Across the US, Canada, France, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, the #1 skill that learning and development professionals feel is needed in the new world of work is resilience.
60% of employees feel that workplace training will help them become adaptable to change (resilience).
Anthony Santa Maria demonstrated a 218% higher income per employee when effective and comprehensive training is provided.
So, it is not a question of does a company need to provide continuous learning, but can they afford not to?

Why is staff training important

Companies can gain many benefits from providing learning opportunities to their staff. The product and benefits of an effectively trained staff member far outweighs one that is not.

However, it is not only about the benefits gained from providing training, but the reasons to begin in the first place.

For example, a job offer that outlines the learning opportunities the company provides results in increased attraction to the job. However, the actual benefit of delivering on the learning opportunities promised results in increased retention.

Likewise, creating a culture of learning and development results in increased empowerment. However, actually providing effective learning and development results in staff motivation to learn and improve.

In these examples, the reasons to start offering learning opportunities are to increase attraction to work for the company and to empower staff. However, the benefits from the training are retention and motivation to learn.

While attraction, empowerment and engagement are important, staff training is vital to gain retention, staff motivation to learn and increased performance.

Increase attraction to be able to increase retention rates

As the above example outlined, providing an overview to prospect employees of the learning opportunities available will increase attraction to working for a company. Gallup indicates that 59% of millennials focus on their opportunities to learn and grow in a company. However, this alone is not the importance of training.

An importance of training is to increase staff retention rates so that you can retain staff who are highly motivated to learn. Increased retention rates have many benefits that include decreased re-training costs, ease in maintaining a company culture, and low re-hiring costs.

Additionally, retaining staff who are willing to learn and grow will find new opportunities within the business according to the LinkedIn 2021 Workplace Learning Report. The report highlights that 51% of learning professionals believe internal mobility of staff is a higher priority now than before COVID.

By providing learning opportunities to staff members will not only attract them to the role, but will retain them within the company. As staff members learn and grow, so too the company.

Create a culture of empowerment to be able to increase motivation to learn and improve

A company may have a suite of learning materials available on a drive, however, having the technology to deliver learning does not lead to empowerment or motivation to learn. The technology is only a platform to deliver the training.

A culture of learning and empowerment needs to be created. This is not easy to do. A company can easily say “yes, we empower our staff to learn with our suite of learning materials accessible on the intranet only available on staff computers”.

See the point here?

Regardless of where the training materials sit, staff need to be empowered to learn. Providing effective learning opportunities demonstrates the culture of learning and that the company is willing to invest in the improvement of their employees.   

With the effective learning opportunities that are part of a learning culture, staff motivation to learn and grow increases. As motivation increases, so too does retention and staff performance.

Boost employee's engagement to be able to increase staff performance

Kirstie Greany explains that when companies successfully engage with their employees, they feel empowered, supported and valued. Engagement can occur through learning opportunities such as training specific to the job or involvement in different activities with more skilled peers.

Engaged and happy employees are key drivers to a successful business, that with effective learning opportunities, can result in up to 22% higher profits.

When a staff member feels valued for their commitments, this will show through their performance. An increase in performance (from training efforts) is due to two reasons:  staff loyalty and staff competence.

Loyalty

When employees feel a sense of belonging to a company, this is reciprocated through their dedication, commitment and attentiveness.

Competence

Providing learning opportunities to staff to learn new skills will improve their job performance. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, as staff learn and grow new job opportunities will be created for them in the company.

As staff performance increases, and they are continually rewarded with further training, so too will retention increase.

How can you start to implement staff training opportunities

There are many ways in which you can begin to offer your staff learning opportunities. However, here are three (3) quick and easy to implement suggestions.

On-the-job experiences

Elucidat reports that 93% of learners prefer to learn on the job. You can implement this by providing opportunities to try new tasks or job roles within the business. This may be part of taking on new or different projects. Accompanied with the opportunity to reflect, be provided guidance and work alongside more experienced peers will provide on the job learning opportunities.

Collaboration

The second most desired opportunity to learn from Elucidat (90% of learners) is to work with their colleagues. As the above suggestion, this can be achieved through project work with support from more experienced peers. Again, providing guidance and opportunities for reflection are vital for staff members to learn and grow.

Outsourcing training

Training as a Service (TaaS) compliments the above opportunities. TaaS is a subscription service provided by Corporate Training Solutions Australia to support you in providing ongoing training to your staff.

Each month, courses are offered and will be delivered (regardless of how many of your staff are enrolled), even the less common courses will run.

This service is to support you in making your staff feel empowered, competent and able to achieve without you breaking your training budget.

The Wrap Up

Staff training is important to the success of a company. It is not about if training is needed but rather, can a company afford not to offer it?

With increased retention rates, increased motivation to learn and improve, and increased staff performance, opportunities for learning are vital for each company.

Learners want to learn through on-the-job experiences and collaboration with their peers. These efforts alongside TaaS provides staff members with the learning opportunities they desire. Click here to learn more about TaaS here .