Training and development generally oscillates between being an imperative strategy or a dispensable one. The principal perspective is that any business is as good as its employees. New technologies and new trends are now a recurrent feature in the operating environment for any business. Placing a limited focus on training and development can ultimately cost a business. Last year, in the US for instance, expenditure on employee training programs increased by almost 13%. The average outlook was that most businesses kept their training budgets the same, whilst a few reduced them. This indicates that employee training and development is highly regarded in that economy. On the other hand, training and development are generally considered very expensive. All this sets the tone for this article where I then have to explore the pros and cons.

PROS

A Boost In Performance Levels

A well-trained employee who is up-to-date and intimately abreast with their job description is better-poised to perform optimally. A business’ growth depends on how productive employees are and that is a function of how well-trained they are. The new age of technology and social media that we are living in requires constant training and development to make employees conversant. This causes employees to adapt to new approaches and business strategies that pay off in the era we live. This also has a great bearing on augmenting your corporate image; something any pro of training will do for your business.

An Enhancement Of Value Proposition

The value proposition is a key component in luring customers to any business brand. With a well-trained task force that is conversant with what they do at all times, a business is able to offer products and services in a unique way far superior to other competitors. Customers always want the guarantee of having their problems or challenges addressed and a business’ portfolio speaks to that effect. Customers always have an eye out for assessing whether or not a business effectively does what it claims to be able to do. Therefore training and development enable employees to collectively offer a robust value proposition that lures more customers. Overall, this leads to high levels of customer satisfaction.

Gets Rid Of Weak Links In The Taskforce

The performance of employees calls on them to effectively work well and gel together. As the adage goes, ‘a chain is as good as its weakest link’, it means one’s employee’s shortcoming can be costly. Training and development programs aid in conducting regular appraisals that assist in the identification of shortcomings of employee capacities or processes. Regular training development is in itself a function of monitoring and evaluation. Often time dangerous assumptions are made on the capabilities and capacities of employees. Regular training and development help us to monitor and evaluate those aspects empirically. It is important that a business is characterised by a well-constituted structure and standardisation must be pristine. This is made possible by consistently conducting training and development programs. Such programs help to identify redundancies, overlaps, areas that need alterations and so on.

Curtailing Of Employee Turnover

Employee turnover is one of the biggest challenges any business can face. The securing and retention of employees is paramount. Training and development of employees makes them feel exclusive and indebted to the company – this results in their loyalty to the company being consolidated. Their workplace morale and self-image is boosted. Employees have a high affinity to stay at a company that shows that it’s willing to use money and resources to train and develop its own staff. This is because they feel valued and highly regarded for being treated in such a way.

CONS

Cost Implications

This is obviously the foremost con that most businesses base their indifference to training employees on. It takes money and resources to effectively conduct employee training programs. Considering that most businesses are cash strapped and struggling to make ends meet, training becomes a tall order for them. The truth is, most businesses appreciate and are willing to conduct training but it’s very costly.

Loss Of Uptime

The time spent on training sessions can potentially rob the business of productive time when those employees should be focusing on the core business. There are of course ways to gel training and uptime but in some cases, it’s not that easy. There have been several instances where I’ve gone to a business premise and failed to get the help I needed because the responsible employee(s) would be in a workshop on-site or even off-site. So this aspect can really branch off into many disadvantages for the business.

Possible Lack Of Meaningful ROIs

At times the tangible outcomes of employee training never actually materialize. The fact that you conduct employee training doesn’t always mean the expected intended outcomes will be wrought. Secondly, wrong approaches or types of employee training can be done which amount to nothing. So this ends up becoming an actual loss and waste of valuable resources.

Increased Pressure On Retaining Employees

A business owner might feel pressured to go to great lengths to retain trained employees. The pursuance of this can result in actually incurring costs in a bid to keep those employees satisfied. It can also result in business owners becoming overly demanding on the employee because they feel they are owed. This can affect employee morale and even performance in the long run.

So is training employees good or bad, what’s your take? There is no one clear answer; the different contexts and circumstances can make this distinction blurry. Ideally, employee training is extremely important. The creation of business value is largely dependent on how well-trained employees are.