What You Need To Know
Learning and development offer many benefits to your employees and to your business such as 1) increased productivity; 2) up-to-date skills; 3) improved job performance; 4) improved morale, and 5) decreased safety-related accidents. Deciding what approach to take to train your employees can depend on several factors. These factors may include the type and complexity of skills or knowledge needed, the amount of funds available for training, the timing of training, and the learning readiness of the employee.
Why You Need To Know
For a highly productive workforce, you should consider investing in the ongoing development of your workers. The introduction of new technology, regulatory changes, and process improvements may indicate that training is needed. Performance issues may also be resolved through proper training.
New employees, or those newly promoted, may benefit from training as they transition into their new role. You may also want to consider cross-training existing employees so that they can cover for someone in another area. Investing in learning and development is one of the factors that leads to increased employee retention.
What You Need To Do
Review the priorities of your company, examine the current skillset of your employees, and understand the future skills demands of your industry, business, or an occupation. A typically company training budget should range between at least 1-2% of a company’s total payroll. Questions to consider to help determine if training is needed:
- Will there be any changes in the way we are doing business?
- Who will these changes affect?
- What will staff need to know in order to do their jobs well?
- What is the most effective way that staff in our business learn?
- What is the best way to get this training to staff?
- Do we have any other training needs?
- What types of training are available to meet these needs?
- Which types are the most cost effective?
Consult a local HR professional on cost-effective ways to access training for your employees.
Walk the talk. Demonstrate and communicate the value of continuous learning.
Keep records of staff training. This is required for any training needed to comply with government legislation such as occupational health and safety.
Evaluate the effectiveness of training.
Make continuous learning a part of your company culture.