Without Employee Development and Training, Employee Skills become Outdated in 3 to 5 Years * Incedo Group

Without Employee Development and Training, Employee Skills become Outdated in 3 to 5 Years

According to one of the world’s leading financial management companies, Merrill Lynch, about 50% of an employee’s skills get outdated in 3 to 5 years. That’s rather disconcerting, don’t you think? Does that mean the resources spent on employee development and training are wasted?

The Problem isn’t with the Training

Leaders think the experience that their employees get from doing their jobs are enough to keep them at their optimum. Survey reveals otherwise. If an employee is confined to doing tasks only at his current skill level or job scope, his skills and to some extent his desire to improve, will wither after a few years.

According to a study at the Saratoga Institute, workers who have undergone employee development and training have an average of 12% turnover, whereas those without growth and training opportunities have an average of 41% turnover. Likewise, replacing an employee would mean shelling out 150% of an employee’s salary.

Managers have a hard time creating employee development and training programs because most of the time, their job is to reduce costs. Therefore, these additional training programs are the first to be cut off from the budget. Unfortunately, on the job training, socializing with colleagues and interacting with clients and customers are not enough to make productive employees. As stated previously, cutting the training budget would actually cost the organization more.

The success of an organization relies on its workforce, and by conjecture, their success would be drastically reduced because of high employee turnover due to lack of career growth. Cutting corners may save a company a few hundred dollars; this is not a long-term solution.

Spend More on Employee Development and Training Now… Reap the Rewards Later

There are many training opportunities for employees in every skill set and level – even the most senior ones. Some of them would be Management, Execution, Leadership, Teamwork, or even newer ones, such as Social Media and Technology.

Training programs do not even have to cost a lot. Senior employees, managers or even executives can train younger ones, allowing the company to conduct employee development and training opportunities without even having to hire outside trainers. It’s also an added boost for employees or workers to get to interact with the higher management.

A company can also build a library of books with various titles on different topics. Lend them to employees and encourage them to read it. Offer rewards for those who get to finish these books, and see the company thrive successfully as employees apply the new things they have learned.

Help Employees Apply New Knowledge by Adding New Tasks

One way to keep employees updated would be to add new jobs to their job description. This enables them to try out something new, outside of their comfort zone or outside of the work that they are so used to do. Adding tasks will also give them a chance to apply the new skills they’ve learned in a recent training session.

Think of it as an additional on-the-job training for employees. By helping them learn new things on their own and on the job; you’re actually providing further opportunities for growth without spending additional money.

By providing employee development and training opportunities, companies can get the most out of their employees. Don’t push employees to get comfortable with what they already know, push them to learn new things by giving them opportunities to grow within your company.