When you, the employer, deliberately choose to develop your staff, you are investing in the solidarity of the company as well as your people. When you train your staff, you provide more meaning for people at work, and you build and strengthen the skills, processes, and knowledge development that your organization will need in the future. In our January webinar we explored the business value of training: why it is important, why it works, how it can strengthen your company, and how it can even increase profitability while reducing overhead”
Employee Training — Taking Your Business to the Next Level
A prevalent attitude among business owners is that their employees will just “learn on the job”. This might sometimes be true, but more often than not, employees who are not properly trained can become a liability to their company. On the flipside, employees that are indeed trained properly can prove to be a most valuable asset.
Reasons to Train
There are many reasons to train employees, and with the recession lingering, we will focus on how training can affect your bottom line.
Keeping the Customer Happy
For customer-facing industries, it’s clear that if your employees are not properly trained in whatever service you are providing, your business will be short-lived. If customers are not getting the service they came for, and more importantly, they are not being treated professionally and pleasantly, they will not remain clients for long. The chairman of Marriott Hotels, Bill Marriott Jr. summed it up when he said about employees “train them, show them you care…they will treat the customers right. If the customers are treated right, they’ll come back.”
Even in businesses where employees don’t directly interact with customers, training will ensure that the product or service always meets or exceeds the standards expected by the customer.
Additionally, with technology advancing on a daily basis, employees need to learn a slew of new things to continue producing at a profitable level. Things like social media, supply chain software and advanced engineering and software tools are just a few items on an ever-growing list of must-knows to remain in the game.
Remaining Competitive in a Global Environment
With businesses competing in global markets, employees need to be aware of various cultural issues that can come up when working with foreign clients or partners. Behavior or communication that is deemed appropriate in the United States might be completely inappropriate elsewhere. At best, actions and symbolisms might have completely different meanings in foreign cultures. This lack of knowledge can result in botched business deals or unsuccessful marketing campaigns.
Avoiding Lawsuits and Liability
As we all know, the last thing any business wants is a lawsuit. Aside from all the bad press which might impact business, the actual lawsuit can be very costly (especially if you lose) and time-consuming.
To avoid this, managers need to be properly trained in areas such as:
- Sexual-Harassment
- Discrimination Laws
- Hiring and Firing Procedures
- Overtime
- Workplace Violence
- Safety Laws
Obviously this is a partial list, but the point is clear. To avoid lawsuits, managers and employees need to be trained in proper workplace conduct.
Keeping the Employees Happy
All businesses want their employees to be highly productive, use their creativity in dealing with challenges and give their utmost in making the business succeed.
The only way this will happen is if employees feel valued and appreciated. Training them in safety issues, core areas of activity, etc. all send a message to them that they are of value. When they feel that the business cares about them (by providing them with the tools and training they need to succeed) they will become the employees that all companies wish for.
Of course, if employees are happy they are also less likely to look elsewhere for work. As replacing an employee can cost up to 60% of that employee’s salary, investing in training can be a more cost-effective option.
In summary, training can go a long way in increasing productivity and decreasing unnecessary costs.
In our next blog we will look at how to choose the type of area of training your business most needs as well as the various training options.
Even as companies begin hiring again, it will take some time before the workforce is back to pre-recession levels. What this means for the average business is that managers are trying to maximize productivity with a smaller workforce. The inevitable result is a more stressful work environment as both employees and management struggle to find a healthy balance between productivity and the decreased manpower. Employers will be required to find new ways of incentivizing and motivating their workforce to maintain a positive attitude while managing increased workloads.
Even now, in difficult economic times, while employers continue to look for ways to keep costs down and reduce overhead, owners and entrepreneurs see value in employee and management training. Employers realize that educational development and training is a crucial investment for a motivated workforce. An intelligent, well-trained workforce is central to worker productivity and key to a company’s success.
In light of a difficult economic year, more employers are embracing the idea of employees spending at least some of their working hours out of the office. Telecommuting makes both financial, and motivational, sense. In our next two posts we will review the recent statistics, why employers and staff would consider telecommuting, and how to create a policy that will help the employee, and protect the employer.
There are numerous reasons why employees and their managers would take advantage of a telecommuting policy. However, with these benefits, come risks.
The buzz on the street for small business has slowly been shifting from the economy to health insurance. While President Obama failed to push his health care agenda through Washington before the summer break, most believe it is just a matter of time before he succeeds.
