Training is recommended by many experts to increase the productivity of the employees. The success of any organization is determined by the productivity of its employees.
Before moving further, let us first understand the what exactly employee productivity is?
According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, employee productivity is an assessment of the effectiveness and productivity of a worker or group of workers. It is valued according to an employee’s output in a specific span of time.Let us say that an employee works 8 hours a day in an organization but are those hours of work productive?
This is the main question that every employer is asking to make sure that they fulfill the organizational goals. To increase employee productivity, one way is to train them for their respective jobs. Organizations should motivate their employees to take an active part in the training programs held by them. They should spend a considerable amount of money to provide training to the employees.
How training affects productivity?
If the organizations have educated, well-trained and knowledgeable employees, it will have a direct impact on their productivity.
If the employees do not know what to do he will definitely feel lost and confused. Not knowing what to do is worse. The productivity of an employee only increases when he knows what exactly he is supposed to do and providing training to them to perform the activity delegated to him. Training boost up the confidence of employees which makes them more productive.
National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce conducted a study of more than 3,100 U.S. workplaces and found that on an average if there is an increase in workforce education by 10%, it will lead to increase in productivity by 8.6%.
Ways training helps in increasing employee productivity:
- Employees get new skills:
A new sense of purpose is given to the employees when they acquire new skills through training. Employees get to know that the company is willing to provide them the opportunities for their growth and advancement. Employees need to acquire new skills to cope up with the change in technology and other new introductions.
- Employees get more confident:
Learning and acquiring new skills boost the confidence of the employees. When an employee knows what to do and how to do, it makes him more aware and he feels prepared for the upcoming tasks which makes him confident. Training must be provided to the employees to make them understand how to manage the tasks and activities with new and different procedures. Training is important in the situations of changes in the organization when the employees resist themselves of the changes. To minimize such resistances, training is an effective way as the employees will be given proper information about the modifications and how to deal with it.
- New employees get stimulated:
Providing training to the new employees give them a sense of business and career growth and advancement. Training is the best way to make the employees do their best. Having full knowledge and new skills help in increasing job satisfaction and make them more confident. Increase in confidence leads to an increase in productivity which is the ultimate goal.
- Helps in reviving old skills:
To cultivate the talent of your organization itself, ongoing employee training provides a great helping hand. It helps in preventing small and basic mistakes. The plus point here is that there is no need to spend a huge amount of money on new hires as retraining and reskilling the current employees in much easy and less expensive. In addition, current employees are well aware of the tasks and activities which they are supposed to perform which helps them in learning the new ways and skills in a better way.
- Helps in increasing employee satisfaction:
When the employees better understand the work that they need to do in the organization, it leads to job satisfaction. Employees get satisfies when they are given career growth and advancement opportunities. Skills and knowledge help in performing their duties optimally which further makes them satisfied. To give their best, employees need skills which they can acquire with the help of training.
- Helps in reducing employee turnover costs:
If the employees are not well satisfied or they are not enjoying the work that they are doing, the chances of turnovers increase. The cost of employee turnover can increase which includes separation costs, termination costs, unemployment compensation and severance pay. Replacing the employees includes the cost of attracting new candidates, conducting interviews, travel and moving expenses, and expenses of training. Providing proper training to the employees helps in improving their skills and knowledge. It also helps in increasing employee satisfaction which reduces the chance of them leaving the organization. Hence, reducing employee turnover costs.
A quotation by the American motivational speaker Zig Zigler sums up this point as:
‘The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is to not train them and keep them’.
Practice After Training
- Practice is the key:
Training is not a one-time event. It is an event that should cause a spur in the organization to change employee behavior. Providing training is not the only factor, the main purpose is to implement it. Before training them, make sure that all the systems are in place in order to implement the training as soon as it gets over.
- Transfer of skills:
The skills acquired by the employees through training should be applicable across all other possible departments in the organization. To keep your workplace increasingly engage, employees should be able to work in combination with other departments instead of being a competition. All these factors will help in increasing employee productivity.
Conclusion:
The goal of all the organizations nowadays is to increase productivity. To boost productivity, there are many processes, systems, and tactics that an organization should always remember. Training lays a foundation for the highest level of productivity on a daily basis. An organization can be a home to satisfied and knowledgeable employees only if the level of productivity is optimal. The organization which is full of satisfied, confident, well trained and highly productive employees will make a positive impact on the industry and economy as a whole.
Author Bio:
I’m Jessica Gross. I read and write every day on various topics related to society, culture, academics, business, and lifestyle. Also, I have been working as an academic consultant for Australian assignment help for more than a decade. You can catch me on Twitter.
