Why employee training is important for startups
When it comes to employee training, startups tend to do things a bit differently from large-scale corporations. Working with smaller teams, lower budgets and limited time can bring unique challenges to small businesses. And while a lot of time and money goes into finding the right hires, unfortunately the investment in people can often stop there.
For some startups, employee training can quickly take a backseat, as funds are invested in other directions. Falon Fatemi, CEO and founder of Node, says that her time advising and running startups has led her to believe that “most startups don’t do enough learning.”
In startup land, it can often be all hands on deck, with everyone pitching in to get things done. Employees can find themselves wearing multiple hats and juggling different responsibilities, making the work environment exciting, challenging and great for expanding your skill set.
But it’s important for startups and small business owners to see the value in providing proper training programs for staff. The ongoing development of your people should be an essential part of any startup – for the growth of your business, as well as your employees.
These days, the cost of employee training doesn’t need to be a barrier to professional development, with so many ways to deliver valuable training that’s relevant to all roles and industries.
Let’s look at the reasons why employee training and development is so important for startups. And how you can use eLearning to deliver an effective and well-structured training program for your team.
To Attract and Retain High-Performing Employees
As we said, significant effort goes into securing the right people for your company – regardless of size. The costs of hiring, onboarding and training up a new team member will quickly add up. So you want to make sure you’re not having to do this all the time!
Avoid these costs from blowing out by reducing your staff turnover rate. A formal training program will work as a great retention tool, with well-trained employees being far more likely to stick around.
So while you may think that committing to a training program is more expensive, it will actually save you in the long run.
To Build Staff Loyalty
Training programs also build loyalty within your employees, as you’ll be showing staff that you’re committed to their career development. Having loyal team members is just as important as having loyal customers!
Take a look at these figures:
- almost a quarter of Millennials find a lack of company support for development as the most surprising part of real-world employment
- 31% said they’d sought their own on-the-job training.
- 88% expressed a willingness to invest in their own training and development
Employees, particularly younger workers, want to be trained and developed. And they want to feel a bond and connection with the company they work for. These are the best people to promote your products and services, so it’s worthwhile investing in building that loyalty.
To Share Knowledge and Create a Culture of Learning
Another reason why training is so important is to facilitate knowledge sharing within your startup.
Like any business, you don’t want key knowledge to leave when certain staff members do. Without knowledge sharing, there’s a serious risk of that happening, as employees move on from the organisation, taking their knowledge with them. You want to promote a culture of learning and knowledge sharing, to make sure you’re tapping into those precious resources of varied skills and experience.
Encouraging team members to share information and knowledge freely helps to foster a sense of community and a collaborative work culture – which are important for the culture of any startup. It also means that when it comes time to hire new leaders, there’s a good chance you’ve already invested time and money into training one up – from within your own company!
Using eLearning for Employee Training
So let’s look at how you can start formalising a proper training program for your staff. One of the most popular and cost-effective ways to deliver effective employee training is through online learning.
It’s easy to see why more organisations, from SMBs to large multinationals, are making the switch to eLearning for staff training needs. With so many training options available online, you can choose from online courses, MOOCs, podcasts and webinars, all developed by experts and professionals in their fields.
This presents endless exciting ways to train staff, giving “startups an opportunity to offer training in fresh, innovative ways that leverage the technology we’ve all come to rely on for efficiency and convenience.”
Even if you lack the physical space or funds to host live training, you can have employees complete their training from home or at their desk – which is usually more convenient for them anyway. And with eLearning, you won’t need to take staff members away from their roles to deliver training. When you have less employees on deck, the less interruptions to business operations the better!
With online training, you can also use the material over-and-over again, delivering training to individual team members or small groups of employees as many times as they need. Updating online course materials is quick and easy, without the costs associated with print materials.
Are you seeing the value in providing proper training and development for your staff? Get started on a new online training program for your team.
