No matter their position, your employees are the beating heart of a business. Whether they’re responsible for designing and manufacturing your products or interacting with customers to sell or support, they’re the biggest driver of success.
It only makes sense, then, to do what you can to get the most out of them. Training and development can refine and expand employees’ skills, making your organisation more flexible and effective, but that’s far from the only benefit.
Enhance quality and boost productivity
Repeat custom depends on delivering excellence in your products or services, so it’s important to educate your workforce in the techniques, processes and mindsets that will keep the quality of your output consistently high. A well-trained team is a more productive one, thanks to the knowledge that empowers them to complete tasks more quickly and with fewer mistakes.
Improve retention
Developing staff members can require substantial investment, and that doesn’t go unnoticed. Employees driven to succeed will appreciate seeing dedication to helping them hone their skills and progress their careers, which can be a positive factor in inspiring them to continue working for you rather than seek new opportunities to grow elsewhere.
This is good news because losing employees can be expensive. Roles in the sales industry, for example, can cost as much as £56,000 to replace, accounting for time and outlay spent on recruiting and retraining.
Keep morale and motivation high
Any day-to-day responsibilities can become mundane, so offering workers education days can help freshen things up and reduce chances of burnout. Learning new things and returning to implement them can give employees satisfying new challenges to overcome and prevent work from feeling repetitive.
Seeing a clear path to obtaining the transferrable skills that might help them achieve promotions can also be a big motivator.
Ensure compliance and trust
Industries like law, finance or medicine are centred around compliance. Failure to follow guidelines set by governing bodies, for instance, could lead to everything from injuries to lawsuits. By keeping your workers up to date with the latest rules and regulations, you can prevent mishaps that could harm your company’s reputation.
Reduce risks
There are risks in most lines of work, from the busiest construction site to the quietest office job. Over 560,000 people reported non-fatal workplace injuries in the UK in 2022/23, and training is vital when it comes to keeping that number down. You have a duty to ensure your employees operate in a safe environment, which extends to providing suitable training that can address hazards and risks like improper tool usage or incorrect lifting techniques.
As the statistics indicate, of course, no amount of training completely precludes the possibility of accidents, so it’s wise to take steps to cover for the worst as well. Retail businesses, for example, may wish to regularly re-evaluate the level of shop insurance that best covers their operations.
Foster innovation
In almost every sector, innovation is prized as it can help create competitive advantages. Training can inspire your workers, empowering them to develop better processes or identify potential improvements to products. A bigger knowledge base gives them a wider scope to use their creativity and instinct for the benefit of your organisation.
