Have you ever been in the unfortunate position of having to let an employee go, all the while feeling that if your company, or you, had invested a little more in training that employee, you wouldn’t be in the spot you are? Keeping him/her would have avoided downtime in the position and you wouldn’t now be in competition for the talent that is out there.
This month, I’ll give you some guidelines on how you can keep your valuable employees, make them even more valuable to the company and convinced they’ll never want to leave you.
The year’s end is a great time for managers to turn their thoughts to what they are going to do in 2011 to keep their employees fresh with new ideas, the latest strategies, and most importantly, keep those employees enthused about their jobs.
These thoughts should always focus in on training. A good, solid training program will eliminate costly revolving door positions in your company, and make your job as manager more successful, and profitable, too.
Training authorities have endless surveys and years of experience proving that companies that spend more on training will, in the end, spend less on recruiting.
Their equations look like this
More $$$$ training = less $$$$ recruiting
Zero time replacing employees = increased productivity
Trained, enthusiastic employees will represent you better, make fewer costly mistakes, get along better with fellow employees, stay in your company longer, and become more of an asset every year.
Not only that, but trained, happy employees are far less likely to be recruited out of your company, saving you even further dollars in replacement costs. Believe me, I know.
So, here are five things to think about when you start a training program, or if you are assessing your current training program.
• Budget: Make sure you have a “per employee” training budget and spend it. If your company is cutting expenses, resist the temptation to cut your training budget. It will hurt you eventually. If you think training is too expensive, just give me a call and I’ll be happy to tell you how much it would cost to replace those precious employees.
|• Individual/group training: Assess what your department needs. Do you have some employees who are better trained than others? If so, individual programs may be the answer. Don’t make your experienced people sit through basic training or training they don’t need. That’s not motivational. Instead, find them a program that is at their level and appropriate for their needs.
• Tuition reimbursement: While many companies offer this, many employees don’t take advantage of it. In most cases, it really does not qualify as job training. Encourage employees to find, or help your employees find, a training program that is appropriate and use these tuition dollars for this training.
• Training reimbursement: Many states have programs that will actually reimburse an employer for part of the cost for training. Check the website of your state Department of Labor to see if you qualify.
• Build rapport and have fun: This is the unspoken by-product of training your employees and it can be invaluable. Building rapport among employees often times happens outside of the work environment with more ease than on the job. Making your team gel as a team can not only make your life easier as a manager, but it can have real financial ramifications when your team does things easier, faster and cheaper.
See you here next month for our article, Find the truth in resumes.
Philip Kemper is founder/president of Kemper Associates, a 33-year-old Chicago-based national executive search firm, specializing in permanent and contract staffing for tradeshows and exhibits, staging and equipment rental, business meetings and events production, video, training and incentives and more. His more complete bio is on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/philip-kemper/2/795/308/. You may view Kemper Associates’ web site at www.Kemperassociates.net , and contact Phil with questions or comments, and employment needs at Kemperassoc@hotmail.com, or his private phone line, 312-944-6551.
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