Today’s business world is complex and fast-paced. A well-trained workforce can meet the demands of growing and complicated markets. As such, the value of employee training programs cannot be overstated. Employee training provides workers with the hard skills necessary to produce your company’s products and services.
Employee training is critically important. So, what are the primary benefits, and what to look out for when exploring your options?
First, we’ll cover the benefits of deploying a high-quality training program. We’ll then explore why a poorly-implemented training program can cost your business time, money, and talent.
Benefits of Employee Training Programs
Employee Retention
According to go2HR, 40 percent of employees that receive little or inadequate training leave their jobs in the first year. Turnover costs average over 20 percent of an employee’s annual salary. You can see the effect that high employee turnover can have on a business’s bottom line.
Excellent employee training programs can help you retain a knowledgeable workforce, making your company more competitive.
Employee Satisfaction
Conversely, according to the same source, 35 percent of those employees indicated that established training programs increased their company’s overall morale. With such a strong influence on positive company culture, effective training programs will create a more motivated and productive workforce.
Higher Productivity
Employees participating in effective training were 37 percent more productive in their jobs. Imagine what your organization would look like if your employees were 30 percent more productive!
Increased Profitability
Most importantly, adequate training directly impacts overall company profitability, with organizations that focus on training experiencing 24 percent more annual net income.
Characteristics and Pitfalls of Poorly Executed Employee Training Programs
If employee training benefits are evident across industries, why are these programs often the first line item to be eliminated in budgetary reviews? Why do so many organizations refuse to invest more in employee development programs?
At Cunningham & Associates, we believe the answer lies in a few fundamental issues regarding how we, as business leaders, train our organizations.
Training Lacks a Clear Goal
Companies often provide training to either individuals or small silos within their organizations. These training programs are isolated to a specific skill set. They’re also often separated from the overall goals of the organization. This lack of a clear purpose and vision results in a disjointed training program.
Furthermore, employees being trained in these isolated sessions won’t clearly understand why they are being trained. As a result, they are less likely to commit to the training and transition their skills into everyday work habits.
Training Lacks Adaptation
When leadership teams decide on long-term training plans, they’re often successful in identifying their training investments’ goal. Most of them do an excellent job of developing a training plan in sync with that goal. The result is often the execution of boiler-plate training solutions such as a LEAN/Six Sigma training program.
When teams don’t customize these training programs to meet their organization’s needs, the training will likely fall short of achieving organizational improvement.
Generally accepted skill sets should be sought after and indoctrinated into our organizations. But we must remember that each organization is unique — compiled of complex processes and individual personalities.
For this reason, organizations must dedicate the time necessary to customizing training programs to meet the specific needs of their company.
Training Lacks Execution
Here at C&A, we believe this is the number one reason organizations have begun to abandon their organizational training investments. We train our employees intending to solve a specific business problem; however, we often provide training without ever addressing or discussing the particular issue at hand.
While employees who are sent offsite for a 3-day LEAN workshop might experience increased camaraderie and motivation, these benefits are short-lived. They return to work without a definitive method for solving the problems that drove the need for training in the first place. For this reason, C&A has adopted an adaptive approach to training called Training through Execution.
Through our experiences, we’ve found that Training Through Execution will help retain and motivate employees. This approach will also achieve the ultimate goal of solving complex business problems and increasing company profitability.
Increase Profitability with High-quality Employee Training
A trained and knowledgeable workforce is a productive, motivated, and happy one. Through implementing an effective employee training program, your company will increase retention rates and gain a competitive advantage.
Interested in hearing how Training Through Execution can be implemented at your company? Find out if your company is maximizing its value. Contact Cunningham & Associates today for a free assessment.
