Training Calendars: Why Your Company Needs One

Rachel Gordon

December 18, 2024

6 min read

Training and development is an important part of your responsibilities as an employer. Employee training helps your staff to develop their skills and become more effective in their roles, supporting their professional development and increasing productivity. It is therefore important to have a well organised approach to training in order to make it as successful as possible. A training calendar is an effective tool to help you monitor and track training whilst visually highlighting your investment in your employees’ future development.

In this article we will outline what a training calendar is and how your business can benefit from using one. You will also find guidance on how to prepare a training calendar along with free downloadable training calendar templates.

What is a Training Calendar?

A training calendar is a schedule of training sessions, workshops and seminars. It acts as a visual guide of training opportunities that will further your employees’ professional growth and development.

Providing your employees with a diverse range of training empowers them to enhance their skills whilst encouraging them to attain new ones. This boosts their confidence and increases their independence which in turn helps your business. The consequences of not training your employees can be severe, but a well organised training calendar will support the successful implementation of training in your business.

Why Use a Training Calendar for Employees?

The benefits of employee training include improved efficiency, greater job satisfaction and higher employee retention. A training calendar is much more than just a checklist of the workshops and seminars that create these benefits. Training calendars enable you to deliver training in the most effective and efficient way possible and act as discernable markers of your dedication to employee development.

Five ways a training calendar can be beneficial to you and your employees include:

Improved performance and engagement – training improves your employees’ skills and gives them the tools to do their jobs confidently and competently. When employees can see what training is coming up, they are better prepared to improve those skills and thus more likely to be highly engaged during said training.
Encouraging innovation – creativity is stimulated when employees are given the chance to explore new ideas and approaches through training. A training calendar shows employees that you both value and encourage these chances for innovation.
Increased competitiveness – businesses that invest in employee training have a competitive advantage on others as they are providing their employees with the skills to meet different demands. By showing prospective and existing employees what training opportunities are available, your business stands out as an organisation dedicated to employee development.
Creating a culture of learning – a training calendar reiterates to all your employees that training is not a ‘one time thing’ but in fact a continuous process of improvement. This in turn helps to create a culture of learning in which learning and development is a normal part of your business’ day-to-day activities.
Addressing skill gaps – upskilling employees can be a cost-effective way to build the skills that your business needs whilst boosting morale and improving employee engagement. A training calendar that has been strategically developed to target identified skill gaps provides your employees with the chance to fill those gaps and improve their skill set.

Looking to Learn More?

We offer a wide range of Online Training Courses to support your employees’ professional development. From Health and Safety Training for Employees to Communication Skills, we have an array of courses to expand your employees’ skills and boost your business’ success.

How to Prepare a Training Calendar

There are lots of different training calendar formats available and you need to consider which format is best for you. Important factors to consider are the size of your team, the frequency of training sessions and the training objectives. Regardless of which format you choose, your training calendar needs careful planning and consideration in order to be as effective as possible.

Remember; a well planned and carefully executed training calendar will align with the needs of your business and enable your employees to take ownership of their development.

Here are some key steps you should follow when preparing a training calendar:

Assess your Needs.

Before you begin any kind of planning, you need to identify the training needs of your business and your employees. This is an opportune time to seek input from your employees and learn what kind of training they actually want and need. Take the time to consider skill gaps and ask your employees what skills they are interested in developing. The more tailored your training calendar the more engaged your employees and the more plentiful the rewards.

Establish Objectives.

Once you have an idea of what needs your training will address, the next step is to define the objectives for your training sessions. What do you want your employees to gain? What skills and knowledge are you eager to develop? Establishing clear objectives and setting SMART goals gives your employees a direct understanding of what is expected from them and their training. You can then align their training with your business’ objectives, ensuring they have the necessary skills for your business’ success.

Select Resources and Format.

Training comes in all shapes and sizes but one size does not fit all. Not only do different employees have different training needs, some training is better delivered in one way than the other. Consider offering a variety of training formats such as online courses, in-person workshops or seminars/webinars. This can help to mix things up for your employees and prevent training from appearing monolithic.

It is also important to consider the best facilitator for training. Don’t overlook the expertise that already exists within your business but also recognise when an external training provider would be the best course of action.

Plan your Schedule.

Now that you’ve done the groundwork it’s time to put your training calendar together! It’s important to be strategic with your scheduling in order to make it as effective as possible. Whilst you want to offer ample opportunities for training, avoid overloading your employees with too many sessions at once. Ensure that training is spread out so that it remains manageable along with your employees’ regular workload. It is also a good idea to offer sessions at different times of the day to accommodate different schedules and workloads.

Consider aligning your training calendar with your business’ initiatives. For example, if you have an important project coming up in the next quarter, you can spend the previous quarter delivering key training that will help the project’s success. Moreover, if you know that May is a particularly busy month for your business, you may decide to reduce the number of training sessions for that month to avoid overloading your staff.

Share and Promote.

Think of your training calendar as a living breathing document, that is to say, once it’s finished don’t let it rot away in a folder never to see the light of day. Ensure that your training calendar is easily accessible for employees and encourage them to regularly check it for updates. You may decide to share the calendar via email, monthly newsletters (depending on the frequency that you have chosen) or other internal communications. However you decide to do it, make sure you convey the value of the training that you are offering and promote the specific benefits of each session.

Evaluate and Evolve.

As with any living thing your training calendar can and should evolve over time. Take the time to evaluate your training calendar and the impact that it has had on your business. Have your employees gained the skills that they needed? Are you offering too much training in one area and not enough in another? Does the calendar still align with the needs of your business? These are important questions to ask to maintain the efficacy of your training calendar. Encourage employee feedback and use this to adapt and tweak your calendar as necessary. Utilise both qualitative and quantitative metrics to gauge the success of your training sessions and to guide the creation of future calendars. By committing to the continuous improvement of your training calendar you are ensuring that it remains useful and impactful for your business and your employees.

Training Calendar Templates

A training calendar is an invaluable tool when it comes to delivering effective training. As mentioned, it needs to be comprehensive and informative, whilst remaining simple to follow and understand. It can be daunting to know where to start when creating a training calendar and there are countless templates for you to choose from. Regardless of which one you choose, it needs to be appropriate for your business and adjusted to suit your specific goals.

Our free monthly and weekly training calendar templates provide you with a structured approach to professional learning and development. Each template can be downloaded and edited to suit the specific needs of your business; for example, you may choose to use the monthly calendar template for department or company wide training and encourage your employees to use the weekly template to create their own individualised training calendar.

You also have the option to colour coordinate your calendar with an editable colour key. You may choose to do this to group training sessions together by the skill that will be developed or to indicate which sessions are mandatory and which are optional. If you choose to keep your training calendar as a digital file you can highlight each entry with the corresponding colour yourself, or should you choose to print it, you can use a highlighter.

Remember, it’s important to evaluate your training calendar to maintain its efficacy and to ensure that it remains relevant to your employees’ and business’ needs. It is therefore advisable to allocate time in your calendar for feedback sessions during which you can gain valuable information to guide the creation of future training calendars.

A training calendar is much more than just a stylish way to display training. It is an invaluable strategic tool that enables you to deliver efficient and effective training, supporting your employees’ growth and your business’ success.