Why Training and Development of Employees is Important for the Organization

Why is training your employees important for not only the employees but also the organization? This week, I sat down with Perminus Wainaina, an experienced HR Consultant and CEO at Corporate Staffing Services to find out why this is crucial.

By Cynthia Wakio 

1. Recently, you did a training for the Senior management of the Catholic Diocese of Muranga Secretariat, tell us more about that?

Yes, I facilitated an in-house leadership training for the senior management of the Catholic Diocese of Muranga Secretariat. They were planning to empower their staff on leadership skills not only for their personal growth but also to ensure they have a positive impact on their team and the organization as a whole by the way they lead, inspire and motivate.

2. When should organizations train their employees?

In this era, things are always changing and upskilling and reskilling your employees is important to keep up.

a. Need to acquire new skills: It could be you have introduced new ways of doing things or even new equipment into your work and they need to learn the new way of doing things.

The other instance is when new employees join you and have to be trained on how the organization runs to help them perform better.

b. Sometimes, employees don’t have the basic skills or have them but don’t know how to apply them. Training helps close this skill gap and motivate employees

c. When you find a skill gap among staff. It could be that training a staff to take on additional responsibilities where you consider hiring a new employee would cost you more.

d. Training can help boost employee morale which increases productivity and in turn can help retain your best employees as they feel valued. It also boosts client retention due to better customer service.

e. When there is change; eg; when you need to meet new compliance regulations or use new technology. This can help reduce lawsuits risks or even losing to competition by improving your efficiency.

3. What are the benefits of an employer training employees to both employees and the organization?

It goes without saying, the results are two-way. When you train;

a. As an employee, it helps with job satisfaction, morale, productivity and efficiency. Most employees also will feel valued thus are likely to stay longer with you. As a result, the organization can retain their best employees and retain a good reputation which increases your chances to even attract skilled talent.

They will also ensure that customers are served well which helps in client retention and even building new business.

b. Employees can take risks and be innovative. This has a direct impact on the business because where there is innovation and new ideas, the business can thrive

c. You ensure employees are empowered to do things right by observing the right standards and procedures. This has a direct effect on the company revenue

d. Change can be hard and having the employee’s buy-in is important to succeed. Thus, training to enable this helps employees feel considered and make an effort towards achieving the new set goals which ensures overall business success

e. Training will also help Improve moral, productivity and job satisfaction that leads to achieved deadlines and happy customers

4. Why do you think companies shy away from training their staff?

Most business owners especially SMEs feel that training is not a priority. They also fear that employees may not stay even after training them thus it is a waste of resources.

However, if you don’t empower your staff, you will lose either way. They will not deliver their best which would be a disservice to your business. Also, if you don’t train them, there is no guarantee that staff would still stay.

5. Final word to employers who want to train their employees?

Empowering your staff is not a waste of time and resources. Sometimes, it doesn’t cost you money to train. However, in cases where you need experts to come in, it is better to make this investment than waiting to pay even more at the end and we can help with that.

We don’t offer generic training; we meet with you first to understand your needs and customize your training to address the gaps in your organization. Send an email to events@corporatestaffing.co.ke and we will be of help.

Perminus Wainaina is a Certified HR Consultant and the Managing Partner at Corporate Staffing Services where he manages a team of 25 staff.  He helps CEOs, executives, and managers solve their HR pains, dysfunctions, and key challenges for business success.