appreciated. 

With Upduo, information architecture is not only foundational but constantly flowing, establishing a long-term ecosystem of knowledge and up-to-date information. 

"It’s not on-the-go enough."

Although watching a training video can be done remotely, should it? We’ve already noted that people rarely pay attention to such videos; why would remote watching make any difference?

As a manager, you can easily access peer-to-peer session reports from your phone anywhere, anytime. And it just so happens it’s the same with our learning sessions. Connect from the desktop or mobile app to match with a peer and fill downtime with knowledge and skill practice.

The interface is user-friendly, and there is no need for a walkthrough or set-up, making implementation time marginal compared to other methods. 

“I work with highly confidential info, so my training has to be secure.”

Upduo is secure and private, holding SOC TYPE II, CPRA, and EU GDPR certifications. 

“Okay, if I do switch to peer-to-peer learning with Upduo, what’s in it for me?”

Insights, diffused awareness across the organization of new releases, features, and promotions, a heightened sense of security that your team is on the same page, and then some– and we have the results and testimonials to back that up.

We saved a recent client from a substantial loss by vastly improving visibility between their tech and product sales teams. The technical team was aware of a promotion that the sales team was not. Thanks to an Upduo session, they were able to catch this quickly, train up their frontline team, and reorganize how future promotions and updates were being informed across the organization.  What could have been a substantial ROI loss was caught in a fraction of the time because of Upduo’s peer-to-peer learning feedback and reporting. 

Another honorable mention that is often seen is a jump in employee satisfaction scores and retention post-Upduo integration. Decision-makers often forget that people work harder and smarter when they feel supported by their employers. Having training that naturally facilitates communication and addresses skill gaps is a surefire way to patch up loose ends and, as a result, improve employee morale, which has a positive ripple effect. 

“Why should more decision-makers care about peer-to-peer learning?”

Upduo’s peer-to-peer learning is important because it’s changing the way training is performed, boosting knowledge retention and recall, establishing deep foundations of trust and communication from day one for new hires, and extending a hand as a partner in the realm of ongoing education. 

Upduo delivers well over 1 million engaging and effective trainings per year, resulting in outcomes like an 18% increase in upsells, a 14% increase in close rates, and an 80% increase in sales-lead awareness. And those are just the quantitative results…

Quality-proof your sales team and quantity-boost your targeted metrics with Upduo.

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