Do you understand the value of workplace training?
Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. Steve Jobs
Workplace training can often be met with mixed reactions. Some people enjoy the training and find it interesting and valuable. Others find it a distraction, absorbing precious time that could be better spent reducing their growing pile of work. Yet imagine for a moment if we never engaged in any structured training. Would you be as productive? Would your team be as cohesive? Would your knowledge and skills be as advanced? Where would the organisation sit in relation to competitors? Training presents a prime opportunity to expand the knowledge base of all employees. Yes it has its drawbacks, but as a whole both the company and employees will benefit, making the cost and time a worthwhile investment.
Let’s pretend for a moment you play Aussie rules football for the Hawthorn football club. You spend time preseason honing your skills, increasing your fitness, bonding with team mates, and learning and executing strategic plays and team structures to nullify opposition attacks. The reward; a premiership and twelve months of bragging rights as the best in the land. The result; increased membership numbers, increased sales of promotional items, and a much healthier bottom line. Of course every uncontracted player, coach and administration staff in the league is trying to get a foot in your door. It’s an envious situation and all those responsible are chanting, “The hard work and sacrifices were worth it.” Now let’s apply this scenario to your actual workplace. Would you be leaping out of bed each day to get there?
Workplace training not only offers an opportunity to build your skills and knowledge, it is also a means of meeting regulatory and legal requirements such as education on workplace safety and bullying and harassment. It can be an avenue to achieving a higher qualification, hence a promotion or industry certification. Correcting employee behaviour to achieve compliance can also be realised. For example, the current communication process may see deficiencies in the speed and transfer of essential information to key personnel and industry bodies. Training or re-training of processes can alter employee behaviour to meet internal guidelines and reporting measures.
Training no doubt allows you to proactively address weaknesses inside your organisation. It allows for the opportunity to improve employee performance and consistency, leading to enhanced satisfaction for individuals, teams and the organisation itself. When we are more knowledgeable about our job and the individual tasks we need to execute to accomplish our goals, we are also more confident – confidence in ourselves and confident in our co-workers ability to perform the job to high standard in our absence. Being more aware of the proper practices and procedures also provides a stronger understanding of our industry and the responsibilities of our job. It can lead to the conceptualisation of new ideas and push the company to forefront of the industry, gaining a valuable edge over competitors.
By giving employees access to training and development opportunities is to show them they are valued and supported. Many workers want to continue developing their skills and knowledge, but their employer does not provide enough opportunities to do so. Those employees, keen to achieve greater heights, often seek out development opportunities with another organisation, and in some instances develop their own education and succession plans by enrolling in training outside their organisation. How many people do you know that work themselves into the ground by juggling work and study? It’s not easy, however if your workplace supported employee development, you could achieve a manageable work/study balance.
Employees feel appreciated and challenged when presented with workplace training opportunities. Job satisfaction increases and this positively relates to employee retention, productivity and profit. Yet not all workplaces have the ability to design and execute their own training programs. In this instance, contracting this work to a specialist can be highly valuable. SJ Personnel often coach job seekers how to perform better in a job interview. Imparting our industry expertise to our database of job seekers has resulted in them gaining employment more quickly. Assisting them to recognise their strengths as well as to understand how to communicate these strengths to others, has allowed them to better perform at the interview level so that they may progress and continue to prove themselves at the employment level.
Whether it is a team building paint balling session, a class in communications for a sales team, or safety training to understand how to erect and dismantle scaffolding equipment, an investment in your staff is an investment in your organisations future. So take the time and reap the rewards!
