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Grow Your Business With More Effective OnThe Job Training

Written by: Susan Regier

Article Overview: In many small businesses, such as fast food restaurants, the majority of training is on the job. These workplaces are often fast paced and have a high staff turnover. Yet their profitability depends on making sure staff are taught key skills as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Grow Your Business With More Effective OnThe Job Training

In many small businesses, such as fast food restaurants, the majority of training is on the job. These workplaces are often fast paced and have a high staff turnover. Yet their profitability depends on making sure staff are taught key skills as effectively and efficiently as possible.

A key reason behind high turnover is that workers often don't know how to do their jobs. A lot of on-the-job training is unstructured, resulting in a "sink or swim" mentality. All too often new employees are simply told to "follow Mary around and do what she does."

This is the worst kind of training. It is unplanned, unsystematic, inefficient (because it needs to repeated over and over), and consequently ineffective. This is asking for trouble when customer satisfaction (and repeat business) depends heavily on worker attitudes as well as competence.

There is an alternative. What is needed is to provide your workers with some structured job training to enhance their customer service skills.

The model below is a simple, team-based approach that employees can use as they are learning on the job. You can also use it to develop your own in-house “training modules” to make future training sessions more efficient. Here’s how to do it in 10 easy steps:


Assemble as many employees as possible for a team meeting. One hour per week is sufficient.

Make sure the team consists of both experienced and newer workers, even trainees. (This way, experienced workers discover better ways to do the job, and the inclusion of trainees helps ensure the training is at the right level of detail.)

Ask them to brainstorm all the tasks required for the job, then list them on a flip chart.

Help them in writing short, step-by-step modules on how to do each task. Encourage discussion so that all can contribute.

Use a two-column format. Column one should be entitled "What" (to do); Column two should include these headers: "Why," "When," "Where," "How," "Safety," and "Quality."

Use simple words.

Use graphics or sketches as much as possible.

If you are unsure whether to include some fact (such as how, when, where, etc.), include it.

Type it up, keeping the language as simple as possible – as close as you can to how it was given.

Try out your “modules”, revise them wherever necessary until they accurately fit the job, then use them for future staff training.


It is important to this approach that training materials for low-skill jobs be written by the workers themselves in their own language. This gives instant credibility to the material and guarantee its use.

It's also a great source of employee pride, because your workers are able to see that what they produced is being put into action. This will impact positively on workplace morale.

If you are located in Greater Melbourne and need initial assistance with workshopping this process in your workplace, I can deliver it with you. (It is vitally important to the ongoing success of this process that you are present throughout the session, and appear formally in charge of it. Price on application.)

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