Now More Than Ever, Training Is Key to Employee Engagement
Training to retain employees is more cost-effective than hiring new ones, and a blended learning approach is key.
Successful companies invest millions of dollars each year developing and training their employees. Establish a culture that cares by investing the proper resources for your team. Your employees will remain loyal to your mission when they feel that their needs are a priority. According to the Association for Talent Development, companies spend an average of $1,296 each year per employee. Investing in the right type of training for your workforce has a direct correlation to retaining employees, maintaining company reputation and increasing performance.
Train to Retain
In 2019, the unemployment rate has remained under 4%. While this is excellent news for anyone seeking a job, employers have a smaller and potentially less talented pool of candidates applying for their jobs. Retaining employees has never been more important. According to Glassdoor, it costs an average of $4,000 to hire a new employee, which far exceeds the cost of investing in development programs for existing and experienced employees. Offering training and development resources will show your team that you value their work and career path with the company.
Place Value in Reputation
Employees speak more for the reputation of an organization than any marketing campaign could illustrate. Don’t give your employees a reason to think that they are not valued. Providing proper training and development creates a culture of care and consideration. A positive reputation will attract a more talented pool of applicants, which will increase performance. Websites like Glassdoor and Indeed enable job seekers to review the reputation of a company before applying. According to the iCIMS, nearly one in three employees and 47% of millennials have declined a job due to negative online employer reviews.
Increase Employee Performance
Employees will feel more confident in their abilities and role when given the opportunity to learn and develop new skills. In a study by the National Center on the Education Quality of the Workforce, companies will see an 8.6% increase in productivity when there is a 10% increase in employee training and development. The cost of educating your employees will pay for itself due to increased performance.
Establish Blended Learning in the Workplace
When establishing learning opportunities, start by recognizing that everyone has a different and unique learning style. Most companies understand the importance of investing in their employees, but a study from the American Society for Training and Development shows that employees only retain 10% of the skills they are exposed to in the initial training seminars. The challenge becomes finding efficient ways to educate employees in a cost-effective manner. Increase employee retention of new skills by incorporating a blended learning approach to reinforcing your training. Blended learning is a style of training that offers a variety of learning strategies. This could include: Online learning portals, in-person and webinar workshops facilitated by experienced professionals, and mobile games that reinforce learning and enhance knowledge retention.
This approach is a mixture of physical and digital education. Blended learning presents training information in a variety of ways that compliment all styles. Studies have also shown that blended learning decreases overall training cost. Ernst & Young reduced its training costs by 35% and improved learning retention by switching to this plan. Your employees gain the advantage of learning at their own pace and on their own terms.
“For real transformation to take place it’s not a matter of having a ‘bolt-on’ strategy to existing training practices (social and mobile), but rather a ‘full-on, meaningful reconception’ of what it means to support all ways of learning in the modern digital workplace,” Jane Hart, founder of the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies, said.
Training to retain employees is more cost-effective than hiring new ones, and improved training has a direct impact on performance and indirect effect on ROI. Take your training program to the next level by incorporating blended learning styles. This will foster a culture of teamwork, success and loyalty.
Julie ann Wessinger is National Director, Client Performance Strategies for Allied Solutions. She can be reached at julieann.wessinger@alliedsolutions.net.