The Importance of Employee Training & Development

When it comes to business, so many factors can contribute to your company's success (or lack thereof). Product development teams work day in, day out to push new concepts into the market. Sales and marketing divisions cross paths often as they work toward the same goal. The list never ends, and keeping track of it all isn’t easy. It’s no surprise, then, that employee training often ends up at the bottom of many corporate to-do lists.

But the fact of the matter is this: your people are your company.

 

Most leaders work under time constraints, but not all focus on what’s most important: their long-term goals. And synonymous with every company’s long-term goals are its employees.

Corporate training is a long-term investment that yields amazing short-term results, like increased employee loyalty and improved performance. When prioritizing workplace initiatives and their overall impact on your business, employee training and development should not be ignored. Here’s why.

But first, a quick refresher on employee training

Training is the process of improving an employee’s skills and knowledge at work. It’s an empowering process, helping staff develop critical skills and improve performance across the board.

Without training, employees won’t learn anything new or build on what they already know. What’s worse, they’ll straight up leave because they’re bored (it happens a lot more often than you think).

We explored the ins and outs of employee training in our previous blog post. It’s right here in case you need it.

What are the benefits of employee training and development?

• Employees acquire new skills and knowledge.

• Weaknesses (both of the employee and the company) can be addressed.

• Current skills and knowledge are improved, allowing workers to improve their strengths too!

• Staff performance is improved. Workers learn new skills and apply them to their current and future roles.

• There’s more consistency. A regular training program ensures that everyone’s on the same page. A consistent learning experience reduces disparity between your teams because every employee has a set of baseline skills and knowledge.

• You’ll have a much easier time retaining top talent. The stakes (and costs) are high when hiring and onboarding employees. And—depending on their wage, position, and experience—replacing one can cost your company as much as 2x their annual salary. High performers are 400% more productive than average employees, too. Training keeps your all-stars fed with important information.

• Employees are more confident in their skills and work harder.

• They feel valued and supported at work. People will continue to work for companies that invest in them.

• Increased job satisfaction.

• Employee training software can track individual performance on a granular level. Data is valuable because it tells you if employees are keeping up with their training. You’ll know which parts of your content are engaging and which ones are not. Leverage these insights to optimize your program and provide a better training experience.

• Shared learning empowers employees and improves team performance.

• With training, employees have a larger impact on the organization. Performance improvements can bolster networking skills and encourage sustained shared thinking in the workplace.

Check out Joomag’s in-depth report on employee training and development.

The Importance of Employee Training Across Industries

Talent gaps are widening. As industries continue to evolve, businesses can level the playing field by embracing—not shirking—potentially beneficial training opportunities.

The great news is that many industries have already started. In retail, for example, training builds employees’ confidence and gets them comfortable with the products they’re trying to sell. If your sales team can’t answer basic questions about your services, customers probably won’t come back. Retail training spotlights employees’ communication skills and explores new ways to improve them. Most cover important topics like body language, listening skills, speaking in a professional (not casual) tone of voice, maintaining the right level of eye contact, avoiding slang or jargon, and being clear/easy to understand.

The hospitality industry thrives on great customer service, too. While most businesses understand that it’s their employees who underpin every successful customer interaction, very few have actually implemented training initiatives to enable that success. In fact, a study conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed that only 28% of hospitality employees underwent training in 2015!

Staff training improves service quality, plain and simple. And a little bit goes a long way; businesses in the hospitality sector that spent 5% or more of their budget on training had 23% less staff turnover. According to that same report, employees are more likely to stay with companies that conduct training; those that offered more than four hours of it experienced 20% less turnover.

In real estate, listing services and brokerage firms rely on training programs to educate their agents on a variety of topics, including selling tactics and communication skills. An effective training system can have a marked impact on the success of any real estate agent and the team he or she belongs to. In reality, though, many agents fail. Here’s what the National Association of REALTORS® says:

• A staggering 33% of newly licensed agents quit real estate after their first year

• 87% of agents call it quits within their first 5 years

• 89% of all transactions are handled by only 11% of agents in the United States

These numbers tell a story, and it’s not a happy one. Agents aren’t being trained to generate more business. Instead, they’re learning how to handle business that they haven’t even generated yet. On the other hand, the best training solutions touch pain points that affect realtors throughout their development journeys, including communication skills, lead nurturing, persistence, marketing, technology, time management, and continuous learning.

Joomag’s Innovative Solutions for Employee Training & Education

Traditional classrooms aren’t cutting it anymore. Today's workforce is physically divided; different departments have different schedules and work in different cities, states, and countries. To unify them all, businesses must create training materials that are compelling and mobile.

They can with Joomag, whose all-in-one platform empowers companies to create, distribute, and track digital content from a single destination. Create interactive training guides, for example, and provide assistance to your employees whenever they need it. Bring staff up to speed with engaging presentations; add interactive elements and turn audiences into active participants. Or streamline day-to-day operations and boost employee productivity with your very own SOP.