How can training develop your employee's impact

Our guest blogger, Amy Harrison, shares her thoughts on what are tangible benefits training brings to your employee’s impact and your business.

Your employees will become more responsive to industry changes 

Across all sectors there are things that are changing and progressing at unprecedented rates and many companies find themselves struggling to catch up with these rapid changes. Therefore there is a deep need for employees to remain up to date with the latest industry changes. If employees’ skills and knowledge are allowed to stagnate this runs the risk of your company falling behind its times. 

Creating an agile company that boosts learning culture is therefore imperative and the constant training and development of new skills and knowledge creates a well-rounded, flexible team with the ability to adapt to changing market needs quickly. By equipping employees with the latest skills and knowledge to meet their performance targets, your company will hold a competitive advantage for business growth.

Furthermore as we get updated with increasing sustainable practices that can be brought into businesses it is important that employees are taught these changes so they are aware of the best ones to choose for your company. Continued training ensures that all new environmental laws are abided by and that your company will become more eco-conscious. 

Trained employees are more efficient 

Untrained employees take up to 6x longer to perform the same task as trained employees. 

So straight away you realise that training can be used to drastically improve productivity and boost employee performance. When your employees are able to complete tasks more efficiently, using the most effective methods, there are numerous benefits that can be seen within the business. 

A large positive is that employees complete more tasks in a given period of time which therefore maximizes businesses return on investment (i.e. the hourly wage you pay employees) or allows employees greater flexibility on work time hours. A second benefit is that customer satisfaction is likely to be higher when your services are delivered in a more timely and efficient manner.

Higher loyalty and less turnover

Companies that don’t train their employees are 3x more likely to lose them than companies that do train their staff.

In fact, the millennial-rich workforce of today struggles to last even 5 years in the same job. The modern day employee wants to keep learning new skills, discovering new technologies, and acquiring new knowledge to keep up with the changing times. Training and development opportunities fulfill employees’ need to keep growing. 

By investing in employee training programs, not only are you attracting the right kind of people, but you’re also making them want to stick around for longer. This provides a competitive advantage – by keeping the best employees on board – and also saves you the cost of recruiting, selecting, and onboarding new (replacement) employees. 

Furthermore having high employee retention rates will attract customers and other companies as it shows that the business has an incentive to value employee welfare.

Job satisfaction 

As the global company of Coca Cola states “Happy employees are productive employees.” We are living in a world where currently as many as 80% of employees never reach their full potential, and 4 out of every 10 employees feel disengaged at work. This, of course, has a knock-on effect on their performance, health, and overall productivity. 

Disengaged, unhealthy and unproductive employees are not good for business growth. Investing in training programs makes employees feel fulfilled, challenged, and valued, which in turn boosts their job satisfaction and engagement. This often leads to improved performance, productivity, and reduced absenteeism.

Trained employees have higher production standards which leads to an increase in quality and consistency 

Employees who are well trained are more likely to produce higher-quality output the first time around, thereby minimizing mistakes.This creates less wasted time in rework and customers delighted with quality, reliable goods and services.

Trained employees will retain and grow customer base 

Training can directly affect your customers’ satisfaction as more dedicated and motivated employees are more likely to retain a stronger and happier customer base. This is very important because customers leaving is bad. It’s generally accepted that it’s less expensive to maintain existing customers than it is to win new ones. Losing a customer is a double loss; you’ll lose ongoing revenue from that customer, and it’s unlikely that they’ll be directing potential, new customers to you. 

The opposite is also true. A delighted customer can give you a double win! Not only are they liable to become a return customer, but they are also more likely to refer new customers to you. So, having well-trained staff results in satisfied customers can save you money, generate revenue, and grow your customer base.

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How can these impacts be measured? 

There is a large range of tangible measurements of training outcomes that can be applied to a variety of aspects in businesses. For example when looking at  knowledge, skill or competency-based training an outcome would be improved sales, performance or productivity. The improvements attributed to training can be measured through pre and post-tests, sales figures and changes in output. 

For more indirect benefits, such as employee satisfaction and engagement, self-report surveys and qualitative feedback can provide valuable insights into how much your employees’ value the opportunity for development. Finally, there are then retention rates and staff turnover rates to look into, which are a useful indication of how challenged and engaged employees feel in their jobs.

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To conclude

Regular training for your employees will create a productive, happier and more stable team for your business which in turn will allow your business to boom. Furthermore this training is not hard to require and can be found at low costs through resources such as online courses. So if you want to see your business grow, invest in its roots - the people.

If you’d like to understand more about how sustainability can strengthen your business please book a call with us and we can give you an overview.

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1 "5 Reasons: Why Train Your Employees [Statistics Included]." 2 Nov. 2015, https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/5-reasons-train-employees/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2021.

2 "Why employee training is important (5 reasons) | Elucidat." 22 Nov. 2019, https://www.elucidat.com/blog/why-employee-training-is-important/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2021

3 "5 Reasons: Why Train Your Employees [Statistics ... - BambooHR." https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/5-reasons-train-employees/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2021.