Training and Employee Development Companies have long offered skill development opportunities to companies—but why are these needed? And are they worth it?
If you want to know what we think: we simply believe that investing in your staff’s development is always going to be worth some time and expense.
Of course, as a training company, we may seem biased. However, there are many reported and proven benefits to corporate training, both for individual employees and the company as a whole. These include:
Keeping your Business at the Cutting Edge
It’s often comfortable and convenient to do things the same way over a number of years, but it’s not always what is best for your business.
Corporate training can give employees the chance to discover new technologies and industry developments. This is great for your company reputation as it can keep you in line with (or give you an advantage over) competitors and can help you to stand out as experts in your industry.
Additionally, injecting a reasonable number of new ideas into your workplace can help your office remain a fresh and exciting place for your employees to work in.
It also means you’ll be less likely to be stuck using old, inefficient systems when there’s a better option out there which could be saving you time and money.
Better Employee Retention
If you’re aiming to develop lasting professional relationships within your teams and reduce employee turnover, corporate learning is only good news.
Consistent onboarding training can give new hires a strong sense of company culture, which can encourage them to stay for the long-term. Building this through-line for all new hires will immediately give your staff a common understanding, and a basis for building strong teams.
When it comes to more experienced employees, training can give them a sense of progression and allow them to develop new skills to keep their roles from feeling stale.
Overall, taking time for your employees’ professional development will allow them to feel valued as it is tangible proof that the company is willing to invest in them. In many cases, this boosts morale and company loyalty, and allows you to keep great employees with you for longer.
Increased Staff Skills and Expertise
Frequent corporate training has been shown to boost productivity. This is partly due to the increased morale among workers, as mentioned above. It can also be attributed to being more likely to have access to the newest, time-saving systems and technology. However, much of it simply comes down to this: training helps employees to become more competent at their jobs.
When a particular deficiency is having an effect on the team, offering assistance through training can be a far more positive solution than criticism or allowing resentment to grow from others. Courses chosen for individuals can help them to amend skills gaps but also to further develop areas of interest and expertise.
Training may also help staff members to expand the scope of their role in the future, becoming a valuable source of knowledge across several areas which are useful for your business.
Training and development programs which run for those in a particular team or at a specific level of management can impart shared knowledge which raises skill levels across the board and can spark professional discussions which further cement understanding.
Better Company Culture and More Effective Teams
Soft skills training sessions, like those based around teamwork, leadership, and management, can help your teams to function more effectively. Even the best groups of people might need some help with, for instance, working with those who have very different communication styles to themselves.
Leadership and Management training can also make all the difference in company dynamics. Often, employees are promoted to management due to their expertise in their field but may still need assistance in running a team. Even well experienced managers could benefit from expanding their toolkit by learning about alternative systems of management, or how to lead through major changes.
At the end of the day, businesses are built on people. The better your team are able to communicate and collaborate, the better for the company as a whole.
A cost-effective solution
Hiring someone new is often an expensive and time-consuming process. There’s the recruitment process itself, spending time getting them acquainted with your business’ systems and values, and then the risks of bringing in someone unknown and how they might affect the existing dynamic. Even after that, they may decide that the role is not for them during their probation period, and everything could start again.
Of course, it can be worth it when you end up with a brilliant new addition to your team, but that’s why corporate training programs can be so valuable.
As we talked about previously, training opportunities can radically improve your employee turnover figures, reducing the need for recruitment. When new roles emerge or open up in your company, training programmes can also give you the opportunity to utilise your existing workforce.
If you have someone excellent in IT support with a longstanding relationship to the company, why not consider helping them to close the skill gap between them and Systems Manager instead of hiring outside the business?
Find out what corporate training can bring to your business
For over 26 years, Elliot Training has been providing expert learning experiences to help companies develop their employee’s skills and knowledge across many different industries and sectors. Our specialities include IT skill building, customer care development, and leadership and management training.
- Working with businesses including Network Rail, Wessex Water, M&S, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, we are considered one of the UK’s leading training companies, delivering courses through instructor led sessions, online learning, and more.
Take a look at our brochure to find out more about the specialised training we offer to companies like yours across the country. You can also contact us today to book your first course or to find out more about our bespoke courses.