You may have heard the old saying “You’re only as good as the people you hire”. Whilst this maybe true in running your own business, it is also important that the business invests in developing staff.

By providing training opportunities and mentoring employees, you will make them feel valued by empowering them in their role. Here are a few others reasons why training and development is important in small business:

• Increased productivity: better trained employees = better business outcomes. Training and development can help curb inefficiencies and teach employees skills in areas to which they hadn’t had prior exposure.
• Job satisfaction: training allows employees to progress in their careers by teaching them new skills and setting them up for future roles. This leads to better job satisfaction and staff retention.
• Staff engagement: a business that values training, shows employees that the business values them and their development.
• Staying ahead of the game: training will allow businesses to stay current in their industry by keeping up to date with new technology, skills and information/resources.

It’s no secret, training can be very expensive, but there are a few ways which businesses can roll out training without spending tens of thousands of dollars.

• Lunch and learn – informal training sessions over lunch with the team. This is cost effective and it promotes internal sharing of information…not to mention social interaction! Content which is too much to be covered in 30 mins can be cut down into smaller bite size information sessions over a period of time, thus easier to digest.
• Team training day – many training companies in Perth can tailor packages to suit business needs, then roll it out on site. That way, businesses save on productivity costs and travel expenses. Would you rather lose a day of productivity, or numerous days for your employees to attend the same course on different days?
• Mentoring – developing individual training plans for employees and mentoring them yourself. This hands-on approach is bound to show your employee you value them.
• Online learning – many training providers have moved to an online platform for training courses. Again, this is a great way to save money, as courses are generally cheaper than classroom-based learning, and employees can undertake the courses at their own pace and at a time that suits them.

It’s important that when you are reviewing training, that you think about the learning objectives you wish for the employee to achieve, and how that will contribute to your business in the long run.

If you have any questions or would like to find out how we can help your business with training related queries, contact one of our friendly HR consultants today.