Investing in training great way to grow your business

Now, switched on employers and employees know the value of knowing your stuff – of training, education and skills in other words.

Government help organisation Business Link says research has shown that equipping people with the skills a company needs has a number of valuable benefits.

l Increased productivity and quality of work. Someone who knows what they are doing is more likely to be able to do a job properly than someone who has to stop and ask every five minutes.

l An employee who is otherwise motivated to work, but struggles to do their job because of altered procedures or systems, is likely to become less motivated.

l Employees who do their work properly are likely to have happy customers. They are also likely to stay longer as part of a happy team and are less likely to throw sickies.

l A trained workforce can give companies a competitive advantage against all those companies that don’t invest in getting their employees up to speed.

Investing in training does cost money and higher paid employees do cost more – but Business Link says it has been shown that productivity gains from a strong training programme will far outweigh costs.

Having said that, nobody wants to waste money on inappropriate training. That’s why a programme should be directly linked to business goals and performance and is part of a business-wide strategy.

Training should also have tangible and obtainable objectives for employees and it is focused on helping employees carry out existing tasks more efficiently or to a higher standard.

The best way of choosing a type of training or training provider is to carry out a training needs analysis (TNA).

A TNA is a systematic way to investigate training needs of a business and can provide you information on what training might be appropriate. Staff can also be assessed to find their capabilities and aspirations.

There is a wide range of training methods available to fit business needs. These include in-house training, using external providers, distance learning and Learndirect.

Sources of information include trade associations and professional bodies. This kind of training may be most useful for a programme of continual professional development, says Business Link.

There are literally thousands of private sector training providers, including college and universities that offer courses that may benefit employees and businesses.

To find suitable names of potential providers is may be helpful to attend human resources and training exhibitions, look at professional journals or trade press. Suppliers of IT may offer or recommend training on the systems they have provided.

Recommendations can also be sought from business organisations or contacts, trade or professional bodies.

Information on further education colleges and publicly funded organisations can be found through the Framework for Excellence website at http://tinyurl.com/3wvg2pm