The lifeblood of every organisation is the people within it. Given the importance of employees in translating success to a business, it is vital staff stay motivated and believe their work life is rewarding.
In parallel, organisations need to continue to ensure employees stay motivated and feel rewarded. The relationship with work and workers has to be mutually beneficial, and organisations should ensure their staff remain relevant, empowered and have job satisfaction.
While the benefits to business or industry are numerous, we have narrowed our top three reasons why employee training is a must-do activity for any organisation.
Employee retention
Robert Half’s Job Optimism Survey of more than 2,400 professionals, which tracks worker sentiment on current and future career prospects, found that 41% of respondents were currently looking, or planned to look, for a new role in the second half of 2022.
Employee training and development ticks several boxes to curb attrition. An investment in career development demonstrates to workers that they are valued and that together they can map out a learning strategy that fits with their personal career objectives.
“Investment in learning and development helps to build motivated, and engaged teams that are aligned with an organisation’s values and strategic plan,” Katie Zheliba, Manager Workforce Development at Chisholm says “Skill building is integral in aiding employee retention as it helps to ensure employees are moving in the career direction they are striving for at their organisation. By investing in the development of employees and aligning the learning and development plans to organisational objectives and individual career plans, employees will feel valued, engaged and supported and be more likely to continue working for that company.”
A formal approach to career planning and development establishes a roadmap for your employees that represents your sincerity, trust and respect in your staff. A formal approach means preparing, implementing and monitoring their career plans; this then translates to loyalty and optimism from the employee and the feeling that they belong, are needed and irreplaceable.
Increased productivity
Training increases productivity states NCVER, as it can eliminate skills gaps, build employee confidence and promote a culture of learning. This can be seen from new employee onboarding training, through to ad hoc training, or a more formalised structured learning, either as part of annual employee performance or career development plans.
Skills gaps can be technical or due to advances in technology which lead to innovation. Employee training courses can also include soft skills which can also be strengthened, including leadership, management, emotional intelligence and decision making. These learning enhancements again lead to job satisfaction, and also influence the workplace culture and cultivate high performance.
Katie says, “training and development have positive impacts on both the individual undertaking it and the organisation. Strategically, training and development activities are founded on the need for individuals, teams and organisations to deliver its goals and objectives as outlined in the strategic plan. In order to reach these goals and objectives, organisations need to have a productive working environment whilst adhering to quality standards. In general, productivity usually increases when an organisation offers and encourages training.”
Succession planning
A strategic approach to succession planning has a myriad of benefits for business and can positively impact businesses, large and small.
Succession planning should be viewed strategically and holistically and integrated into your organisational design and training and development program with both a short and long-term point of view. However, this is easier said than done as noted by Deloitte research: while 86 percent of leaders believe leadership succession planning is an “urgent” or “important” priority, only 14 percent believe they do it well.
Katie says building and developing talent is an important step in succession planning.
“If businesses do not develop striving employees, then they will likely have a problem of replacing them when they leave. This can lead to loss of productivity, morale and engagement. Succession planning allows organisations to prepare and equip high-potential employees to successfully take on their future roles, creating a sense of stability and security.”
The misconception of succession planning is that it is only for senior management teams, however, this oversight can leave your staff feeling resentful; how often have you had an employee leave because they felt they had nowhere to go?
Career advancement can be horizontal or vertical and in any level of the organisation. Succession planning highlights to your teams that you have a culture of continuous learning and that team members are worth investing in. Succession planning safeguards your business and ensures that all knowledge doesn’t live with a single person. If a staff member is to move on, the organisation has contingencies in place, as training and development will transfer knowledge from one person to many.
Employee training benefits are numerous.
Like to know more?
To learn more about how professional development courses can benefit your workplace contact Chisholm’s Industry Specialist.
