Providing access to training and development can improve retention by up to 12 per cent, according to research by Korn Ferry Hay Group. Their study, based on 17,000 employees worldwide found that 65 per cent felt opportunities to learn increased their loyalty to the company, while also improving team morale overall.
It’s therefore crucial to leverage the clear link between training and staff engagement and retention. Here are my five top tips.
1. Embrace your emotional intelligence
In our experience, investing in training has helped us in three clear ways. Firstly, practically, it enables staff, providing them with the necessary skills to succeed. Secondly, psychologically, it engages staff, ensuring they feel valued and invested in. Thirdly, it has a direct correlation to customer satisfaction. As a result of the training we provide on the job, our team deliver the best possible service because they are equipped to deal with customer requests, efficiently.
Point two on engaging staff through emotion is interesting because it is often overlooked. The psychological aspect is hugely motivational. This is because, the more people feel valued, the more they will give back in return. Not just because they have the skills to do so, but because you have given them the inclination.
2. Invest for growth
Training needn’t be expensive. But the money you invest should be spent where future growth is likely. A lot of companies still make the rooky mistake of either focusing on senior development, ignoring the rest of their workforce; or spreading expenditure too thin across the entire workforce, offering such a sparse covering that return is minimal.
Our PR agency is a great example of a company using training to drive growth. In 2014, they realised they could grow by offering digital services and content creation alongside traditional PR. Over the next two years they spent time and money equipping staff to offer the technical and design resources being sold by their main competitors: SEO and advertising agencies. At a time, where they were at risk of being squeezed by competition from rival marketing disciplines, they used a combination of training tactics: paid-for seminars for staff hosted by experts; time to attend relevant webinars; and mentorship from specialists. As a direct result, they know have a skilled workforce and have increased revenue by 32%.
3. Invest en lieu of recruitment
It’s hugely expensive to recruit. We all know that. In fact it’s almost unfeasible when you consider the costs incurred as you wait for new recruits to come up to speed.
Therefore minimise this expense by supporting and preparing current staff for internal promotion. Set them challenges to undertake which will result in their rise through the ranks.
In my opinion, the most effective forms of training are: 1) on-the-job training, 2) being mentored by line managers, and 3) attending online courses provided by suppliers (for example we use SEMrush as a tool for SEO and they offer three related seminars a week). I think this combination is they’re effective because: you’re not waiting to attend an expensive course; they are linked to work performance and the job you want them to do; and they usually happen spontaneously, when the employee actually needs the training.
To support that theory, the CIPD have recently published the following:
5 most commonly used training practices, based on survey of managers worldwide by CIPD in 2015
1. On the job training (48% used, 47% effective)
2. In-house training programmes (46% used, 34% effective)
3. Coaching by line managers (32% used, 40% effective)
4. E-learning courses (29%, 12% effective)
5. External courses (27% used, 15% effective)
4. Ensure staff have time to train
Often middle managers are time poor and under immense pressure to deliver on short-term targets. So they feel unable to take ‘time-out’ to learn even if it ultimately benefits both them and the company.
This was the very honest feedback we received last year when we undertook an anonymous, all-staff survey. While new recruits and the senior team were satisfied that they had space within their workload for training, team managers physically felt unable to step away from their day-to-day demands.
To address this, we drew on our flexible working policy. We encouraged middle management to work from home regularly, to give themselves the head space, away from the relentless stream of team enquiries, to focus on learning.
5. Measure the impact
It’s really important to measure the tangible impact training has on your bottom line.
If you align training with business goals and growth strategy you are more likely to maintain continued delivery.
Don’t train for training’s sake but train to achieve a particular goal. For example, if you want to train customer service staff to drive repeat spend, measure the spend before and after the training to measure how much it has improved as a result.
