Upskilling and Training Your Team
7 Simple Steps to Setting Achievable Goals for Your Team… And Why It’s Important
Every business has some kind of training in place – whether it’s showing new employees how to use the coffee machine, or run them through the procedure in dealing with customer complaints.
And of course those onboarding sessions are necessary in helping your staff get to grips with the workplace and how things are done. But what about training that strengthens your team itself?
Offering regular training so staff can improve their skills or experience is also key – especially now. Post Covid, new business models have emerged, workers are having to adapt to changing conditions and it’s up to companies to equip their employees with the skills they need. Training staff also helps your business stay strong and resilient too, say experts. Here’s why.
1. It helps your team prioritise
If you want your company to run like a well-oiled machine, being organised and setting key goals is a great way to help clarify priorities for everyone in your organisation. It gives managers direction and enables them to delegate tasks for the upcoming quarter, and helps employees plan what they need to focus on going forward.
2. It can save you money
You’ve probably heard the statistic about how it’s cheaper to retrain your employees than hire new ones. In fact, the cost of replacing an individual employee can range for one half to two times the employee’s annual salary, according to Gallup – whereas offering retraining or upskilling is a much smaller investment.
3. It can boost staff retention
TAFE research also shows that offering training and upskilling opportunities to your staff can boost staff retention. In fact, according to LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Learning Report, 68 percent of employees reported that they preferred to learn at work, and whopping 94 percent said they’d stay at the company longer if it invested in their career.
4. It may improve your company’s reputation
Studies show that job-seekers these days will change careers around 5-7 times during their working life. And if you subscribe to a ‘lifelong learning’ approach, helping employees upskill and actively creating new long-term career pathways for them, you’ll be a company people want to work for. And you’ll have a more diverse pool of talent to choose from!
5. It boosts employee morale and happiness
Offering employees professional development opportunities makes them feel valued, happier in their roles – and it can improve team morale, say experts. On the flip side, if you’ve got unhappy employees leaving in droves, that can lead to a breakdown in morale, says Gallup.
6. It gives your company a competitive advantage
Developing a culture of learning in your company can serve you well in a competitive market – because you’ll have a strong team with cutting-edge experience and skills. That might mean devising a corporate learning strategy with a focus on training, building expertise, collaborating, sharing knowledge and developing ‘corporate capability’.
7. It’ll ensure your business thrives in a digital world
As we’ve written about on the blog before, improving digital literacy is front and centre for so many industries right now – including manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare and retail. So ensuring your employees have the right digital training and skills can only make for a more functional and productive team – and happier customers.
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