By Russ Sandlin, MRI Real Estate Solutions

Training new employees or retraining current ones has always been a challenge for the multi-housing industry, whether it involves general industry skills, organizational policies or a company's property management software solution.

High turnover rates, lack of time and/or manpower to conduct training, lack of uniform programs and inconsistent teaching methods are often frequent roadblocks in achieving an efficient employee training program.

But emerging technologies such as e-learning offer a new way to conduct training. E-learning, which utilizes the Internet to conduct comprehensive and interactive employee training, offers numerous benefits to both employers and employees alike. It helps to eliminate some of the problems perpetuated by current training models.

Following are the top 10 reasons implementing an e-learning model will benefit both managers and employees within your organization.

For Managers:

1. Can reduce expensive off-site training expenses for new associates.

2. Provides ability to track and evaluate individual associate training.

3. Can incorporate e-learning with other training for a blended educational solution that ensures that employees achieve an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the materials.

4. Can measure standardized learning concepts across portfolios that reinforce best practices company-wide.

5. Employees who are properly trained tend to remain with the company longer.

For Employees:

6. Provides ability to take courses anytime, from anywhere.

7. Can train at their own pace, with the ability to stop anytime.

8. Can gain immediate feedback on progress.

9. Provides comprehensive lessons that are easy to follow.

10. Better training raises confidence on the job.