The Top 10 Benefits Of Ongoing Staff Training And Development

[Md. Anikuzzaman]

Employee training not only provides benefits to the individual, but also to the business, helping your company to continue running effectively. However, once you have run initial job training, such as with a new employee, is there a need for any further training investment?

Training, and especially ongoing training, is a key area for debate in many boardrooms. However, there are a number of reasons to suggest that initial training should only be the first step of a longer-term process. Regular training is well worth the investment because building up the skills within the business will effectively improve your company's bottom line.

Top 10 benefits of ongoing corporate training
A business should never stand still and so nor should the development of your staff, who are the key asset in driving your business forward. Regular staff training is essential in helping this ongoing skill development. This can often be a worry to business managers though, due to its ongoing cost to the business. However, if you look past this, there are a number of important reasons why ongoing staff training can be beneficial to the business and should therefore be made a priority. With a quality training plan in place, you will also see your return on investment within your balance sheet!

Take a look below at 10 top benefits of ongoing staff development:

Keep up with industry changes
Industries are constantly changing and so it is important for a business to develop to avoid being left behind. It's also important to make sure your business is complying with any industry regulations, which can be achieved through ongoing training, making sure your staff's skills and knowledge are up-to-date.

Be in touch with all the latest technology developments
New technology is being developed all the time and so it is not sufficient to run a one-off training session. Regular training needs to take place to ensure that staff are using all the latest technology comfortably and to its full potential. This can be achieved through implementing a customized staff IT training program, and by integrating employee training with IT support.

Stay ahead of competitors
Standing still can kill your business, so by making sure your staff are constantly advancing, you will continue to move forward are remain competitive within the marketplace.

Be able to see weaknesses and skill gaps
With regular training, a business can more easily identify any gaps in the market and skill gaps within the existing workforce. By identifying these gaps early, there is time to train staff in these required areas so they can fulfill the role effectively.

Maintain knowledge and skill
Although one off training may be provided to new starters, or other employees, it's important that training schemes are put in place to help develop skills throughout their job. To retain knowledge, skills need to be practiced and refreshed on a regular basis so elements aren't forgotten.

Advance employee skills
Once a business has spent money on providing basic level skills, these can easily be built upon and improved to provide much more benefit to the business. Staff that know more can bring more to the table, and your business will reap the rewards.

Provide an incentive to learn
If training is provided as part of a longer development pathway, employees will have much more incentive to learn, participate in the session and put their new skills into practice.

Increase job satisfaction levels
Through continued investment from the business, staff can have a much higher sense of job satisfaction, which can improve their motivation towards their work. This reduces employee turnover and increases productivity, which directly improves the profitability. It also prevents competitors from taking away your best employees by offering training incentives.

Provide internal promotion opportunities
Employing new staff involves high recruitment costs and hiring fees. However, with ongoing training, your existing staff can become more eligible for internal promotions. Unlike new staff, you can guarantee they have a complete knowledge of your business, the correct skill set and are people that you know and trust.

Attract new talent
All businesses want to have the best employees and so with ongoing training, this will not only mean better staff retention, but the business may also attract better talent from the start, as this gives the business a good image and is a key feature many people look for within their job search.
As you can see, ongoing training is important not just to employee development, but it also affects the success of your business.

Many businesses are now starting to see the importance of training and investing in their staff, with Forbes reporting company spending is on the rise, with $130 Billion USD spent worldwide in 2013. However, training should not be seen as a one-off exception, but as a regular necessity, to help fill skill gaps and keep the business moving forward successfully.

Just like any other business investment though, there needs to be an organised plan put into place. This will help to provide more structure and allow employees to know what to expect. Therefore, before jumping into finding training providers, it's important to step back and think about a few key areas:

Skills – Make sure you take your time to find out what skills your staff would like to develop and why, as well as working out where you want to be in the industry and what skills are needed to get you there. Any training you provide should be transferable and relevant to your employee's current job, to keep them engaged in the overall process.

Frequency – You should also consider the frequency of training, to achieve the medium and long-term improvements. It is a careful balance, to make sure there is enough training, but not too much that staff lose interest or struggle to keep up with their daily work tasks.

Delivery – You should also look at the many different types of training that are available, to decide what is best for your specific business. As well as one-to-one training, you could also have group sessions, or eLearning which is now a very popular route and requires less time away from the business.

Source: http://www.saxonsgroup.com.au/blog/human-resources/top-10-benefits-of-ongoing-staff-training-development/