Why Businesses Should Invest in Employee Training

Why businesses should invest in employee training

Extensive and thoughtful employee training can improve company morale and talent retention, ultimately saving your business money. Consider the following top reasons to invest in employee training.

1. Investing in employee training helps attract and retain talent.

Providing high-quality training and employee development programs can help businesses improve recruitment efforts and boost employee retention. According to imc Learning, 92 percent of job seekers will choose a business that provides robust training over a similar option. Additionally, 52 percent of employees have left a role due to a lack of training and advancement opportunities — and 86 percent said they’d stay with their current employer if training opportunities were available. 

A business that prioritizes employee training strengthens its recruitment and retention efforts while positioning itself as a leader in employee satisfaction and development. 

2. Investing in employee training can help you identify promotable employees.

Interestingly, in SHRM’s 2024 Talent Trends report, 35 percent of human resources (HR) professionals say training existing employees to take on hard-to-fill positions is a top-utilized recruitment strategy. When you identify and mentor talented team members to move into crucial positions, you save money on recruitment and leadership succession by developing qualified professionals who understand the company culture and goals. 

“Dedicated training programs specifically designed for succession create a ready pipeline of leaders at all levels, reducing emergency hiring and ensuring business continuity,” explained Amy Spurling, CEO and founder of the HR technology company Compt. 

Identifying employees to promote from within also saves money, boosts retention and speeds onboarding. “Training your employees to have skills across multiple areas will make it easier to fill internal vacancies and reduce the need for external hires,” said James Zhong, an operations manager at RJ Living who oversees the company’s HR. “This will make your team more flexible and open to change should the need arise.”

3. Investing in employee training can increase employee engagement.

Training your employees is an excellent way to give them a break from their usual work and potentially expand their interests. Participating in interesting and productive projects and activities, such as training programs and professional development courses, can help promote employee happiness and improve employee engagement.

As a bonus, engaged employees tend to be loyal. They know you’re willing to invest resources to improve their skills and careers and appreciate your commitment to their future. According to LinkedIn’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report, 80 percent of surveyed employees say learning and development opportunities add a sense of purpose to their work, and 70 percent say they feel more connected to their employer when given such opportunities.

Additionally, SHRM data revealed that 76 percent of surveyed employees are willing to stick with a company that offers continuing learning and development opportunities.

The bottom line is that your willingness to invest in your employees’ training and development inspires them to invest as much hard work as possible into your business.

4. Investing in employee training can save a business money.

Effective training programs can empower employees to hone new skills and extend their talents across various areas. Businesses can tap these multi-skilled employees to handle various functions and easily transition them to new organizational roles. This approach saves the business money on recruitment, onboarding and training costs.

Additionally, trained employees are less likely to make costly errors because they better understand processes and expectations. Well-trained employees also tend to work more efficiently, which improves productivity and reduces the need for overtime or hiring additional staff.

“Businesses and industries are changing, and investing in employee training will make [companies] more able to adapt to new challenges, technologies and processes,” Zhong said. “If there are sudden changes or periods of transformation, having this sense of adaptability will make it much easier to maintain productivity.”

5. Investing in employee training helps shape an organization’s future.

Businesses that incorporate training and development programs consistently refine and update their offerings. This attention to detail makes these organizations more responsive to employees’ needs, interests and goals while helping them stay on top of industry trends. 

“Training isn’t just about solving today’s problems — it’s about preparing for tomorrow,” explained Tim Glowa, founder at HRbrain. “Tailored programs can address future skill gaps and help businesses stay competitive as industries evolve. Many organizations now are focusing on analytics and AI [artificial intelligence] and encouraging employees to develop these skills, helping [bring forth] the company of tomorrow.”

Spurling emphasized the importance of incorporating industry trends and competitor offerings into employee training programs. “Well-trained employees better understand industry trends and competitor moves, helping your company stay ahead of market changes rather than just reacting to them,” Spurling noted.

6. Investing in employee training boosts innovation.

Spurling noted that gathering employees across teams for unified training can lead to solutions that might not have emerged otherwise. In other words, employee training — when conducted with all teams in the same room — can be a direct conduit to team innovation.

“When employees from different departments train together, they spark new ideas that can transform your business,” Spurling said. “[Compt’s] engineers and customer success team often work together to inspire product improvements with direct customer feedback that we never would have considered otherwise.”

How to invest in employee training

Here are a few ways to implement effective employee training in your business.

Create mentorship opportunities. 

Mentorship programs are an effective way for companies to attract new employees and connect workers with skilled professionals who can guide and support them. Through mentorship, employees at all levels can strengthen their skills and feel empowered by partnering with a professional in their field who provides valuable guidance and advice.

Mentorship programs can be structured formally or informally in a one-on-one or group setting led by one mentor. Sessions can occur as often as participants prefer — whether weekly, monthly or quarterly.

Provide access to online and offline learning resources. 

Online learning platforms, such as LinkedIn Learning, are a cost-effective and easy way for employers to train team members. These platforms use insights from outside industry experts on topics that span various subjects, including business and technology. They’re a way for companies to provide elevated training for their employees without having to create new and original content themselves. 

Spurling suggested pairing online resources with internal in-person training. “For example, pair LinkedIn Learning courses with internal mentor sessions for maximum impact.”

Companies can use online learning subscriptions as supplemental materials or incorporate lessons as part of the training program’s curriculum. Alternatively, they can use the learning platform as an autonomous solution for workers to strengthen their skill sets independently.

Start a learning and development department.

Creating an HR department focused on learning and development can help your company strengthen and invest in employees’ skills while boosting engagement and retention. According to the LinkedIn Workplace Learning report cited earlier, 90 percent of organizations are concerned about retention and see learning opportunities as their number-one retention strategy. This creative perk can also be a big selling point during the hiring process, demonstrating that your company is willing to invest in empowering its employees. 

Zhong emphasized the importance of providing engaging microlearning opportunities. “You don’t have to do everything all at once,” Zhong advised. “You can easily incorporate bite-sized, on-demand training modules to make learning more accessible to your workers, which will also lessen the chance of [training] disrupting their daily processes. It also means that people can move at their own pace.”

Provide frequent and informal reviews. 

Employees can’t improve in their roles if they are unsure about what needs to change. To keep employees motivated and engaged, regularly check in to provide feedback and support, see if they need anything additional to succeed and discuss any roadblocks they’ve encountered. 

Don’t wait to provide feedback during an annual review — this can unintentionally create an unhealthy environment where employees view reviews as a significant and stressful endeavor. Instead, encourage open communication by giving informal feedback more frequently. This approach allows employees to swiftly implement suggestions and improve themselves.

Spurling suggested basing feedback loops on metrics so employees know how and where to improve. “Track not just [employee training program] completion rates but actual skill application,” Spurling advised. “Have managers document when and how employees use their new skills to justify future training investments.”

Offer professional development workshops. 

Hosting recurring workshops across a wide range of topics can be beneficial in developing employees’ skill sets. Providing professional development workshops that cover skills like time management, public speaking and professional relationship development can help employees across all departments become more well-rounded, motivated and engaged. This approach benefits both remote and in-person teams — sometimes, remote teams are more engaged than office workers.

Notably, you and your company don’t have to do all the teaching yourselves. Bringing in experts as featured guests to facilitate workshops may be a more effective option.

Leverage cutting-edge technology to optimize your training.

Determining the areas where your employees need the most training can be tricky. Glowa noted that AI has made this challenge much easier to address.

“AI is revolutionizing training by identifying skill gaps, recommending targeted upskilling and aligning growth opportunities with business goals,” Glowa explained. “It’s a game-changer for personalizing employee development and building a resilient workforce and [it] provides an essential way to aid development that many employees are missing.”

Types of employee training to consider

Employee training isn’t a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Effective programs include many types of training, including the following:

• Digital fluency programs: Spurling recommended digital fluency programs to ensure your team masters all the technology it uses. “[Digital fluency] goes beyond specific tool training to develop employees’ ability to evaluate and adopt new technologies quickly,” Spurling explained. “[It] includes frameworks for assessing new tools, change management principles and rapid learning techniques. [It’s] especially helpful for workplaces with a wide variety of generations and cultures.
• Scenario-based training: Training programs modeled on actual situations employees are likely to encounter can significantly improve their chances of real-world success. For example, role-playing to engage your sales force can boost the likelihood of actual sales in the field. “Develop programs using real-life scenarios and situations that simulate real-world examples you would see in the workplace,” Zhong suggested. “This makes the learning process more hands-on and applicable, helping your employees build confidence in situations they might encounter.”
• Business financial literacy training: Since professional development programs often identify and prepare tomorrow’s leaders, it is essential to train employees on key performance indicators and executive-level thinking. Spurling named business financial literacy as an especially effective focus for this kind of training. “[Business financial literacy training] helps employees understand business metrics and decision-making impacts,” Spurling explained. “[It] covers how different roles affect company financials, basic business modeling and connecting daily decisions to bottom-line results.”
• Resilience training: Work isn’t always easy — and sometimes, it can take a significant toll on an employee. Resilience training teaches employees how to navigate these tough moments. “Resilience training programs focus on stress management, adaptability and well-being,” Zhong shared. “This approach helps support employees’ ability to handle pressure and change by giving them tools to enhance their mental well-being.”
• Onboarding training: The onboarding process can last anywhere from three to six months, during which you continually train your employees on their precise job responsibilities and business policies. This way, after successful onboarding and supervision, they can confidently and accurately complete their work. They’ll also build a foundation from which to go through other types of training.
• Technical training: Employees who work directly with applications, products or services require technical training to design, build, implement, maintain and operate your products and other offerings. This training will likely involve advanced skills that employees can transfer into other responsibilities at your company. When training is particularly effective, you may upskill your employees so rapidly that internal hiring for future tech roles becomes a clear advantage.
• Compliance training: If your company must comply with industry-specific regulations, ensure that employees performing regulated functions are trained on how to remain compliant. This type of training keeps your business out of trouble with the law and empowers employees to brainstorm innovative yet legal ways to streamline processes. Additionally, all businesses should conduct one specific type of compliance training: safety training. After all, as per federal law, all workplaces must be Occupational Safety and Health Administration-compliant. 
• Soft skills training: Any nontechnical, everyday skill, such as active listening, problem-solving, critical thinking and time management, is a soft skill. Sharpening these skills benefits all employees and teams. Incorporate training for these skills alongside more directly applicable hard skills (the kind you learn in formal educational settings) to build effective teams and empower tomorrow’s leaders.

Tips for effective employee training

Employee training requires attention to detail, organization and an understanding of the trainee’s abilities. Consider the following best practices for effective employee training: 

• Outline training manuals clearly: All employees should be provided with a well-organized manual. The manual should include a table of contents and be broken into individual topics for easy comprehension. It should be structured clearly and logically, with information presented step-by-step and summarized with brief, vital points.
• Get to know employees: Have conversations with your employees — get to know them as people, not just their professional backgrounds. Ask about their interests, goals and family. For newcomers, this will help ease their nerves and encourage them to feel like a valued part of your team. For long-time staff, it’ll demonstrate your willingness to grow, invest in employees and change the workplace culture, if necessary.
• Allow employees time to catch up: Remember that employees may need time to implement their new training. New hires need time to familiarize themselves with your business and experienced employees may require an adjustment period to adapt to the new systems introduced during training. Gradually increase responsibilities, continue offering additional training even after the initial training period and approach mistakes with patience and understanding.
• Get feedback about the training process: For a training program to be successful, it must always be in development. Once employees have completed their training program, ask them for feedback and suggestions for improvement. Remember to ask if the training covered everything they needed. If employees respond that it didn’t, follow up to identify what was missed. Was the training program too slow? Too fast? Was the structure satisfactory?
• Put employees together for training: Spurling suggested that businesses create learning cohorts for more effective training. “Group employees going through similar training, even if their specific courses differ,” Spurling noted. “There’s a Harvard Business Review study that found peer accountability increases completion rates by about 30 percent.”
• Use interactive training materials: Create slide decks for training, some of which include interactive elements. Leverage augmented reality tools for technical training that involves hands-on labor. Any way you can get your employees to act, not just digest information, can lead to superior training outcomes.
• Encourage employees to teach each other: Spurling noted that the student can often become the teacher in employee training settings via “teach what you learn” sessions. “Have employees who complete training host brief knowledge-sharing sessions,” Spurling suggested. “This reinforces their learning while spreading knowledge throughout the organization.”
• Implement employee training software: This technology can make developing step-by-step guides for training your team easier. You can also integrate it into the other software your team uses daily for real-time guidance.
• Make training part of project debriefs: “Incorporate learning discussions into project post-mortems to identify skills gaps and training needs organically,” Spurling advised. “[Compt does] this a lot with big projects like our company rebrand. The marketing team shared learnings with the whole company that got us thinking differently about what we build, who we build it for and how we talk about it.”

There’s no right or wrong way to train your employees

As you develop your employee training program, you’ll start to see which approaches are and aren’t effective for your team’s learning. Your program certainly isn’t set in stone, so adjust your training as frequently as necessary and to whatever extent you require. Keep at it, and your vast talent pool might become even more talented — and become an obvious set of employees to lead the company’s future.

Miranda Fraraccio contributed to this article.