Hidden Benefits of Training

When you think of training, the obvious reasons for training are very common across almost all industries.  Employees learn the software in order to become more productive, more efficient, and increase profits for the company.  Yes, of course all of this is true, and very important.  But let’s take a look at a few of the hidden benefits of training, both from the employer perspective and through the eyes of the employee.

“When free food is involved, training is tolerated by all.”

                                                                                                                                                          

Retention (of employees)

            Employee turnover can be very costly, training a new employee on all of the company standards, methodologies, and “ins and outs” of the firm always has an associated cost.  New employees quite often run at a lower level of productivity and efficiency than do personnel that already know what is to be done, and what is expected from them.  This makes employee retention very beneficial.  Let’s examine the role of training with respect to employee retention.

Employees will feel like you are more interested in them and their well-being if you are willing to invest in training.  Employers interested in the well-being of the company, and its employees and wanting to keep the company on the cutting edge will likely find that the employee feels more valued.  

Employees who feel more valued will want to stay with the company if the company is willing to invest in its own future.  "We're going to send you to training"...  "We would like to see you improve and move forward with the company”.  These are statements with a significant amount of clout built into them.  They provide for the psychological boost that every employee needs and wants.  Employees greatly value educational benefits as a way of knowing the company is actually interested in them, not simply the bottom line.

Jay Lehman, the recruiting manager of Toll Brothers, Inc., a luxury homes builder says... "We invest the time and our resources and give our personnel the opportunity to excel pretty quickly."  He goes on to say, "We train them in all facets of the work, and they don't really get that from other companies," says Lehman. "We value them and they see that."

Loyalty - employees tend to be much more loyal to companies who support their continuing education as cited:  In a study conducted by Spherion Atlantic Enterprises LLC., a staffing and employment-services firm, 61 percent of respondents who received training or mentoring said they were very likely to remain with their current employer for the next five years or more.

 

Improves morale of employee

Employees may be afraid to tell you they need help leaving them frustrated.  This may leave them feeling inadequate at best and possibly fearful of their job status.  A trained employee has more confidence in their abilities thus improving their morale and reducing stress.

Training helps the employee obtain job security as well as job satisfaction. The more satisfied the employee and the higher his confidence, the more he will contribute to organizational success, in addition employee absenteeism and turnover rates will be significantly reduced.

 

Less Supervision Required

Along with training comes an increased ability to perform a task with less supervision.  Fewer accidents and mistakes will occur resulting in substantially less time spent correcting the error.  Mistakes of this nature have a significant impact on completion of a project on time and under budget.  The hidden cost of this being the amount of time it may take for the supervisor or manager to assist in the correction process which results in lost time on other projects. 

Chances for Promotion

A well trained employee will be more eligible for advancement, and become a valuable asset for the company.  He will have the ability to move into positions that may become vacant due to attrition.  There is enormous savings potentials here in reducing the cost of training a "new employee" on all the company policies, methods and intricate corporate details.

 

Less Time lost Searching for Answers

Without training, employees needing assistance may be less likely to ask for help when faced with a challenging situation, they may therefor waste valuable time searching for answers on the Internet.  While the internet is an excellent source of free information, it may be impossible to find an answer to the exact problem at hand.  Every issue and required solution on every project is unique making solutions hard to come by.

 

"What happens if we train them, and they leave?"....

"What happens if we don't train them, and they stay?"

 

The benefits of training brought to light in this article are mostly hidden. When training is not administered, debilitating costs can often result in loss of business.  The goal of training is for the attendees to learn, master and eventually coach or train the new hires of the organization (implication here is the importance on retention of these trained employees).

 

 

For more information from Larry Young please visit www.youngsvos.com,  or visit his YouTube channel at lyoung1118.