Reasons to Invest in Training Your Employees
When companies are asked how they bring new people up to speed, the answer is likely, “We have them “shadow” whomever currently does the job for a period of 1-3 days.” If this sounds like the extent of your training program, it may be time to reconsider. Your untrained staff could be losing you customers, opportunities and business. Since every single interaction an employee has with a customer (or potential one) has the power to swing the customer’s mindset either way, you want your employees to have both the knowledge and the skill they require to make good decisions. When staff are trained to deal effectively with customers, these interactions have a far greater ability to turn opportunities into business (or more business). Untrained staff are much more likely to lose these opportunities—NOT because of a lack of willingness, but rather due to a lack of skills and training.
These are the 5 reasons to incorporate ongoing training into your company:
1. Increase productivity
If your staff is properly trained, productivity will automatically increase. The manufacturing industries caught on a long time ago—but it translates to every business. The most successful businesses train their staff to achieve improved quality, provide better service, and reduce unexpected employee errors that can eat into margins. One quick method for determining whether or not your employees need training is to know and understand your Attrition Rate. If it’s not lower than the industry standard, training could be a valuable tool.
2. Reduce turnover
By investing in your employees, you let them know you are interested in their development. When they feel valued, they tend to stay longer and contribute more to your business. Recruiting replacement staff is expensive, time consuming and risky. It’s much better to train and retain your best people in the first place. Technical, management and administrative training courses can be as good as a pay raise—and more beneficial to you.
3. Increase safety
Training in health and safety will reduce the amount of work based injuries that occur. This protects not only the employee, but also the employer when it comes to possible corporate liabilities. Tip: Let your insurance broker know that you have evidence of accredited H&S training. This will help him/her negotiate a better price quote on your behalf.
4. Decrease need for oversight
Untrained and under-qualified staff can drain your management resources and distract your best people from urgent and important tasks. By training the individual contributors, you can free up your manager’s time and effort so they can be thinking about and working on more important initiatives.
5. Enhance your company image
Your online reputation is becoming increasingly important. By making sure your staff understand how to interact with your customers and partners in the transparent world online, they must be trained and supported. Learn more about creating a better experience for your customers online.
Finally, if you agree this is important, but have a limited budget to work with (and who doesn’t?), then prioritize according to customer-facing roles and outcomes. Analyze your sales team, your customer service team and your installation team to determine where increased training will have the most potential upside.
And remember, an investment in your employees pays you back. Research acknowledges that companies that have invested in their employees to keep them engaged and well-trained reap the benefits of increased financial return, innovation, and retention.