The current pandemic has forced several businesses to halt operations while several others are operating at partial capacity. At a time when many businesses have been forced to let go of a percentage of their workforce and there is no clarity about when the situation would improve, businesses must find ways to make the most of the resources they are paying for every day.
So how do you make use of resources that are not allowed to carry out their daily responsibilities or even visit the office?
The answer is simple- by training them.
Now, you might be thinking that employee training is just another added expense at a time when you need to cut your costs. However, the truth is, the benefits of employee training in the form of improved productivity and retention numbers will be felt as soon as your business opens its doors again once things get better.
Still not convinced? Here are three more reasons that prove that right now is the best time to invest in employee training:´
Training Without Affecting Productivity
Consider the situation when you train your employees when your business is operating in full capacity. Chances are, you will have to carve out the training time from the time that the employee is paid for.
However, in the current situation, employees can be trained without any effect on their core deliverables since they aren’t working.
Moreover, since you are already paying them, you can make sure your employees are dedicatedly taking the training and unlocking new skills.
Online Employee Training Is Affordable
Contrary to what most people believe, providing online training to employees is actually an affordable undertaking. This is because online training does not require you to pay for expensive training infrastructure or even the additional costs (of travel and accommodation) associated with hiring instructors.
There are blended learning solutions that you can employ to create an immersive and engaging online learning experience for your employees that holds them accountable for their progress.
The best part is, the online training infrastructure that you build right now will be relevant for training employees even after the pandemic situation is resolved and your business starts operating normally.
You can use it to train new employees or simply create more courses to help your employees develop new skills in the future.
If you are thinking why you should do that, the answer is present in the next section of this article.
Get Access To More Skilled Talent When You Resume Operations
Training employees offers multi-pronged benefits to organizations. Imagine getting back to business with your existing team that has developed fresh skills. Your businesses’ journey to recovery will be a lot faster with the support of a better-skilled workforce.
The benefits of employee training also include improved employee loyalty. When your employees realize that their employer is actually investing in making them more employable by helping them add skills to their resume, they will be better motivated to bring the best to work whenever your organization’s operations resume.
Similarly, training and development opportunities will act as an added perk that current and future employees can look forward to, improving your employee retention numbers.
Conclusion
Businesses that find ways to productively use this downtime are bound to be successful once the storm passes and things become normal and competitive again. Is your business among such organizations?
How are you utilizing the current downtime to stay productive? Tell us in the comment section below!
