Author: Jim Riley Last updated: Sunday 23 September, 2012
People management - What is training?
Training can be defined as:
The process of increasing the knowledge and skills of the workforce to enable them to perform their jobs effectively
Training is, therefore, a process whereby an individual acquires job-related skills and knowledge.
Training costs can be significant in any business. However, many employers are prepared to incur these costs because they expect their business to benefit from employees' development and progress.
Training takes place at various points and places in a business. Commonly, training is required to:
Support new employees (“induction training”)
Improve productivity
Increase marketing effectiveness
Support higher standards of customer service and production quality
Introduction of new technology, systems or other change
Address changes in legislation
Support employee progression and promotion
Effective training has the potential to provide a range of benefits for a business:
Higher quality
Better productivity
Improved motivation - through greater empowerment
More flexibility through better skills
Less supervision required (cost saving in supervision)
Better recruitment and employee retention
Easier to implement change in the business
Effective training starts with a “training strategy”. The three stages of a training strategy are:
Identify the skills and abilities needed by employees
Draw up an action plan to show how investment in training and development will help meet business goals and objectives
Implement the plan, monitoring progress and training effectiveness
Given the costs involved, you might not be surprised to learn that many businesses do not invest enough in training.
Some firms don’t invest anything in training! Here are the most common reasons for under-investment in training:
They fear employees will be poached by competitors (who will then benefit from the training)
A desire to minimise short-term costs
They cannot make a justifiable investment case
Training takes time to have the desired effect – management are impatient!
Sometimes the benefits of training are more intangible (e.g. morale) than tangible – so they are harder to measure