Factors for improving the effectiveness of professional training of employees in modern conditions

Human resources play an important role in the sustainable development of any organization. Nowadays, mass production can be carried out with modern machines controlled by people. Techno-revolutions, typically named Industry 4.0 with the convergent evolution of artificial intelligence, require upskilling workforce to keep pace with scientific advancements. The necessity of learning and development within an organization is to empower its employees’ growth and develop their knowledge skills and capabilities to do better at their positions. Practically, learning and development encompass any professional development a business, for example, to avail its employees which is considered to be a core activity of human resources management, and is sometimes referred to as professional training. Consequently, the practicality of the employee training program (TP) is demonstrated by the productivity of one company’s workforce to meet the demand of the work requirements1 [1; 2]. Thus, the principal purpose of training is to equip employees with state-of-the-art knowledge and skills; thus, organizations usually conduct the TPs in two occasions; the onset of new employees after the recruitment, and well-established employees participating in an on-the-job TPs. Newly recruited employees are trained to practical professional knowledge and corporate cultures during the apprentice period for their final decision on their commitment to the organization or not after the completion of the training course2 [3; 4]. For well-established employees, retraining programs are essential to improve their productivity and profitability3 [5].

Currently, onsite and offsite training methods are commonly carried out. Offsite training model gathers participants from different locations geographically close to one another in a venue away from the offices, which provides a better focus on the training sessions but the costs to organize this program are expensive. Whereas, onsite training mode is carried out where people are geographically located closer to each other, possibly in-house employees. They can be trained face-to-face in groups or technology-enabled training approach which is widely implemented because of its cost-effectiveness and efficiency [6]. Many studies [5; 7; 8] investigate the effective outcomes employees achieve after the completion of the TPs via the denotation of practical benefits demonstrated by employees’ work efficiency at the workplace.

This study was conducted in Vietnam, a fast-developing country as the melting pot for many multinational corporations settling their bases. The expenses on TPs are of great concerns for most organizations in regards with the cost-effectiveness. Consequently, instead of regarding TPs as corporate expenses, they are viewed as good investment returns. Currently, almost organizations focus on employee test results to assess the training effectiveness (TE) without paying greatly attention to the factors influencing the success of the TPs. There have been many studies [9–11] discussing the TPs, these studies, nevertheless, mainly reflect the employers’ perspectives towards the needs of TPs without investigating systematically the decisive factors contributing to the effectiveness of the TPs. This study investigated five main components, namely training content, training environment, facilities and materials, training plan schedule, and presentation style basing on employees’ viewpoints at organizations in Vietnam. To achieve the aforementioned aim, the study investigated the following questions:

• 1.    What are the trainees’ viewpoints on the factors influencing the effectiveness of training programs?

• 2.    What are the male and female respondents’ differences among the factors of the training effectiveness?

The finding would benefit human resource practitioners to improve the effectiveness of the TPs. Moreover, organizations would consider applying technology-enabled training mode to upskill their workforce to meet the employees’ expectations and business objectives.