Refresher Training _ What, Why and How!

In learning and development, learners have to revise important concepts at regular intervals. And this is where refresher training comes into play. A refresher training course ensures that trainees revisit basic pointers from a training session, which had taken place in the past. Now, in this blog, we will try to explain the whats, hows, and whys of refresher training.

The Definition: What is Refresher Training?

Refresher training is simply ‘retraining’. As the name suggests, it is a session, exclusively designed to help learners refresh their memory. It effectively tests if an employee’s knowledge about a certain subject is up-to-date or not. In fact, you can use refresher training for any category of LMS (Learning Management System) program — especially in compliance and safety training, where companies usually have rules for annual or periodic reviews. Regular sessions ensure that trainees are always updated about the latest knowledge and complex organisational procedures and processes.

Why Should You Opt for Refresher Training?

When you bypass knowledge gaps among your staff members, it can lead to serious errors in the future. There can be miscommunication or worse, ignorance about vital safety rules! Therefore, it is critical to hold retraining classes to refresh knowledge and cover new topics in the workplace. Again, often, trainees complain that they cannot always recall key learning points after the conclusion of a training session.

This is where you need to consider the concept of the forgetting curve. And employee refresher course training diminishes the effect of the forgetting curve on an organisation’s valuable resources.

What Are the Upsides of Refresher Training?

Refresher training for employees contains multiple upsides. It leads to increased efficiency, reduced errors, and leads to a culture of corporate learning. It promotes parity in employee knowledge, excellence, and adherence to safety norms. Timely reviews ensure that you achieve compliance, identify training needs and skills gaps, build employee confidence, have increased employee retention, and achieve awareness of new products, trends, and marketplace information.

How to Deploy Refresher Training in Your Workplace?

There are several methodologies via which you can deploy refresher training in your workplace.

Traditional Classroom Training

In the traditional classroom-style training delivered by an instructor, you can reap the benefits of direct interactions between the trainer and trainees. Learners can ask questions and the instructor can curate the session, depending on the group being taught. Of course, the offline sessions do have their own disadvantages such as expenses, logistics, and accessibility in the midst of a global pandemic.

Virtual Classroom

In virtual classrooms, there is an instructor who delivers training from a remote location by using web conferencing software. We still have the interactivity element between the trainer and the trainees. And employees can attend the session from the comforts of their homes. If you use advanced software, then you can have the option of enabling additional interactive elements such as white boarding, surveys, and on-screen drawing — which promote increased engagement levels. There are some disadvantages though like sudden technical issues and the need to schedule the session since it is synchronous training.

Therefore, the best way out is to choose E Learning Management System, which ensures quick content creation and frequent, easy updates. Micro learning is another methodology that delivers refresher training to employees in digestible, bite-sized chunks. Also, blended learning combines the benefits of both online and hands-on training — delivering the best of both worlds.