KDR Training & Development Policy

Why training is important to KDR

KDR is fully committed to the continuous development of its staff, in the same ways as we continuously develop our services. This will be achieved by helping all staff identify and meet their own job and business related development needs. This policy will ensure that we have the adaptability and flexibility to thrive and succeed as a business. To do this, all line managers, through the Performance Review process, will

• Ensure that staff have a level of knowledge and skill to fully perform their role
• Encourage staff to develop within their current role
• Look for potential, and find ways for staff to demonstrate potential
• Recognise and reward staff development (utilising it wherever possible) and
• Create a learning culture by providing opportunities for learning

Equal opportunities

All staff are entitled to and can expect to receive training they need to carry out their current role.

Permanent employees can expect to benefit from KDR’s further commitment for each individual to devote at least 5 days a year towards training and development. Our first priority will be towards job-related training, but we will also encourage individuals to undertake personal development training. This may entail taking professional qualifications; undertaking research into a particular field of interest or experiencing a particular aspect of another job in order to gain an insight into the role and fuller understanding of the work.

Shared responsibilities

KDR recognises the need for everyone to learn and develop their skills on a continuous basis and will support individuals to help them achieve this. Equally, KDR expects individuals to take on some responsibility for their own self-development. For example, identifying suitable training activities (with the help of Line managers/Director/s) and adopting a flexible and positive approach to any training and development that is identified with them.

Identifying training & development needs

Identifying training and development needs, and helping individuals to improve their performance, are key responsibilities for line managers, so they are expected to be actively involved in their team’s training and development. Line managers are also responsible for measuring the effectiveness of any training and development undertaken by team members.

The skills and knowledge that will be needed for the future success of KDR will become apparent as each year’s business (corporate) plan is drafted and communicated to teams within KDR, and individual performance objectives agreed. Where individual skills, knowledge or the development of competencies are needed to achieve our business objectives, these should be recorded on the Development Needs Assessment plan, which forms part of our Performance Review process.

Setting and evaluating learning objectives/outcomes

KDR has a number of key business objectives that it needs to achieve. These objectives can be achieved only through harnessing the abilities and skills of everyone in KDR and by releasing potential and maximising opportunities for development. If individuals need to learn in order to achieve business objectives, it is important that any training and development in which we invest has a relationship to our business objectives, so we can demonstrate the contribution learning makes towards overall organisational success.

To demonstrate this contribution, individuals will agree with their line managers, prior to undertaking a learning activity, “learning objectives”. Learning objectives will be the means by which managers and KDR can measure how effective training and development has been towards achieving our business objectives or performance. Setting learning objectives will therefore provide a benefit for everyone:

There are three key stages that will be used to evaluate training and development:

Reaction: At this level, evaluation provides information on the attitudes of a participant to learning, but it does not measure how much they have actually learned. That being said, if a participant has a positive reaction to the learning experience they are more likely to implement what they have learned. Evaluation at this level will be measured by a post-learning questionnaire, which will be completed immediately after the learning activity has taken place. Normally, Personnel Services will be responsible for issuing this type of questionnaire.

Performance: Evaluation at this level looks at the impact of a learning experience on individual performance at work. Key to this area of evaluation will be the need to have established SMART learning objectives prior to the learning experience so that when evaluation takes place there are measures to use. For example, an important learning objective for a junior secretary attending a Word training course may be “to produce typed correspondence with no spelling or typographical errors.” In this example, a manager would be able to evaluate the secretary’s performance using a measure of “no spelling or typographical errors”. Ideally, evaluation on performance should take place approximately 3 – 4 months after the learning activity. Line managers should undertake this evaluation and send a copy of the results to Personnel Services.

Organisational impact: At this level evaluation assesses the impact of learning on organisational effectiveness, and whether or not it is cost-effective in organisational terms. Personnel Services will undertake this evaluation as part of a wider training and development evaluation process.

In summary then, Personnel Services will evaluate training and development at the reaction and organisational levels, and line managers will be responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of training and development at the performance level. However, there will be some types of learning activities, for example attending conferences or seminars, where it may not be appropriate to undertake any evaluation. If in doubt, please contact Personnel Services.

To assist line managers, there are a variety of methods that can be used to measure the effectiveness of the learning. Some of these include:

• Participant self-assessment
• Written or practical tests
• Structured interviews
• Questionnaires
• Feedback – for example, internally from colleagues, peers, and managers and/or externally from partners, customers or clients
• Qualifications obtained

Line managers should contact Personnel Services, who will be pleased to help set-up an evaluation method to use to measure the effectiveness of a training activity.

Funding

Funding for training and development will be paid from a central training budget, therefore a Director must approve any training and development that involves a financial cost before any financial commitment is made

Travel /subsistence costs

KDR will reimburse travel and meal costs for attendance at a learning event in line with current arrangements.

Time off to attend training courses

Where an individual needs to attend a training course funded by KDR, time off during working hours will be given to attend the course. Individuals are expected to travel to and from a training venue within the normal course of the day.