Business: Promoting Additional Training for Employees

Training employees can be costly and time-consuming. Even if you don't work in an industry with a high turnover rate, we now live in an era where many people switch careers multiple times in their lifetime, making it harder to find employees you can really nurture and invest in the long term. So how do you decide how much time, money, and energy to invest in training new employees? Consider these things to help you decide how to develop your workforce in a way that makes the most sense for your business.

Training for Success:

No matter what type of business you have, it's important to give new employees the basic knowledge and skills they need to be successful. At a minimum, every business should have a training program and company orientation that ensures new employees have clear expectations for performance, professional behavior, and the way you would like things done. Giving new employees a solid foundation will help you to assess their performance more accurately when you're looking at professional development possibilities.

Before Investing in Employees:

Investing in your employees can pay huge dividends, but how do you know whether it will be worth it? Answering this question depends on the position, the employee, and your long term goals as a business owner. Will the training directly benefit your employee's performance at work, and will that employee be around long enough to make the investment worthwhile? Is the staff member someone you want to support and encourage as they grow into a more challenging position? Could the training directly or indirectly benefit your business as a whole? For example, could one person share what they have learned with the rest of the group? And if the employee were to leave not long after receiving the training, would you regret having paid for it? There is no right or wrong answer to any of these questions, but asking them will help you to make a decision that is right for you.

Exploring Whole Staff Training:

One great way to improve employee performance that will benefit your business across the board is to provide training for the entire staff. This may cost you some time and lost revenue upfront, but approaching staff development this way avoids some of the potential downsides of providing additional training just to individual employees. In addition, having your entire staff participate in a workshop or training session can boost morale, increase unity, and remind everyone why their work matters. This can have a positive ripple effect that will impact everyone's performance and boost your bottom line.

Choosing a Course of Action:

If you've decided that you want to invest in advanced training for individual employees or your entire staff, where should you begin? If your staff development needs aren't already apparent, one way to start would be to ask employees what kind of training would help them to do better in their positions. Another option is to work with company leaders to find out what your staff's weaknesses are, and seek out training or education that can address them. Tailor your offerings to your company's true needs to get the most buy-in and the best result.