The onslaught of technology is all around us. Whether you’re at home, work, or anywhere else, you’re inundated with smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other forms of technology.
Employers are becoming increasingly aware of how rapidly technology is changing and the need for their employees to stay up to date on devices, applications, and software.
So how do you get your non-tech savvy employees to get up to speed with the tech revolution that is all around us?
Here are some ways to help technologically challenged workers learn necessary tech-related skills:
Tech Skills Can Be Learned On the Job
Fortunately, like other skills, most tech skills can be learned on the job informally through watching and interacting with co-workers, as well as by working on various projects.
Employees need to be checked by supervisory staff to make sure that they can use basic programs like Microsoft Office and search for information online on Google, for example, so they can fulfill their job duties and be productive. For more difficult productivity-software programs to learn like Microsoft excel, an employer will need to work with his training department to provide on-site training. If training isn’t available on the job, then online courses, Community College classes, or off site IT training may be the needed course of action.
Social Media Skills
Have you seen the lady in the Esurance TV Commercial named Beatrice? To save time, she literally tapes her photos to her living room wall, and then “unfriends” her guest when she explains to Beatrice “that’s not how it works.”
Social mediums like Facebook and Twitter are an integral part of today’s business world. However, it’s hard to believe that there are numerous individuals (like Beatrice) who aren’t familiar with these sites let alone their importance for everyday business operations in some companies.
As an employer, you may need your employees to use these social networks regularly for marketing, customer service, and research reasons. Again, help should be provided to those employees who haven’t used Facebook and Twitter much to learn how to create and update profiles, and use various features on the sites. More than likely, your non-tech savvy workers will gravitate to social media quickly once they see its usefulness for business. No matter how important you think these basic technical skills are, you can never consider them as a criteria to fire employees or not, for a wrongful termination lawyer will get the better of you.
Keeping employees up to date on tech trends is a huge part of doing business. Just make sure that protocol is in place to help workers know the basics and get help with programs or mediums that they’re having difficulties navigating. The time and manpower investment in getting your employees where they need to be will be well worth it to your company’s productivity.
