In these tough economic times what keeps managers awake at night? The obvious answer is customer retention or cost reduction – less obvious, however, may be maintaining a motivated, skilled workforce!

Motivated, skilled employees may be your “last best hope” of getting your organization safely to the other side of the recession. After all, motivated, skilled employees are the ones who drive customer retention and cost reduction!

A new tool to help organizations develop an informed and skilled workforce is an Employee Learning Portal. Many large organizations have already invested in more expensive learning content management systems to communicate and train their workforce, however, until now, few small to mid-sized companies have been able to afford this technology.

Now, technology, training, and communications have finally come together with the advent of Employee Learning Portals – technology which allows employees to access powerful on-line tools at the fraction of the cost of more traditional methods. A new generation of employees, located anywhere in the world, who are used to finding instant answers on Google or Yahoo, can now access one web site and find:

1. Key Messages from Senior Management – Company Vision, Mission, Values, and Goals
2. Policies and Procedures – On-line Employee Handbook, Benefits Information, Forms, etc.
3. Employee Performance Information – Job Descriptions, Performance Review Procedures, etc.
4. Employee Development Library – Training Materials, On-Line Assessments, On-Line Learning Modules, Reference Materials, etc.

Using an on-line Employee Learning Portal, a standardized template can be adapted to deliver “best-in-class” content such as training materials, competency models, and company policies to fit the needs of small, medium, or large organizations.

And the cost – depending on the number of employees covered, the cost can be as little as $2 per employee/month – well worth it for a good night’s sleep!