Along with your products and brand image, your employees are your most important asset. Their skills, attitude, and efficiency all have a major impact on your company performance and turnover. To get the most from your employees, you need to recruit the best talent. However, you also need to continuously develop your employees long after the onboarding process.
Here’s why you need to invest in training for all employees, regardless of their role or time spent with your business:
1. Training improves employee performance:
The most obvious benefit of training is that it expands an employee’s skill set, making them more productive. They will gain a better understanding of their role, and they will become more confident in making decisions that benefit the business. Training can speed up everyday tasks. For example, training employees how to communicate with one another and schedule their work using the latest technology will make them more efficient.
2. Training improves employee morale:
Although earning a paycheck is the primary motivator for most employees, a high salary isn’t the only way to promote happiness at work. Many people report that feeling valued by their employer goes a long way in influencing their job satisfaction. Offering ongoing training boosts morale. It proves that you are willing to take your employees seriously.
3. Training reduces employee turnover:
An employee who is given the chance to develop their skills and tackle new challenges at work is more likely to stay in their role. Employee turnover is expensive, so it’s in your best interest to reduce it to a bare minimum. It is more cost-effective to train existing employees than it is to find new talent. On average, it costs $11,000 to make a single hire.
4. Training ensures compliance with the law:
To avoid fines or prosecution, you must ensure your employees work in a safe and responsible manner. They need to be familiar with the laws and best practices in their industry. This is especially important if you work in a high risk sector. Because laws and industry standards change on a frequent basis, you should schedule regular training sessions that keep your workers up to date.
If you need to break down complex concepts and legislation for your employees, get some feedback on your content before using it in a training session. Don’t overload them with jargon or legalese. “Make it as straightforward as possible,” advises the lead HR advisor at PickWriters. “Employees won’t engage with long-winded training material.”
5. Training gives you an opportunity to monitor existing strengths and weaknesses:
A good training program begins and ends with a review of a learner’s skills. Reviews allow you to take a close look at what your employees do well, and where they can improve. You are then in a position to structure or choose a training program that fills any gaps in their skills and knowledge.
Reviews are not an exercise in blaming. An employee should not be shamed because they lack a particular skill. Instead, work with them to identify how best to develop their competence. Bear in mind that supervisors and managers are not always trained in the art of training others, and they may need formal instruction in this area.
6. Training gives you more chances to make internal hires:
Bringing in new employees from outside the company has benefits. For instance, they often bring a fresh perspective, and are not so readily influenced by office politics. However, hiring from within has many benefits. Nurturing talent at every level of an organization tends to create a more stable culture. Internal hiring is cheaper, quicker, and you can rest assured that the candidate has already proven themselves to be a great fit for the company culture. A comprehensive training program will equip your existing employees with the skills they need to climb the ladder.
7. Training helps your employees offers a better customer experience:
Consumers judge a business by the quality of its customer service. You must understand your customers’ needs, and train your staff how to meet them. Customer service requires a strong set of interpersonal skills, coupled with excellent problem-solving abilities.
Employees must understand what customers expect when they make contact with the company, how they should resolve disputes, and when they should escalate a call or email to their supervisor. By offering an outstanding experience, your employees will cement your business’ reputation as a firm that cares about their customers.
8. Training encourages collaboration:
Training doesn’t just promote individual productivity. It also has a positive effect on teams. When all team members possess the appropriate skills required to do their jobs, the team as a whole is more likely to work as a cohesive unit and meet their objectives. Employees find working in high-collaboration environments rewarding, and workplace camaraderie promotes job satisfaction.
9. A good training program will improve your reputation and attract high quality job candidates:
The majority of job candidates now research prospective employers online before applying for a vacancy. Over a third (38%) invest 1-2 hours researching a job opportunity before applying, 18% spend between two and four hours collecting information about the employer and role, and more than 1 in 6 (16%) are happy to research for over five hours.
These statistics illustrate the importance of managing your reputation. Sites that allow employees to post reviews of their employers, such as Glassdoor, make it simple for prospective candidates to decide whether your business is likely to offer them sufficient opportunities to develop their skills. A strong candidate will apply for openings that advance their career trajectory. Companies who are known for their willingness to invest in training are more desirable.
Key Takeaways:
Whether you organize and deliver employee training via mentoring schemes, distance learning courses, in-house trainers, or off-site facilities, you’ll soon reap the benefits of a more skilled, emotionally invested workforce. Whichever format you choose, implementing a high-quality training program is always a step in the right direction. Training incurs upfront costs, but the return on your investment will be substantial.
About Author
Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Now she had found herself as a freelance writer. You can find her on Facebook and Medium.
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