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Let me start by saying that it is a difficult question. Many companies in the last six months have closed their doors, while many others are doing their best to weather the current recession. Organizations seem to be doing this in many ways, mass layoffs and slashing budgets from left to right and center. Top of the list for budget cuts tend to be Training and Marketing. It is an easy decision to make. Thinking that we will only provide training when necessary, for example when new people join the organization and we remove everything else. But what is the impact of ‘eliminating the rest’?
Perhaps there is a different way of thinking about this. During difficult times, people who work in companies will need very different tools to do the work they are doing. This is especially true if cuts are made. The purpose of these cuts is to save money, but what impact will they have on the quality and service delivered to the customer? If people are removed from their jobs, lead times can be longer. If that job is given to others, people will burn out much faster, leading to higher rates of illness. People will be afraid to phone if they are sick if they are exhausted, so come to work and tired employees will make mistakes. All of these things will be detrimental to the business, leading to lost customers and ultimately lost revenue.
What other impacts could there be? Let’s think about the benefits of training and why organizations invest in it in the first place.
Training and development not only provides people with the skills they need to do their jobs, it also demonstrates the employer’s commitment to developing and improving its staff. In fact, this in most cases is part of an employer’s proposal to employees or is classified as a benefit. What if it’s something that’s been promised but then taken away? I suppose it would be a similar sentiment for an employer to tell employees that they will no longer pay their pension, all of which could lead to a reduction in morale and motivation.
Okay, lack of motivation won’t be enough to keep people from going to work or leaving. Let’s be honest, hardly anyone is going to quit their job with little prospect of a new one, but will this lack of motivation affect their work? It is probably a difficult decision to make.
But why keep investing in training? Well, maybe cutting your training budget is not the right thing to do, but maybe investing in different types of training is.
Thus, for example, equipping the management team with new leadership and coaching skills to better support and motivate their teams. Help the management team to identify how processes can be cleaned and smoothed without affecting quality. How team leaders can train their own teams to be more productive. How can everyone in the organization manage their time better and create more time to do other things? If you think about it, there is so much you could do.
The company could also view the current climate as an opportunity. If we are more careful about where we spend our money, then we will probably only spend it where we feel comfortable. Usually this means going back to a place that we know offers good products and, more importantly, good service. Why doesn’t the company think about what it can do to make sure customers who are still spending money are spending it with them? Again, an investment in customer service training could pay off for your organization. Not only this, but similar thoughts about keeping existing clients and customers also come to mind.
Not only must the investment be made in the right areas, but the company will also need to ensure that the learning is transferred back to the workplace. I have seen a company invest in training many times, but have done nothing to ensure that the learning is harnessed. Surely, if this is the case, then the business was wasting money to start?
Having clear personal development plans that support the need for training is now essential. Businesses need to think about where they are going now and choose training carefully, whether in-house or looking for external providers. They must also ensure that they maximize the investment by offering the right support to implement learning after the learning event.
Does this mean that training providers should reconsider what they offer? Probably yes. If companies need to rethink the training their staff need, training providers should try to guess that and offer what the companies need. I guess what I’m trying to say here is that there must be a consistent approach to training and development during the recession. Training providers need to think ‘what can I do to help companies and not have such a wide range of products and services that it makes it difficult for companies to find what they are looking for’.
The government seems to think that investing in training is a great idea. They are providing funds to smaller businesses through their Rescue Package for employers to invest in training. They are also providing training to the unemployed to retrain in new areas and acquire new skills. But what about existing employees? Certainly, companies should think about retraining, improving and retaining their talent, as this will help during the current difficult climate.
So perhaps the question companies should ask themselves is not “how can I afford to invest in training?” but “how can I afford not to invest in training?” No ‘how can I stretch my budget to cover all the areas that have been requested?’ but ‘which investment will have the greatest impact?’