Employee Training Plan | How to Create One With a Template

The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay. I am not the one who said this. Henry Ford did. 

And he was right. Training is a must. But effective training does not start with content. It starts with a plan.

An employee training plan is a structured document that outlines how a company will train its employees. Who gets trained, on what, how, and when? It is not the training program itself, but the roadmap behind it. 

In this article, you will learn how to write a clear, efficient training plan that actually supports your business goals. And you will also get two ready-to-use templates to help you get started faster.

Employee training plan templates 

Just a little heads up before you download the employee training plan template. There is no single approach when it comes to developing a template for the plan. Every team, company, and goal is different, and your template should reflect that. Feel free to add or remove any components that do not apply to your case. 

What should your employee plan template contain? 

You can include information on

• Employee information, such as their name, role, manager
• Learning goals and objectives
• Timeline and deadlines
• Format for each training and session
• Estimated budget per session
• Key tasks, resources, or materials

Simply put, you are the one to decide what you want to have in your employee training plan. Yet, as a standard option, you can use our template below. Note, that this is only for one week and outcome, so you can continue feeling in the rest of the weeks too. 

If you are managing multiple employees across different training programs, you may want a more personalized view. That is where our next template comes in.

It is designed to help you track training progress at the individual level, so you can clearly see who is learning what, how far they have come, and what is next.

Related: 5 Steps to Implement an Effective Employee Training Program

7 Steps to create an effective employee training plan 

Now, the question is, how can you fill out this template effectively? I am sure you do not want to have the training plan just for the sake of it. So, to make it serve the purpose, we would define

• Who is the employee training for?
• What are you hoping to achieve with this training?
• How will you track the process?
• How will you measure the results? 

Let’s break it down, step by step.

Define the roles and groups involved 

First, let’s have a look at your organization chart. Who works in what department? If you do not have a chart, just open a spreadsheet and list names under department headings. 

Now, depending on what kind of training you want to offer (like a technical training for everybody or training to improve a professional skill), you can create groups for the training plan. For example, you can group by

• Team, when everyone in the Marketing department is in the same team
• Role level, if you need to train new hires, or team leaders
• Key skills: if you think that there are specific skills you want all your employees to improve, when you surveyed them

Also, consider location and time zones if your team is remote or distributed. This will shape how you deliver training later on.

Assess the skill levels of employees 

Companies love to jump straight into choosing training topics, but if you don’t know where employees are starting from, how can you measure progress later?

You can assess their skills by running

• Self-assessment - ask employees to rate their own confidence or ability in key areas
• Manager feedback - ask them to list 2 to 3 skills each person needs to work on in that area, and compare it to what employees pointed out themselves
• Performance reviews, where employees and their managers already share about their goals and training needs. 

Once you have data for each employee, we are going to create individual learning paths for the groups. The learning path is the map for the employees to move through the training. And if there is no specific journey for their needs, they are very likely to get overwhelmed and confused. 

An example of how you can set the learning path is Procurify Academy. They offer courses and learning materials for their users. As you can see, the courses follow each other in a logical sequence where people get acquainted with the process of submitting requests, then getting answers from the vendors. 

Yet, we are not creating hundreds of plans. Instead, we group the employees’ needs and levels, so we have a path for one specific group. 

For instance, Google Cloud provides role-based learning. These paths include a combination of courses, hands-on labs, and skill badges to help individuals develop the necessary skills for their desired roles.

Tie training goals to business outcomes 

At this point, you have identified what your employees need from the training. Now, it is high time to write down the outcomes for each training session you expect from the employees. 

If you are not sure where to start, first consider your business objectives. What I came to notice with many organizations that might also apply to you is

• Improve customer satisfaction by x%
• Reduce employee turnover by x%
• Increase productivity by x%
• Strengthen technical capabilities, etc. 

Now, how do these connect to learning outcomes? Think of each business objective as a “why.” The learning outcome is the “how.” The outcome is the specific thing an employee should be able to do after training that contributes to that bigger goal.

You better not train someone to “improve customer satisfaction”,  that is too broad.

But you can train them to follow a structured protocol when handling complaints, which contributes to that outcome.

In an interview with me, a professional instructional designer shared how they develop learning outcomes for the program. 

“Think about the three specific actions that your learners are going to be able to take once they have finished the program. And I don’t only want you to think about the three actions that they will be able to take confidently, I also want you to think about the three actions that they WILL NOT be able to take.” 

 

Mariana Pena 

Instructional Designer, Course Expert

Choose the training formats 

Once you have outlined the goals, the next step is to decide how the training will be delivered.

The format you choose should match both your business needs and your team’s learning preferences. 

Here are 3 of the most effective options:

1. Instructor-Led Training (ILT), which is very traditional. You invite the trainer or the instructor and run the program either online or in person. It is effective because there is lot of interactivity and feedback from the instructor. In fact, 66% of corporate training is instructor-led, reaching up to 76% in high-performing companies. 

2. Self-paced online courses, which are flexible options for your employees to receive training when they have the time for it. Especially if you run microlearning courses, they can boost knowledge retention up to 60% compared to other formats.  

3. Blended learning. Combining traditional face-to-face instruction with online learning, blended learning offers a comprehensive approach. About 70% of organizations use this method, benefiting from the advantages of both formats

Tip: No matter which format you choose, consider offering mobile access. Around 67% of U.S. companies now use mobile learning, and it has been shown to boost business performance by up to 55%.

Set a realistic timeline 

One of the key points of your employee training plan is also making sure the employees can incorporate it into their work life. In this regard, having a timeline helps them better organize their other responsibilities. 

Also, you can track the plan implementation better when you have timelines. Of course, when you set the deadlines in the planning stage, it might differ from the actual starting and finishing dates. 

That is why you can add another column in the template presented above to track the actual timelines as well. 

Before creating the timeline, you should also discuss the approximate deadlines with the training provider, coach, or instructor. Let us say your plan covers onboarding, role-specific skills, and leadership development. You can create an approximate timing and adapt it to the team’s needs. 

Here’s a simple structure to start with:

Timeframe Training Focus

• Weeks 1–2 General onboarding
• Weeks 3–4 Role-specific training
• Month 2 Follow-up sessions + hands-on tasks

Adapt as needed to reflect your organization’s unique schedule.

Assign responsibilities 

The idea of this article is to present an efficient employee training plan. And nothing makes it more effective than everyone knowing what they are supposed to do and when. 

Here are the key roles you will want to define:

• The training coordinator. I guess this might be you. You would need to plan on track, schedule sessions, and handle the administrative part of the employee training. 
• Subject matter experts who can be people from your organization, or the trainers & coaches you hire. 
• Group managers who can help identify who needs what type of training and keep the employees accountable when they reach specific milestones in the training process.
• Your learning and development team will participate in developing the program and also document the processes. 
• Employees. Yes, really. They are responsible for completing their training and giving feedback.

Now, how do you keep everyone accountable? Use a shared doc or a project tool to assign the tasks. Assign names to tasks, set deadlines, and make responsibilities visible to everyone involved.

Plan the implementation of the training 

When it comes to the rollout stage, two things matter the most 

1) Ensuring employees have enough time to participate in the training

2)Ensuring they are well-aware of the tools, resources, and materials they will be using during the training

If you think employees may need extra guidance, like manuals, quick-start guides, or tutorials, prepare those in advance. The goal is to make the training as accessible and smooth as possible from day one.

And if you are using an LMS platform such as Uteach to deliver the training, make sure the employees know their way around the platform as well. 

When it comes to the implementation part, it is better not to roll out the training plan for all the departments and groups. Because you want to be sure the system you have been working on can deliver. 

That is why you can test the employee training plan on one specific group. Afterwards, collect feedback from them to improve the training plan. 

Have a system to track progress 

Did we achieve the organization’s business goals, or not? 

This would be a haunting question at the end of the employee training, if we forget to mention the KPIs that would measure the results. 

We should tie those KPIs to your training content. For example, if you did product training for your support team, are they solving tickets faster? Higher CSAT scores?

On the employee level, you can track:

• Course completion rates
• Quiz scores
• Participation in live sessions
• Post-training assessments or projects 

The best part is, your LMS platform will get you all the data you need so that you track the results automatically. For example, with a platform like Uteach, you can keep track of results for each employee, including the session they participated in, their quiz results, etc. 

Besides, the reports are available at a high level, too. So that you can watch the average learning time for your organization, certified employees, course completion rates, and more. 

Conclusion 

Creating an employee training plan is not just about deciding on the training program. It is also about building a system that supports growth across your entire organization.

You need to define which roles are involved, assess current skill levels, tie your plan to real business objectives, choose the right formats, set a timeline, and assign responsibilities. But most importantly, track whether it actually works. 

That means:

• Defining roles and responsibilities
• Assessing skills before you train
• Aligning learning goals with business outcomes
• Choosing the right formats and setting timelines
• And most importantly, tracking whether it is working

This sounds like a lot, and it is. But the payoff is worth it. As a result, you get a stronger, more capable team that actually moves your business forward.

And this is where Uteach makes it all easier. With our powerful Learning Management System, you can organize your training, track completion and performance in real time, and build your branded academy for the organization. 

Whether you are onboarding new hires or leveling up your current team, Uteach helps you turn your plan into real results. Ready to get started? Book a demo and let us show you how.