Why is Staff Training Important?

One of the most important resources a business has is its people. Most organisations invest enormous amounts of time, money and physical resources into developing products and services to improve services or offerings to consumers – however, many are reluctant to invest in people. A majority of businesses don’t like to invest in training staff because they “get the training and then leave the business and we are out of pocket”. However, if you ask staff that have left organisations why they left, you will usually hear that there was no support for staff to develop our skills.

Why is staff training important? The answer stems from staff being the lifeblood and the backbone of any organisation. Unfortunately, staff is more often than not undervalued and their contributions to the business are under appreciated. As an employer we have the expectation that our people “know what they are doing, that’s why we hired them”. One of the best ways to show our people that we do value them is to train them.

What Should We Train Our People In?

The answer to this question will depend on your type of organisation and the industry that you are involved in. Opportunities for training can include but are not limited to:

  • Personality mapping – can be used to identify various personality types – this can assist in identifying the best training option for a person.
  • Upskilling – Teaching new technical skills to the worker to help them be more effective and provide the business a contingency to cover “gaps” created by sickness or holidays.
  • Soft Skills – things such as conflict resolution, negotiation, problem solving, decision making, communication, leadership, teamwork.
  • Internal policies and procedures – such as Hazard/Incident reporting, Purchasing, Manual Handling, Site safety rules.
  • Traineeships and Apprenticeships – These are nationally recognized courses that can be completed at various skill levels:
    • Certificate 1 and 2 (entry level qualifications)
    • Certificate 3 and 4 (trade level qualifications)
    • Diploma and Advanced Diploma (Advanced or Management Level qualifications)

How Can You Provide This Training?

  • Upskilling – can be completed in house by your organisation using a Subject Matter Expert (usually a senior experienced staff member or an inhouse trainer/assessor) or can be trained externally by a 3rd party (normally a registered training organisation).
  • Soft Skills – Can be done as in house training using your own procedures or can be outsourced to a 3rd party (can be consultants or a registered training organisation).
  • Traineeships and Apprenticeships – Must be done by a registered training organisation (RTO).

The level of investment of both time and money will vary depending on the type of training chosen:

  • Upskilling is primarily competency based so time taken will depend on the individual’s ability to grasp the skills effectively to be able to do the task correctly and safely.
  • Soft Skills – These can be as simple as a 1-hour session or more advanced at 1-2 days in duration.
  • Traineeships and Apprenticeships – These are the longest duration and usually have a minimum and maximum duration of
    • 12 months minimum 2 years maximum
    • 12 months minimum 4 years maximum

Why is Staff Training Important – The Benefits of Training

By investing time and money in training, staff can receive a number of benefits, some of which can be easily seen in the short term and some that take longer to develop.

The more immediate benefits can include:

  • Increase in productivity
  • Increase in staff morale
  • Decrease in incidents and accidents occurring
  • Increase in quality of product or service

Some of the longer-term benefits that can be observed include:

  • Reduced staff turnover
  • Increased staff engagement in developing new procedures or ideas
  • Larger staff pool for internal promotion when available

It has been shown that staff that are supported and given opportunities to grow their skill sets are happier in the workplace and strive to do the best they can. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs includes self-esteem and a feeling of belonging as an important human need, as employers if we can assist our staff to improve their self-esteem and self-worth they are more likely to stay with the business – this decreases the level of staff turnover that a business may have and will generally provide an increase in productivity – and, in the longer term, increase profits.

Seeking Advice On Upskilling Your Team?

You have questions such as ‘why is staff training important’ and we have answers. Our experienced HR support professionals are here to provide you with the tools, insights, and strategies to transform your approach and achieve outstanding team results. Discover how our dedicated HR consulting can help you foster a culture of continuous improvement and high performance by calling us for a free consultation on 07 3630 5695.