If you are charged with the responsibility of creating or updating employee development materials for your company, using training manual templates can help you save time and energy.
About Employee Training Manuals
Creating quality training manuals for various positions in a company is an important part of the organization's talent management plan. When quality training manuals are available for key positions in a company, it is possible to ensure continuity of operations when new employees are hired or personnel move from one job in the company to another.
Training manuals serve the important purpose of providing a consistent way to communicate instructions to employees about how to perform essential functions of their jobs. They benefit supervisors responsible for educating workers about their jobs as well as employees themselves, by providing content and structure necessary to train new hires and to manage the performance of incumbent workers.
To be effective, training manuals should be based on job descriptions and instructional objectives. Information should be provided about the processes and procedures employees are required to follow as well as tasks that form the basis of the jobs they are charged with performing.
Training manual content should be based on objectives so it is possible to tell when trainees have mastered the material included in the manual. Additionally, they must be user friendly documents that can easily be followed and understood by members of the target population.
About Training Manual Templates
Whether you are a training or human resource professional, or if you are a manager responsible for employee development activities, you can benefit from training manual templates in several ways.
Begin with a Head Start
When you create training materials for use in your business, using a template as a starting point can be a great way to get started. Instead of having to begin with a blank slate, a template provides a format and structure to follow when putting together your own manual. You won't have to waste time thinking about how to set up your own document when you find and use a template that meets your needs.
Consistent Company Manual Design
Having a consistent look for business materials is an important part of branding an organization. Once you have used one or more templates to come up with a manual design that is appropriate for your organization, you can use it as the basis for creating other types of documents for the business. Use the overall look of your new training manual as a company-specific template to create new hire orientation materials, employee manuals, business process documents, policy and procedure documentation, and more.
Where to Find Templates for Training Manuals
There are free and fee-based training manual templates available online. Review the various options available to find one that best meets your needs. A few places you can find sample training documentation include:
- Microsoft Office Online, the official online community for Microsoft Office users includes several training template documents that you can download and use at no cost. Some of the available documents were provided by Microsoft, while others have been uploaded by members of the community. New documents are added to the site frequently.
- DocStoc.com includes a number of user provided templates for training manuals and other related documentation that you can download with a membership fee.
- eSheepEnterprises is a company that provides documentation an electronic media design services. There are several template examples on the organization's website, including a few training manuals.
