Investing in training and development is often one of the first things to be cut from the budget when things get tight. For some reason, whether it be an inability to see an immediate direct return on investment or a perception that training is a ‘nice to have’ rather than essential to the running of the business, training budgets are reduced, or cut altogether, in an attempt to boost short term financial results. This is, however, a very short-sighted and potentially damaging approach and is something, as HR professionals, we would advise against.
There are many reasons why you should invest in the development of your team and provide suitable training opportunities, the accumulation of which make investing in training not only advisable, but vital to the success of your business.
6 of many reasons you should invest in employee training and development:
- Providing training and development opportunities can improve employee engagement and satisfaction.
If an employee sees you are investing time and money in their development, they are more likely to feel valued and positive towards your organisation, and in turn will be more ‘engaged’.
Why does employee engagement matter? Apart from the obvious feel-good factor of making your employees happier, there are numerous proven benefits of increased employee engagement – perhaps crucially for those looking for a financial return on their investment, higher employee engagement has been shown to lead to greater productivity and profitability.
- Investing in employee development and training can improve staff retention rates and employee loyalty.
When the cost of replacing an employee can be 6 to 9 times their salary, it makes financial sense to hold on to good people. Giving them opportunities to learn, develop and progress will help prevent them looking elsewhere and is comparably a much less expensive option.
As an example, we offer one day open training courses from £295pp + VAT and modular management development programmes from £550pp + VAT, as well as great value in-house training options for larger number of employees.
- Upskilling and training will increase employee ability and performance.
Whether it’s filling in a skills gap for an underperforming employee or helping an ambitious employee fulfil their true potential – providing new skills, knowledge and tools can help people do their jobs better and more efficiently – which is great news for your bottom line.
- It improves innovation.
Exposing your team to wider learning experiences and providing them with the opportunities to explore their interests can lead to new ideas and ways of working. In addition, employees who are more engaged with their work, are likely to be more creative with their ideas.
- Learning and development opportunities attract new top talent.
As well as keeping good people within your business, having a reputation for providing learning and development opportunities can help you attract the best candidates when you do need to recruit. Training and development are high on the wish list for job applicants looking for more than just a competitive salary, and it can help you stand out from competing recruiters. (Want to know what else is important to job applicants? Read our blog on candidate insights)
- It allows you to promote from within.
Training your team doesn’t just keep people in your business to do the same job forever, it helps you create a rich talent pool for internal promotion. The benefits of internal promotion include keeping all that existing company knowledge in the business as well as building a team of company advocates who will sing your virtues to new recruits, clients and the wider community.
Conversely, cutting back on employee training and development is likely to lead to lower staff engagement and satisfaction levels, an exodus of employees over time combined with an inability to fill vacancies, as well as stunted productivity and innovation.
So, whilst it can be tempting to make quick budget cuts in a bid to reduce costs, it’s vital to keep sight of your longer term business plan. To protect the future of your business and be in a position to innovate and grow, investing in employee development and team welfare is a must.
Pure Human Resources offers a wide range of personal and professional development and business improvement training courses, which can be used as part of your learning and development plan. As well as offering regular open courses at our training suite in North Baddesley, we can work with you to deliver bespoke training to match your business requirements. Contact us for a no obligation chat to talk through your employee training needs.
