Making an investment in training is a wise investment

Making an investment in training is a wise investment

Training employees is good for everyone.

From the employer or business perspective, it has the following benefits according to WorkReady:

• Training can meet the specific needs and requirements of your organization or industry, both now and in preparing for future of the business
• Improved productivity or service offered to your customers
• A clear message to your employees that you value them enough to invest in them. This should have a positive impact on staff loyalty and retention, ultimately saving you money with lower turnover (and hopefully leading to more engaged and happy employees!).

For employees, the benefits can be abundant too:

• New skills can mean increased impact at work and an associated boost to self-esteem.
• More interesting and rewarding work is often available to those who build their skills bank for new and different tasks. Agile employees who are always learning have more choices in the jobs market.
• Career development and growth: training can assist employees to move into other positions within the organization, or into management roles. These may offer better prospects and or pay.

Given that we face critical skills gaps, ‘growing your own’ seems a good way to go.

Do make sure that you apply ROI thinking in selecting your training initiatives however, says Steve Hill from the Open University. You can do so by investigating modular options for training that can help to address skills gaps quite quickly. You don’t want employees away from work for long periods of time. Make use of education technology too, which can allow for more flexible learning. We lead busy personal and working lives these days. And, critically, don’t forget to make sure you are linking learning with work by using practice-based solutions, where theory is applied to real work situations. This can take a little thinking and needs follow through, but the results are evidenced through the skills that are cemented and enhanced straight away. Others can also learn on the job in this way. Good skills and practice can spread!

Making an investment in training is a wise investment.

If you would like to find out more about the training programmes and short courses we offer, click here

If you have a training programme or short course that will benefit HR Professionals working in South Africa, why don’t you send us an email with the outline, objectives and outcomes?