Ongoing demand for products and services in the Manufacturing, Engineering and Tech sectors, has led to the skills shortage becoming even more acute than it was during the recent recession. Training staff is key for businesses in these sectors.
For all businesses, this is a great time of year to plan how you are going to build and strengthen your team’s knowledge, capabilities and skills. Training should be ongoing, and ideally staff should have an opportunity to articulate their long-term career aspirations, with the business mapping out a training plan to help them achieve their full potential.
An employer argument that has been around a long time is about investing in staff training, and staff then leaving shortly afterwards. If staff get trained then leave, perhaps it is a lost investment. However, if you don’t train staff and they stay, what is the true cost to the business then? This argument is more compelling and so why not just be positive about training and helping all members of staff, regardless of how long you perceive they might be with the business.
If the business owner is still not convinced, then a simple training agreement could be put in place, which gives the employer the option of clawing back all or some of the training costs if they leave shortly after receiving training.
You could use training as a retention tool. Most staff enjoy going on an offsite training course, as it gives them a short break from work, a chance to explore a different city, and an opportunity to meet some different people.
My recommendation is to spend a little time with each of your staff, or if you are an employee, ask to see your line manager or HR manager. Work with them to map out a training programme that helps you to help the business.