There is one statistic that clearly demonstrates why the failure rate among legacy companies and retailers is skyrocketing and online businesses are booming. Twenty six major US retailers have filed for bankruptcy or announced liquidations so far this year.
It is absolutely extraordinary that the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics found that companies with fewer than 100 employees gave only an average of 30 seconds of manager training a week. Companies with 100-500 employees provided just 12 seconds training per week on average. Wow, with that level of training customers should be swept off their feet. This proves that all of these companies that complain about the tough economic climate, the difficulty in getting good staff, the unfairness of online retail should not be blaming anyone or anything for their failure. They are failing because of their own total incompetence.
A long-term research project commissioned by a major University for Work Based Learning found that from a 4,300 workers sample, 74% believed they weren’t achieving their full potential at work due to lack of development opportunities. While I have no figures to support this, from my experience, I suspect that the other 26% have very little ambition and are happy being incompetent.
Chuck Gallozzi – Founder and leader of the Positive Thinkers Group in Toronto says “We have an innate desire to endlessly learn, grow, and develop. We want to become more than what we already are. Once we yield to this inclination for continuous and never-ending improvement, we lead a life of endless accomplishments and satisfaction.” That all sounds great except that out of over 3 million people in Toronto, only 1 in every 37,000 people belong to it. The other 36,999 in 37,000 are not seeking never ending self improvement.
Ongoing training is essential for employee development and the growth…in fact the survival… of a company. The lesson is to invest in retaining and developing your present employees. After all, the cost of retaining present employees is a fraction of the cost of replacing them. Help employees expand their knowledge by offering more training options. Offer them the opportunity to move up in the company to a better position and a better salary.
So why do companies ignore continuous training session for employees? Firstly, many feel they are expensive, employees won’t listen anyway and besides, employees miss out on their work time while attending these sessions. What they fail to understand are the benefits of these continuous training sessions and how they contribute to the organization overall. Benefits of conducting these programs are far greater and longer-lasting. Let’s take a look.
• Continuous Training reduces weak links and avoids repeating the same mistakes.
• Continuous Training increases employee satisfaction. It shows employees that they are valued. It helps them move up the learning curve and work harder. They will know that the training they do can take them into other positions with better growth opportunities and/or better pay within the organization.
• Continuous Training boosts employee performance, empowers employees. It gives them confidence and keeps them up to date on new developments. This confidence pushes them to perform better and think of new ideas to excel.
• Continuous Training should be done on employers time. Because employees are being trained on your time, they see that you value them enough to invest in them
• Continuous Training helps you stay ahead of the competition. Make sure your staff is constantly advancing and you will continue to move forward and be more competitive in the marketplace. Standing still can kill your business.
In my experience, every organization should produce a training and development plan for all employees. Training and development are broadly defined as those activities aimed at raising the standards of employee practice and thus lifting the quality of the employee’s and customer’s experiences. The aim is to empower all employees to carry out their roles to the highest standards and deliver high quality services to customers every day and every time.
Companies such as Amazon, Costco, Metro Bank UK, and others look at training and development as an essential tool of their business and choose to value the potential of their people and grow them. There is a direct correlation between a well-designed training program and the bottom line of the business. Your image is influenced by the extent and quality of staff training and development. That means training has to be continuous to achieve your goals. Regular training is well worth the investment because building up the skills within the business will effectively improve your company’s bottom line.
CFO asks his CEO, “What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave the company?”
CEO answers, “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”