How to increase staff retention and workplace efficiency simultaneously

A big challenge facing companies these days is how to hold on to top staff – the key team players in the business who are a real asset, and truly excel at what they do.

The last thing you want is to lose those employees to a competitor. Much like how you don’t want to lose out on that ultra-important business pitch, you don’t want to lose your top talent, either; especially when there are things you can do to hold onto them.

One of those things is to take advantage of essential training courses and use them to upskill your staff. This keeps them qualified in an ever-changing job landscape, not to mention helping with efficiency and overall sales improvement.

With technology becoming more and more prevalent in today’s market than ever before, expanding the capabilities of your team and offering them the opportunity to evolve is a great way to keep their minds in the business – and more importantly, in yours.

Competition for superstar staff has never been tougher – and we’re here to explain how upskilling your team is the best way to keep your MVPs.

Let’s start with some stats

A 2021 survey has found that pay is no longer a top contributor to job satisfaction across Australia, with workers instead valuing job security, workplace culture and flexibility more highly after the pandemic. With 4/5 workers admitting that they’re currently open to new jobs, compared with only 1/2 in 2020, businesses should address the wants of their staff to keep them. This means considering a hybrid working structure and close (virtual) communication to increase their team’s happiness. 

Investing in staff training is also a sure way to retain staff. According to a study by LinkedIn, a massive 94% of workers said they would stay at a company for longer if it trained them in new skills. Not wanting or seeing the value in investing in staff could cost you twice; by losing out on the increased profit they could bring to your business, and by losing them altogether to another company.

Simply put, failing to offer up relevant, helpful and essential training could mean your staff are more likely to lack motivation and scarper elsewhere.

Many companies fear the concept of training, as the last thing they want is to spend valuable time and money in developing their employees, only to have that person jump ship and take those skills with them. However, the stats tell us otherwise; staff are more likely to stay if they’re invested in, and training your workforce will help to improve your workplace efficiency.

Still need convincing? Here are just a few benefits you can reap by training your staff through online learning:

Establish and build loyalty

By taking the time to train an employee, you are helping them on their journey towards growth within the company. Not only this, but you’re arming them with some very powerful tools. From confidence in their current job to their value within the company, the more a staff member feels good about the job they’re carrying out, the more this will shape their view of the organisation and their role within it. And if an employee feels valued by way of relevant training, chances are, they’ll show this with company loyalty.

In a recent Tec report, 33% of CEOs asked believe that improving training will lead them to the right path towards drawing the right talent. If you fail to do this, those declining staff retention rates will only continue to nosedive; not your employee’s loyalty towards the company.

Provides a clear career pathway

One of the key things employees look at when accepting a role is how it contributes to their career; particularly in a time of great technological advancements. If you want to hold onto your best talent and up your workplace efficiency, it’s important to provide them with essential learning to help them carve their career paths and reach those all important goals.

Especially when the number of employment opportunities within tech is expected to increase by a pretty huge 12% by 2024 – according to a recent report by recruitment specialist Modis – it’s more important than ever to do what it takes to keep your staff before they fill a gap elsewhere.

So, whether you offer in-house IT training or external professional qualifications, as a company, it’s important to look for key ways of injecting career planning into the performance management process.

Reputation

An organisation that invests in its people will gain a reputation for being forward-thinking. More often than not, this helps to attract some of the best talent in the market. Employees who stay with an organisation for a few years often do so because they feel confident in their employer’s commitment to staff development.

Save money

Online training is an easy way to cut costs on upskilling your staff. Think of the money saved by the automatic removal of travel, venue, and associated instructor costs, by offering employees the chance to take their training into their own hands. Not to mention the amount of time saved when it comes to productivity. There will be no lengthy travel time taken out of the working day to go to a training event, leading to greater financial savings for your company.

Many companies shy away from investing funds into training their staff, largely due to financial reasons. But the key word here is invest.

Putting time and money into ensuring your team have the best skills possible to carry out their role, or fill vacancies, will likely have them staying with you for a longer period of time. With the added bonus of a highly trained and highly skilled workforce, this will result in jobs carried out more effectively, efficiently and to the highest of standards – providing a worthwhile return on investment.

Do you want to see some measurable impacts for your business?

Look at the previous training provided by your business and match it against your company’s needs. This can be anything from strategic priorities to qualification essentials and any other demands in-between.

Undertake staff satisfaction surveys, conduct appraisals, and ask for feedback. Then look at whether or not your current training regime gives way to the best business performance results. Chances are, you can be doing more for a healthier buck.

Even though the subject of investing in tech training is a fairly new way of thinking, the general idea of investing through training isn’t new. Let’s take it way back to 1999, looking at a staff research paper entitled “The Role of Training and Innovation in Workplace Performance”. A key finding of this paper highlighted that:

“labour productivity growth appears to be enhanced by the joint introduction of training and innovation. Introducing innovation in isolation can promote labour productivity growth, although its returns are increased by the presence of training.”

Upskilling your staff doesn’t have to set your business back financially. With such a range of training and learning opportunities, there are ways of applying staff training options to suit everyone’s working week.

Watch our quick video to learn more about the importance of upskilling your team:

Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help to keep your employees engaged and show company value, all by investing in training. Not only will this help to keep your staff feeling satisfied and highlight more efficiency in their way of working, but it should help to keep them working for your cause, and your cause only.