off-the-job training

(noun)

Training that takes place away from normal work situations, and tends to be more effective in inculcating concepts and ideas.

Related Terms

Examples of off-the-job training in the following topics:

  • Training

    • On-the-job training takes place in a normal working situation, using the actual tools, equipment, documents or materials that trainees will use once they are fully trained.
    • On-the-job training has a general reputation as being most effective for vocational work.
    • Off-the-job training takes place away from normal work situations—implying that the employee does not count as a directly productive worker while such training takes place.
    • Off-the-job training has the advantage in that it allows people to get away from work and concentrate more thoroughly on the training itself.
    • A more recent development in job training is the On the Job Training Plan or OJT Plan.

  • Cross-Training and Job Sharing

    • Cross training involves workers being trained in tangent job functions, while job sharing involves two people working together on the same job.
    • Employees are trained in tangent job functions to increase oversight in ways that are impossible through management interactions with workers alone .
    • Increases the employability of staff who have the opportunity to train in areas outside of their original responsibilities
    • However, there is an inherent challenge in making job sharing work for the rest of the company's stakeholders.
    • The hand-off or handover communication between those sharing the job is essential, and co workers must adapt to working with each other.

  • Employee training

    • Simply put, training in business is the investment of resources in the employees of a company so that they are better equipped to perform the tasks of their job.
    • Training provides greater skill and knowledge to the employees, which translate into any number of improved job performances.
    • Additionally, the trained employee becomes more marketable in the event that he or she searches for another job—more and better skills will often lead to better or higher paying jobs (Kulik, 2004).
    • This assessment ought to be a systematic and objective analysis of the training needs in three main areas—organizational, job, and person.
    • On-the-job: a training method that relies on the employee to recognize the skills and knowledge he or she will need as they perform their work, and then develop those skills on his or her own.

  • Finding Good Candidates

    • There are some companies, such as Southwest Airlines, based out of the United States, who hire primarily based on attitude because they espouse the philosophy that you hire for attitude, train for skill.
    • According to former CEO Herb Kelleher, "We can change skill levels through training.
    • The proper start to a recruitment effort is to perform a job analysis, to document the actual or intended requirement of the job to be performed.
    • There are some companies, such as Southwest Airlines, who hire primarily based on attitude because they espouse the philosophy that one must "hire for attitude and train for skill. " According to former CEO Herb Kelleher, "We can change skill levels through training.
    • Starting a recruitment with an accurate job analysis and job description ensures the recruitment process effort starts off on a proper track for success.

  • Job security and people

    • No one wants to work for a company that's going to give them a pink slip through no fault of their own, but is job security something that can be expected in the long-term – particularly during a recession?
    • A study conducted by Bain & Company (featured in an April 2002 issue of the Harvard Business Review) concluded that when a job is refilled within six to eighteen months of a layoff the business loses money on the deal.
    • In its 79 years, Publix has never laid off a single employee – mostly because every employee owns a stake in the company.
    • Since its worksites are fairly close to one another, positions are relatively easy to fill and employees are trained to perform a number of different duties.
    • In 2009, despite a worldwide recession, the company filled 173 jobs, a 22% increase in job growth that year.

  • Internal equity

    • Since job titles may in and of themselves be misleading, for example, "systems analyst" does not reveal much about the job; the content of the job is more important to the analysis than the title.
    • Skill refers to the experience, training, education, and ability required by the job.
    • A job description summarizes the information collected in the job analysis.
    • Job evaluation is a process that takes the information gathered by the job analysis and places a value on the job.
    • Job evaluation is the process of systematically determining the relative worth of jobs based on a judgment of each job's value to the organization.

  • Alternative Philosophies

    • Job enlargement means increasing the scope of a job through extending the range of its duties and responsibilities, generally within the same level and periphery.
    • This, in turn, can lead to similar levels of demotivation and job dissatisfaction at the expense of increased training levels and costs.
    • Surveys show that an increasing number of companies are using job rotation to train employees.
    • These positions may not fit the profile for rotation opportunities because of the costs involved to train the workers.
    • Finally, the utilization of job rotation may have the effect of reducing a workforce because of the cross-training involved.

  • Outsourcing

    • The principle justification for outsourcing functions like these from, for example, the US to India is that prevailing wage rates for these kinds of tasks are much lower than in the US and the Indian partner companies hire and train employees who speak English and are skilled at their jobs.
    • There's a difference between outsourcing and off-shoring.
    • When a vendor in another country performs an outsourced function, off-shoring is the correct terminology for describing the relationship.
    • The jobs being outsourced in an organization do not necessarily have to be outsourced to another country.
    • Off-shoring can result in significant savings due to wage and currency discrepancies among countries.

  • Brief history of traditional approaches to job design

    • This theory highlights the importance of rewards systems and monitoring when and how employees are rewarded.
    • Goal setting theory as described by Edwin Locke mainly focuses on the motivational properties of task goals (Schermerhorn, Job Design Alternatives, 2006).
    • One of the problems with goal setting theory in job design is that individuals are more strongly motivated by establishing or setting their own personal goals.
    • If organizations set these goals for their employees the effectiveness of this technique is diminished.
    • If a company wants to implement goal setting theory with regards to job design than a reasonable job criteria and description must be established.

  • Pay

    • Imagine that see a job posted on the internet.
    • Since job titles may be misleading (for example, "systems analyst" does not reveal much about the job) the content of the job is more important to the analysis than the title.
    • skill (the experience, training, education, and ability required by the job);
    • A job evaluation is a process that takes the information gathered by the job analysis and places a value on the job.
    • The result of the job analysis and job evaluation processes will be a pay structure or queue in which jobs are ordered by their value to the organization.