All too often, employees get stuck in a rut at their job. They either cannot, or do not want to, move up. That’s a problem if your executives are getting older and you want to start grooming with younger talent. From a practical perspective, it just makes good sense to have good training programs in place at your company that can help employees expand their knowledge base, advance in the company, and stay up-to-date on any regulatory requirements specific to your industry.
Traditionally, all training was done in-house. But, today, many companies offer distance learning and training courses via YouTube, private server hosted videos, and outsourced training programs. The accompanying benefits seem almost endless.
Better Employee Retention
A good training program improves employee retention. When employees feel like they are better-equipped to do the job they’re given, they’re more likely to stay with the company. Likewise, when employees feel incompetent, even when they may not be, they become discouraged.
When goals seem unachievable because they lack the education and training to succeed, they will start looking for employment opportunities elsewhere, viewing your company as a “dead-end job.”
Training can also be tied into employee incentive programs, like executive bonus plans, profit sharing, and straight bonuses, to help retain employees for the long-term. For example, if you are eye-balling an employee for a management position, but are worried about this person leaving for one of your competitors, you can tighten up the employees resolve by offering him an executive bonus.
These bonuses are paid out annually, and are put into a long-term insurance policy, like a high cash value life insurance or annuity plan. When the employee hits certain benchmarks, ages, or retires, he receives a cash benefit for his service. Tie this to ongoing training, and you’ll end up with some of the most loyal employees you could ask for.
Saving Money
When employees have good training, they save the company money. For example, let’s say you have a problem with billable time. Your employees are somewhat inefficient at certain tasks. This, in turn, causes a lot of wasted effort and time during the work day. Consequently, billable time isn’t what it should be.
A training program could teach employees how to be more efficient by cutting out unnecessary processes, streamlining existing ones, or overhauling outdated or inherently inefficient processes. The result? Your company saves money and time.
Attracting More Customers With Better Service Offerings
An Excel 2013 course could help you win over more customers. How? Let’s say you need to convey some aspect of your product or service that’s data-driven. Your customers don’t understand the raw data though. What do you do? With the right training, your employees could put together a spreadsheet program that outlines benefits of doing business with you, including dollars-and-cents return on investment from your company.
When people see the hard numbers, it’s a more compelling story than telling them to trust you in your marketing message.
Guest Post Provided By:
Anthony Buckley has trained many employees over the years. He frequently writes about employee productivity on business and management blogs.
