Employee training and employee development are closely connected, but they are not quite the same thing. While training helps employees build the knowledge and skills needed to perform their roles, development takes a broader view of their continued growth and progression.
Understanding the difference between employee training vs employee development can help organisations create a more balanced approach to workplace learning, supporting employees both in their current roles and as their responsibilities evolve.
Employee Training vs Employee Development: What's the Difference?
Employee training is generally focused on giving people the knowledge or skills they need to perform their current role effectively. This could include learning how to use a particular system, following a new process, completing mandatory training or developing a specific practical skill.
Employee development is broader. It looks at how employees can build their capabilities over time, including skills that may support increased responsibility, career progression or future roles. This could involve leadership development, communication skills, decision-making, problem-solving or opportunities to take on new challenges.
The training and development difference can therefore be understood through their purpose and focus, although there is plenty of overlap between the two.
Employee training
- Focuses on specific knowledge and skills
- Often supports current job responsibilities
- May address an immediate learning need
- Can include role-specific or mandatory learning
- Often has a defined learning outcome
Employee development
- Takes a broader view of capability and growth
- Can prepare employees for future responsibilities
- Usually forms part of longer-term development
- Can include career, leadership and professional development
- May involve a range of learning experiences over time
Neither approach is more important than the other. Effective staff training and development can work together to give employees the support they need at different stages of their careers.
Where Does Employee Training End and Development Begin?
There is not always a clear dividing line between training and development.
Some learning will be primarily about training. For example, an employee may need to complete a course before they can safely carry out a particular task.
Other learning may sit more firmly within development. An employee taking part in leadership training because they are preparing to manage a team is not simply learning how to complete their existing duties. They are building capabilities that may support their next stage of development.
However, the same learning activity can sometimes contribute to both.
An employee who receives training in communication, for example, may use those skills immediately in their current role while also becoming better prepared for future responsibilities. Likewise, completing a new qualification may address a specific skills gap while opening up opportunities for progression.
This is why employee training and employee development are best viewed as connected parts of a wider learning strategy rather than two completely separate activities.
Why Do Organisations Need Both?
Focusing only on immediate training needs can leave little room for longer-term growth. Employees may have the skills required to carry out their current responsibilities but fewer opportunities to develop beyond them.
On the other hand, a focus on development without addressing essential training needs can leave employees without the knowledge required to perform their roles competently.
A balanced approach allows organisations to address both.
Training can help maintain the skills, knowledge and standards required across the workforce, while development can encourage employees to build on those foundations.
Together, they form a more balanced approach to employee learning and development, rather than treating learning as something that only happens when a specific training requirement arises.
How Can Training and Development Work Together?
Organisations do not necessarily need separate processes for every type of learning. Instead, training and development can be considered as part of an ongoing approach to supporting employees.
A useful starting point is to:
Identify current learning needs
Consider the knowledge and skills employees need to carry out their roles effectively and meet any relevant organisational requirements.
Address immediate training requirements
Provide appropriate training where there are specific gaps, new processes to learn or essential knowledge that employees need to acquire.
Look beyond the current role
Consider what skills employees may need as they take on additional responsibilities or work towards their longer-term career goals.
Provide different learning opportunities
Development does not have to rely on formal courses alone. It can include reviews, practical activities, additional responsibilities, coaching, resources and other opportunities to apply new skills.
Review progress regularly
Employee development is not a one-off exercise. Regular conversations and reviews can help identify changing needs and highlight where further learning could be useful.
This approach enables workplace learning to develop alongside the employee rather than treating training as something that starts and ends with a single course.
Supporting Employee Training and Development with Expert LMS
A Learning Management System can provide one place for organisations to manage different aspects of employee learning.
Expert LMS can support both training and longer-term development by bringing courses, Checklists, Reviews and Career Paths together within one platform. This allows organisations to deliver required learning while also creating structured opportunities for employees to build skills and work towards their development goals.
Rather than treating training and development as completely separate processes, organisations can use one central platform to support learning throughout the employee journey.
Building A More Balanced Approach to Workplace Learning
The distinction between employee training vs employee development is useful, but the two should not be viewed as competing approaches.
Training helps employees build the knowledge and skills they need to perform their roles, while development takes a broader view of how those capabilities can grow over time. In practice, the two often overlap, with individual learning activities contributing to both.
The strongest approach is therefore not about choosing between training and development. It is about understanding what employees need now, where they could develop next and how learning can support both.
Ready to bring employee training and development together? Explore Expert LMS and see how one platform can support learning from day-one training through to long-term employee goals.
