eBusiness Weekly
By Dr Linda Haj Omar
Training now referred to as “Learning” and development provides a host of benefits not only for employees but organisations at large.
Training and development enhance employee performance, boost employee productivity, reduce employee turnover, and improve company culture.
By definition, staff training often referred to as Human Resource Development (HRD), is a management process of training the current staff of an organisation for enhanced staff performance and increase the organisation’s productivity.
Learning allows employees to acquire new skills, sharpen existing ones, perform better, increase productivity and be better leaders. Since a company is the sum total of what employees achieve individually, organisations should do everything in their power to ensure that employees perform at their peak.
The Benefits of the Continuous Learning and Development
When looked at from the point of view of employees, several areas can be identified as a result of organisational staff learning and development: it improves the individual’s level of awareness and skill in one or more areas of expertise, besides it upsurges the motivation to perform their job well.
Organisations with a mature learning culture, are three times more likely to use that fact as a recruitment tool when scouting for talent. This can be shown in the below points that reflect the impact and the importance of having learning and development as a strategy for organisational transformation.
Increased productivity: When employees stay current with new procedures and technologies, they can increase their overall output.
Reduced micromanagement: If workers feel empowered to perform a task, they typically require less oversight and work more independently.
Train future leaders: Organisations must have a solid pipeline of well-trained and innovative potential leaders to grow and adapt over time.
Increased job satisfaction and retention: Well-trained employees gain confidence in their abilities, leading to greater job satisfaction, a reduction in absenteeism and overall employee retention.
Attract highly skilled employees: Top recruits are attracted to firms with an identifiable career path based on consistent training and development.
Increased consistency: Well-organised training ensures tasks are performed uniformly, resulting in tight quality control that end users can trust.
Increased camaraderie: Learning and development help create a sense of teamwork and collaboration.
Bolstered safety: Continuous development helps ensure employees have the knowledge and skills to perform a task safely.
Ability to cross-train: Providing consistent training creates a knowledgeable team overall where employees can help train or assist each other as needed.
Added innovation: Consistently trained and educated employees can help develop new strategies and products, contributing to the company’s bottom line and continued success.
Learning and development initiatives are by nature educational activities that are designed to enhance the job performance of an individual or grouping.
Also, it can be used as a strategic tool for improving business outcomes by implementing internal educational programs that advance employee growth and retention.
The learning programs can focus on areas such as profit maximisation through improved efficiency, overall employee skills base and time management.
From a Human Resource Management (HRM) point of view, it is more beneficial and cost-effective to develop existing employees than to engage new talent.
The importance of staff training/learning and development cannot be underplayed as a catalyst towards organisational growth, especially in VUCA environments.
Training or learning programs can be created independently, that is, internally or outsourced to learning/training administration and this is where we come in as Medlico Research and Training Centre. We have an array of courses that we developed that are designed for staff capacity building, while we can, also work with organisations to tailor-make our courses to address their gaps. Our research and well-prepared courses can be undertaken through class orientations, classroom lectures, case studies, role-playing, simulations and computer-based training, including e-learning.
The e-learning is designed to open up training for those employees who might be limited from attending physically.
ADr Linda Haj Omar, is the Founder and CEO of Medlico Research & Training Centre. For feedback: Tel: (+263) 242 702326/7, WhatsApp: +263 777 553011/12, Email: [email protected]
