Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Training & Development

Have you ever wondered why employees leave companies so soon? Or why employees don’t seem to be satisfied in their role? Or why companies seem to be wasting time and money in areas that don’t truly grow the business?

The reality today is that organizations are investing more in training and development than ever. The overall spending on employee training in the United States is around $165 billion (Eades, 2014). Yet, even with all this time and investment towards training, organization are still searching to effectively transfer practical knowledge into performance results. The truth is that when employers realize the power that training and learning development can have on their organization, they will be willing to make the investment because it will pay dividends.  

This investment in training can reap results in:
Less Employee TurnoverKeeping well trained employees pays off significantly because the cost of employee turnover can be high. The reality is that 40% of employees who receive poor job training leave their positions within the first year (Woolf, 2014).
More Employee Satisfaction:  According to statistics 76% of employees want to do their job well, but feel they lack the tools to grow (Woolf, 2014).

The end result is that when training and learning development is weaved together with a business strategy it results in more money and time for the whole business (Noe, 2014)  I would say it’s worth the investment, wouldn’t you?




Resources

Eades, J. (2014). Three ways to measure training effectiveness. Retrieved from: http://elearningindustry.com/3-ways-measure-training-effectiveness

Noe, R. A. (2013). Employee training and development (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.


Woolf, S. (2014). 5 Surprising Employee Development Statistics you Don’t Know. Retreived from: http://blog.clearcompany.com/5-surprising-employee-development-statistics-you-dont-know

5 comments:

  1. Garth,

    I enjoyed your elevator pitch. Employee satisfaction is a huge problem in today's workforce. New demands are place on employees continuously, but the appropriate training and development is not always offered. It is a worthwhile investment to re-invest in an organizations employees to advance their skills and knowledge. With it comes a commitment to the organization as well as boosts in job productivity. This is a win-win for all.

    Regards,
    Jocelyn

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  2. Hi Garth,

    I like your elevator speech. I feel like I just listened to an infomercial and need to take some action now. Good job.

    I am curious; please forgive me for playing devil’s advocate. If an investment in training results in reduced turnover, how do you explain the increasing turnover rates in the USA? Based on the findings of CompData Survey in 2015, turnover increased from 15.7% in 2014 to 16.4%. While this increase is insignificant it still shows some increase, how do you explain this?

    References
    Hall, K. C. (2015, October 9). 2015 Total turnover rates by region. Retrieved from compdatasurveys: http://blog.compdatasurveys.com/2015-total-turnover-rates-by-region

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  3. Hi, I have subscribed to your blog and look forward to your insights on training and development.

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  4. Hello Garth,
    Great Elevator Speech Sir,
    I look forward to following you!
    Jerrell

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  5. Garth

    That was a very calm and composed elevator speech. I would like to address what you mentioned and the question Camille raised in the follow-up comment,"Does training help reduce employee turnover?"

    I guess that depends on what the focus of the training was and how the program was put together; training for the sake of it will get the company nowhere.

    According to Hoffman (2000), delivery of training can be costly, time consuming, and ultimately counterproductive, if approached without regard to the following fundamental principles:

    Be committed to learn - do a proper needs assessment, talk to the people who are the focus of the proposed program. Will the training address a need, expressed or otherwise?

    Gain management support - make sure that you have the leadership on board and they understand the time, resources, and anticipated outcomes of the training.

    Correlate training with company objectives - Demonstrate how the training fits in with the mission statement, goals and objectives of the organization, how it leverages the organization's strengths.

    Promote application access - use technology to ensure that employees have access to the latest learning methods.

    Neville

    Reference:
    Hoffman, R. (2000, May 15). Increasing Opportunities for Learning Can Lower Turnover. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://www.inc.com/articles/2000/05/19087.html

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