Employee Training: It's An Investment!

Training is often considered optional at many companies because it is thought of as an expense rather than an investment. Yes it may be costly up front. But, it should be considered an investment in the future of both the employee and the organization. An investment in the growth and development of your human resources. I have always been a believer that employees shouldn't leave an organization with only the skills they came in with.

Why train you ask? If your business isn't learning, it's going to fall behind. To stay abreast of new developments within your industry you must make the investment to train your employees. A successful organization must develop a high performing, superior workforce. As an employer you should encourage and support employee growth and development of job and career enhancing skills. The employees themselves must be aware of changes in their field and continually hone their skills.

To give you something to think about, I have listed below a few areas of "standard" training that employees should receive. Once you've read those, take a look at the benefits.

Typical topics of standard training:
1. Communication
2. Computer Skills
3. Customer Service
4. Diversity
5. Ethics
6. Quality
7. Safety
8. Sexual Harassment

Benefits of Training:
1. Increase in job satisfaction, employee morale, motivation and contribution.
2. Efficiencies in Process = financial gain for the organization!
3. Reduction in employee turnover.
4. Risk Management for areas such as sexual harassment, diversity and/or ethics. *And if you think these areas of training aren't necessary, take a look at the U.S. Supreme Court and/or EEOC training guidelines as well as the impact of the 2004 Federal Sentencing Guidelines.*

In closing:
1. Make sure that any training has measurable results. If you can't, the training will only be viewed as an expense.
2. You don't want your employees to view any training as a waste of their valuable time. If the employee doesn't feel that the training he/she is receiving is relevant to their position, ensure they understand the connection early on.
3. Make sure that the training is ongoing to continually motivate the employees, as well as to ensure that the employees are growing professionally.
4. Ensure both the organization, and the employees, meet their goals!

Enjoy your weekend!