How Can Training and Development Truly Boost Employee Retention?

Hi,

Training and Development activities can become an effective tool for retaining employees. It is often observed that after receiving proper training and development, people tend to leave for better opportunities.

To address this issue, it is essential to focus on continuous learning and growth within the organization. Providing clear career paths, opportunities for advancement, and recognizing and rewarding employees for their development can enhance employee retention.

Regards,
Yashswa.

Hi Yashswa. That's the eternal dilemma: if you don't train people, some will leave; if you train people, some will leave. However, if you don't train people, you will have dissatisfied and angry customers dealing with poor products and services.

To keep people after the training, do all you can to increase employee engagement levels (or at least maintain them if they are already good). This includes-

-letting them see how their job fits into the big picture

-providing regular, timely and tactful feedback

-execs and managers doing what they say they will do

-providing regular information about the company

-allowing employees to have a say in how their jobs are done

-providing interesting work

-allowing for social interaction

-setting mutually agreed challenging goals

You can find out more by looking at the studies by Towers Perrin, BlessingWhite, Hewitt etc. For a more tailored response to your problem, find out why people are leaving by conducting and analyzing exit interviews. In addition, you could conduct an engagement or culture survey.

Vicki Heath

Human Resources Software and Resources

http://www.businessperform.com

Hi Yashswa,
I agree with Vicki, training is necessary and the benefits are reaped equally by the company as well as the individual. The company gains when its internal skill pool broadens, high customer satisfaction, low defects in productions, increased efficiency & effectiveness etc while the individual gains when his demand is higher than it used to be, he gains self importance, he has higher capacity and his job opportunity is high.
But the company has to take a risk in subjecting its employees to training & development. The employee might demand for better pay and the company should weigh the situation and negotiate for a win-win situation from a company's point of view.
Cheers,
Ashra

Hi Yashswa,

Really confusing strategy. Empowerment through Training & Development will inevitably lead to enhancement in the value of human resources, and consequently, lead to higher attrition. However, every employee looks forward to value addition in their present employment. An employee attached to such an organization would prefer remaining with the organization if he/she feels that further empowerment through continuous training and development programs will result by remaining attached to it. Hence, this might turn out to be a viable employee retention tool.

Regards,
Gulu

Hi all,

Thank you all for your replies and information.

Gulu, as you said, it is really a confusing strategy because you can't be certain about the loyalty of an employee even if they seem attached, especially if they receive a better opportunity outside.

Vicki, as you mentioned, it is an external dilemma and providing tools after training and development for retention. However, how can only a training and development program help with retention to some extent? Please reply if possible in the form of listed points so that I can elaborate on it in my write-up.

Regards,
Yashswa

Hi Yash,

True to what the other posters have said, training and development (T&D) goes beyond what can be quantified.

Let me help you focus on the very basic objective of Training & Development:

Training: carried out with the view to add skill sets to the current role so that it assists in carrying out the job/role more efficiently.

Development: carried out with the objective to give skill sets, behaviors, and attitudes, the results of which are seen over time.

The value add to an employee is immense. In fact, I wouldn't call it a confusing strategy because if you took ownership of implementing or spearheading it in your own company, then you wouldn't want to "showcase it as something you are not sure of how it works" :-) would you?

The strategy, I am sure, you meant was linked to an outcome, and one of the outcomes was using it as a tool for retention.

Recently, in a professional meeting, I was asked by someone if it is really worth it, should one go for T&D at all?

I presented the idea by saying, "If it's a choice and you want to decide whether or not you want to do it, then let me share with you that the future will always remain uncertain. Employees move, and many have their reasons to do so. The question then is whether you can retain them or not, and not whether Training and Development can help retain people... that's a wrong question to ask in the first place.

Coming back to IF and only IF one of your company's employee development objectives is to "add value to your people," then I need to suggest that... do not hesitate... JUST GO AHEAD and invest in it."

For this will do volumes for your company... and bring back a lot. :-)

I hope that answers your question too.

Best Wishes,

Nad

I agree with Vicki and Spellbinder.

If you don't train and develop, you are left with adequate employees performing adequately with adequate returns; and with the passage of time, what was once adequate becomes passé and returns become minimal. A very dead-end policy.

If you do train and develop, you are empowering your employees, raising performance and returns to new heights. Not only are you motivating your employees to raise their performance levels, but you are turning your organization into a learning organization, with all the benefits that this brings.

If you do not do anything further, yes, you are leaving yourself open to competitors poaching your best performers.

But if you use increased returns to improve overall compensation and benefits, and to give performance-based bonuses (not increments - increments will upset salary equity and may engender resentment in peers who have not performed that well), then you will retain good performers for a longer time.

At the same time, the ace performers should be encouraged to take other promising performers under their wing, and train and develop them to the extent they can.

And if it so permits, promotional incentives can also be given.

If even after this, ace performers leave to join the competition, do not despair - continue training and developing their peers and subordinates so that you have a highly trained team of performers while your competition has only one ace!

Training and developing employees gives your whole organization a competitive edge!

Jeroo