Why Investing in Employee Training & Development is Worth the Cost

In today’s global and highly competitive market, business leaders are constantly challenged by inventing creative solutions to improve their services and products. Only highly-skilled, motivated and engaged top talent can successfully navigate in a fast-paced, demanding and constantly evolving work environment.

It is becoming increasingly clear that, in order to attract and retain said talent, organizations have to invest in the continuous professional training and development of their employees. This component has become an integral part of a robust Total Rewards Package employers can offer to position themselves in today’s market. Strong leaders need to be able to continually refine and improve their skill set to effectively manage focused and goal-oriented teams.

3 Benefits that Outweigh the Cost of Employee Training & Development

As an HR Consultant who works with all levels of the organization, I’ve made the following observations around training and development strategies.

1) It Creates a Competitive Advantage

When competing for top talent, business leaders are forced to rethink their Total Rewards Strategy. By offering a comprehensive benefits package that places emphasis on a well-rounded employee development program, candidates may be attracted to your organization rather than your competitor’s. Well-trained employees allow for a more agile and flexible response to changes in the marketplace. It will further help identify aspiring and driven employees as ambitious talent will seek out advancement opportunities and will be fueled by the opportunity to challenge themselves.

2) Upskilling Adds Value

Investing in a comprehensive training for the existing human capital empowers higher performance with decreased error margin and higher productivity. It further allows for diversification of job roles by cross-training employees and increasing their proficiency in cross-functional areas to assume different roles within the organization and therefore decreasing the need for additional hires and being able to significantly mitigate costs.

Additionally, this would have a positive effect on the employee’s morale, as self-esteem and the ability “to make an impact” is important to make employees feel valued and they will, in turn, care about the organization’s success.

3) Allowing Employees to Grow Professionally Increases Engagement

Employees with access to training and development programs have the advantage over employees in other companies who are left to seek out training opportunities on their own. The training creates a supportive workplace. Employees may gain access to training they wouldn't have otherwise known about or sought out themselves. Employees who feel appreciated and challenged through training opportunities may feel more satisfaction toward their jobs. This engagement expands past the retention; it builds commitment to the organization’s sustainability and long-term success and provides an invaluable Return-On-Investment.

Investing in training and development provides an invaluable long-term ROI to support the organizational growth. Well-trained employees are an asset to the business due to their increased motivation, loyalty and productivity. Longevity not only reduces recruitment cost, but can result in cost savings across the board due to the establishment of a solid talent pipeline that will meet and exceed organizational goals.