The Importance of Staff Training and Development

“If you look after your staff, they’ll look after your customers. It’s that simple.” – Richard Branson

In a world evolving quicker than businesses can keep up and with the pending economic downturn, staff retention should be on your business radar. A recent survey found the cost-of-living crisis has driven one in three workers to consider moving employers, with the main reason being an increase in salary.

This blog aims to shine a light on the importance of staff training and development, how training can be used to retain staff and why employees leave their jobs in the first place.

Upskill. Retain. Grow.

Employees want to learn new skills or re-train in order to progress in their career and as an employer, you should support them. By upskilling your employees, you unlock a whole host of benefits, some of these include:

Improved productivity

As employees develop their skill set, they can do their jobs at a more optimum level which equates to a better service for your customers but also creates a positive culture at work.

More accountability

By training your team, they can gain more accountability which inspires confidence, improves performance, and builds trust within your team.

An established standard for trained members of staff

When you establish this trained standard across your team, this provides a great career path for your employees to follow and will motivate your team to achieve their goals.

Opportunities for an employee by tracking personal growth

To boost this benefit further, reward your employees when they achieve their personal goals. By doing this, you not only motivate your employees more but also give back to your employees too.

Investing in employee learning and development not only benefits the employee but also the company as the employees become better to tackle any work challenges that come their way.

Why do employees leave their jobs?

Better Opportunities

When an employee identifies opportunities elsewhere, they may be prone to leave their employment. This could mean a job with better pay, better career pathways, and more.

Training employees is a great way to combat this. Opening up the floor to regular communication will help an employer understand what drives their employees and explore their opportunities for growth.

Feeling-Under Appreciated

This reason is one of those which is hard to measure but is still regularly reported as a reason for leaving a job. If employees feel like their contributions are not being valued, or they feel they receive little to no praise and recognition, their confidence can take a hit.

Employers should reward employees by offering incentives, challenges, and even awards. However, if we take this step to a day-to-day scenario, employers who regularly praise employees for their work, are more likely to retain a more content workforce.

Lack of Growth

Employees want the opportunity to grow and develop professionally.

Employees are more likely to stay in their roles if they feel their employers invest in growth, development, and expansion. We want to be abundantly clear; this doesn’t necessarily mean taking on more clients, it can simply mean the company has a forward-thinking approach and is always seeking opportunities to improve.

If an employee perceives the employer as being flexible, forward-thinking, and keen to seek out new opportunities, they will do better in retaining staff.

Is it time to rework your training offering?

As an employer, it’s your duty to ensure your staff not only feel valued but also have a clear path to becoming more skilled in their role. But, without a comprehensive understanding, you won’t be able to develop an effective employee development plan.

At Tercus HR, we’ll be able to help you become the employer that your employees look up to and create an employee training plan to be proud of.

That’s why we’ve developed an employee benefits guide that can be tailormade to suit your business.

Get in touch with us or email us hello@tercushr.co.uk.