Five Business Benefits of Employee Training Programmes

Copyright 2006 Train In A Day

Understanding the business benefits of an employee training programme can sometimes be more of an art than a science.

How do you measure success?

How can you convince your colleagues to make the investment?

As a result, it can sometimes be difficult to convince management teams of the need for forma people investment.

Like any business case, we need to persuade others through demonstrating the benefits or, as salespeople would say, 揥hat抯 in it for them??
This article highlights five major benefits of employee training:

Let抯 take a look:

1. Impact on bottom line

Successful employee training delivers improvements in employee performance which, in turn, creates a better performing business and an improved bottom line.

Research conducted has suggested that, where training programmes are effective, employee productivity can increase by 230 per cent.

You may wish to highlight job roles within your organization where employee performance has improved using measurable variables that will demonstrate your business case for further investment.

By focusing your business case on the objectives of the business you will not only be preparing a persuasive proposal for the rest of your management team but will also be steering your training plans towards the areas of greatest benefit. Hence, ensuring the greatest return on investment for the project.

2. Staff retention

Want to spend more training recruiting staff?

Thought not.

Training increases staff retention which will save you money.

Instead of paying recruitment fees, re-investing in training, loss of management time why not treat your people as your number one asset?

Invest in their development and they will receive a return your investment many times over.

In some companies, training programs have reduced staff turnover by 70 per cent and led to a return on investment of 7,000 per cent.

Incredible, eh?

3. Improved quality and productivity

Training that meets both staff and employer needs can increase the quality and flexibility of a business抯 services by fostering:

?accuracy and efficiency
?good work safety practices
?great customer service.

You know the benefits of quality assurance programmes. Now buy in to the benefits of employee training programmes!

Can you put a value onto a lost customer?

How about a health and safety issue?

If you wish to gain a simple but meaningful measure of employee training programmes take a look at the consequences of NOT investing in your people.
Often, we only make investment decisions when we can visualize the effects of not taking action.

If you抮e not yet convinced by the benefits of training, take a look at where your company has suffered from a lack of improved skills and try calculating the TRUE cost of those incidents.

4. The flow-on effect

The benefits of training in one area can flow through to all levels of an organization.

Over time, training will boost the bottom line and reduce costs by decreasing:

?wasted time and materials
?maintenance costs of machinery and equipment
?workplace accidents, leading to lower insurance premiums
?recruitment costs through the internal promotion of skilled staff
?absenteeism.

If you take a closer look at those companies which sit within the 慣op 100 Companies?to work for you will notice something which runs through each of them.

You can抰 measure it but successful companies have a 慶ulture?which runs throughout them.

The benefit of this culture is a happy, innovative and successful workforce.

A positive culture only comes through a respect for and an investment in your people.

Start cultivating a progressive culture within your business today through employee training programmes and other forms of people investment.

5. Remaining competitive

Businesses must continually change their work practices and infrastructure to stay competitive in a global market.

Technology, previously the main driver of competitive advantage, is progressively taking a back seat to people.

As economies become progressively service orientated, it is the development of people that is providing successful businesses with long-term sustainable success.

Training staff to manage the implementation of business strategies, improvements to procedures and customer service policies can also act as a benchmark for future recruitment and quality assurance practices.

As well as impacting on business profit margins, training can improve:

?staff morale and satisfaction
?'soft skills' such as inter-staff communication and leadership
?time management
?customer satisfaction.

So there we are. Start thinking now about how investing in the skills of your people can benefit your business to make more money, save money or save time.

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How to Save Money on Training

It seems so simple.

Just take a financial short cut. Then show your boss how much money you saved.

But some of these short cuts prove to be costly. They fail to deliver what you want. Or they open up expensive problems.

Here抯 how to accomplish real savings on your training program.

1) Use a live instructor. Adults learn best by doing, practicing, and experiencing. Effective instructors customize their programs to meet people抯 needs, provide counsel on individual challenges, and respond to questions. Videos, CDs, and E-learning are seldom effective for primary learning. Since the greatest cost of learning is the payroll cost of the participants, you want to make sure the program delivers results.

2) Hire external experts. They can speak candidly about crucial issues related to complex work skills. They are free of prior encounters with your staff. And they bring a fresh, outside perspective based on a worldwide view (instead of an internal one). Those who specialize in one skill area have developed extensive knowledge. Ideally, choose one who has written books or published articles.

3) Include accountability. Work with the instructor to develop a review and reminder process. Plan follow-up sessions to check on progress applying new techniques. Ask your staff to select one change that they plan to make and describe how they will apply it. Then monitor the application of changes being made. Include learning as a dimension in performance reviews.

4) Support learning. If you抮e the boss, set an example of active learning. Attend the workshop. Then use what you learned. Encourage others to apply the new skills and reward those who make a special effort to do so. Also, recommend articles, books, and other materials that support the training program. Create a work culture that recognizes learning as the key to excellence.

5) Buy smart. Match the type of program with desired skills. Use employees for proprietary operations, routine procedures, and high volume (more than 50 sessions/year) tutorials. Select programs that teach skills required to meet company goals. Buy programs that show practical techniques (instead of facts and trivia) delivered by experts who use what they teach.

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Why Training Fails

Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of the participants will ask, "Where's my boss?"

And I say, "Your boss claimed to be an expert on holding effective meetings."

Then the person laughs. "My boss needs to attend your workshop more than anyone in our company. And without our manager's support, no one will use this."

This is bad because if no one uses the ideas presented in a workshop, the client will conclude that training doesn't work. And then the company might abandon all training.

Here are three important issues that determine the effectiveness of training.

1) People follow the leader. Any training program will be more successful if management supports it. This is why I always involve top executives in planning my workshops. I also ask them to attend. And I recommend follow-up sessions to review the material covered in the workshop. In fact, I only work with people who value and support learning.

Training has earned a bad reputation because many programs were just thrown over the fence at employees who were sent to be fixed. It's unlikely that any training program conducted under these conditions will accomplish much.

> Key Point: Gain management support before scheduling any training program.

2) Each of us has control over our area of responsibility. And each of us lives in the environment that we create.

The participant mentioned above can still conduct effective meetings, even if top management continues to hold bad meetings. In fact, someone who demonstrates sound leadership by holding effective meetings could end up replacing the boss who holds bad meetings.

There are two parts to every learning experience. The first part involves mastering new skills. The second (and critical) part involves choosing to use them.

> Key Point: You can be an effective leader even when others aren't.

3) Some people play make-believe. Many years ago I received an evening phone call from a colleague who wanted to know if I could recommend a good book on how to hold effective meetings. It seems this person was scrambling to find material for a workshop that was scheduled to start the next morning.

You will learn more from an expert, rather than from someone who is delivering a book report. In this case, I recommended either of the two books that I had written on how to hold effective meetings.

Many companies hire trainers who build training programs based on books that they read. And some entrepreneurs agree to speak on topics that are purely academic for them. The best trainers ARE the message, which means that they live and breathe and use what they teach. They can answer any questions, meet any needs, and help with any situations that the participants may bring up. They truly know their topic.

> Key Point: Hire a trainer who wrote the book instead of one who (you hope) read a book.

Any training program can succeed, if delivered to people who want to improve by an expert who can show them how.

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