How do you view training?

An expense?. . . An investment?

Traditionally, in challenging economic times, all businesses come under pressure to cut costs and reduce expenses. Ways to reduce costs within the organisation include restructuring the business through redundancies, and cutting budgets in areas such as training and marketing.

A recent survey conducted by the CIPD of UK and Irish firms indicates that on average companies have reduced their annual training spend by a minimum of 26% in the first two quarters of 2009.

While this may yield significant reductions in the short-term for businesses. The long term affects of these decisions may have an overall negative impact on employees and the overall business.

But there are alternative ways to look at how a company should approach training and development in the current climate. Businesses need to recognise training and development as an investment and not an expense.

During times of organisational restructure and upheaval, employees are being called upon to assume additional roles and responsibilities, in some cases they are required to assume different roles within the organisation. This requires them to complete tasks they are not trained or comfortable in, which can lead to a reduction in staff morale and the quality of products and services being produced. This will ultimately have an impact upon the overall service experienced by the customer.

Training and development not only provides people with the skills and qualities necessary to do their job, but it also demonstrates an employers commitment to their staff.

To maximise your training budget you need to work smarter, here are a few tips on how to make the most of your training budget, to ensure the involvement yields the correct return for your business.

How to maximise your training budget:

1) Prioritise Your Training Needs

First, identify and focus on the critical training requirements of your business. Now more than ever all members of staff are required to be responsible for winning and increasing sales and networking with potential and existing clients, does your training focus reflect this?

2) Assess the real skills gaps

Stop and take time out to assess the real, not perceived skills gaps within the organisation. What skills and qualities does each employee need to be able to do their job to the best of their abilities? Use employee assessments to analyse the gaps and then tailor the training delivered to meet these needs.

3) Maximise different training channels

Assess the existing training recourses that you currently use, could these be delivered using different channels? It is possible to deliver training to large numbers of employees in an e-learning or webinar format?

4) Don’t cancel all classroom based learning

It can be tempting to, but scrapping all classroom based learning when training budgets are cut can be a mistake. Look at the current format of the classroom based learning, can this restructured to allow for blended learning with classroom interaction and employee lead learning.

5) Encourage employees to learn at home

Offer incentives to employees to attend training courses in their own time, for example offering to pay part of their fees, or their home broad band subscription for the duration of the course. Offering training in this situation will minimise disruption during the working day and encourages the employee to take responsibility for their learning and development.

6) Talk to your training providers

In the current economic environment, training companies should be willing to work with you on a partnership and cost effective basis. Work with them to develop a training strategy that meets your skills gap and your pocket.

Businesses are encouraged to continue to invest in the training and development of their employees, because as previous recession have proved, those who invest in training members of staff now, will find they will recover quicker once the economic downturn has passed.

For further information on our training solutions can prove to be the best investment for your business please contact Orla Doyle, Training Manager Innovo Training and Development – odoyle@innovotraining.ie