From the employer's perspective, training becomes an additional cost in terms of both time and money. So their goal would be to pinpoint the most effective training method that would save them the most time and money.



As for the employees, going through training means being able to remember the lessons being taught effective. And the most effective way to do that, is to rely on more both words and sound. What does that mean?

Relying on words alone means that the lessons are theoretical in nature. But people have the tendency to forget what they read very quickly. Besides, without direct experience, words can be prone to misinterpretation, thus creating more problems for the employees. In addition, not everyone can read very well. And some employees would do anything to get themselves off the hook of having to memorize anything from books.

The other way to learn is to rely on sounds. That means listening to tapes, audio CDs, or in today's digital age, MP3 audio files. Listening can be a little more effective because repetition is possible. The same messages can be delivered to the learner again and again without the trainer having to be physically present to teach. This will help the employees retain more of what they learn.

But the most effective method, is to learn with both sight and sound. This is the closest thing to duplicating the actual scenario in the real world. Learning from videos is an excellent way to transmit a message with the least distortion. For example, an employee could be watching a video on back injury prevention, and can actually see for him or herself what to do and what not to do.

In addition, videos are useful because employees can now learn as and when they want to, and not have to attend scheduled classes. They can watch the videos during breaks, weekends, at home, or while traveling. And like digital audio files, they can watch them as many times as they like until they remember all the lessons.

This is a good thing for the employers as well because the goal is achieved with minimal cost. The same set of training videos can be passed on to other employees, and reused again and again as long as the information is still valid. Professional trainers are of course always needed, but in the absence of human trainers, videos are the next best training resources.

So the next time the subject of training comes to mind, think about how videos can benefit you and your organization. Be smart, and use construction videos for employee training.