Employee Training and Development

 The quality of employees and their development through training and education are major factors in determining long-term profitability of a small business. If you hire and keep good employees, it is good policy to invest in the development of their skills, so they can increase their productivity.

Training often is considered for new employees only. This is a mistake because ongoing training for current employees helps them adjust to rapidly changing job requirements.

Purpose of Training and Development

Reasons for emphasizing the growth and development of personnel include

Creating a pool of readily available and adequate replacements for personnel who may leave or move up in the organization.

Enhancing the company's ability to adopt and use advances in technology because of a sufficiently knowledgeable staff.

Building a more efficient, effective and highly motivated team, which enhances the company's competitive position and improves employee morale.

Ensuring adequate human resources for expansion into new programs.

Research has shown specific benefits that a small business receives from training and developing its workers, including:

Increased productivity.

Reduced employee turnover.

Increased efficiency resulting in financial gains.

Decreased need for supervision.

Employees frequently develop a greater sense of self-worth, dignity and well-being as they become more valuable to the firm and to society. Generally they will receive a greater share of the material gains that result from their increased productivity. These factors give them a sense of satisfaction through the achievement of personal and company goals.

The Training Process

The model below traces the steps necessary in the training process:

Organizational Objectives

Needs Assessment

Is There a Gap?

Training Objectives

Select the Trainees

Select the Training Methods and Mode

Choose a Means of Evaluating

Administer Training

Evaluate the Training

Your business should have a clearly defined strategy and set of objectives that direct and drive all the decisions made especially for training decisions. Firms that plan their training process are more successful than those that do not. Most business owners want to succeed, but do not engage in training designs that promise to improve their chances of success. Why? The five reasons most often identified are:

Time - Small businesses managers find that time demands do not allow them to train employees.

Getting started - Most small business managers have not practiced training employees. The training process is unfamiliar.

Broad expertise - Managers tend to have broad expertise rather than the specialized skills needed for training and development activities.

Lack of trust and openness - Many managers prefer to keep information to themselves. By doing so they keep information from subordinates and others who could be useful in the training and development process.

Skepticism as to the value of the training - Some small business owners believe the future cannot be predicted or controlled and their efforts, therefore, are best centered on current activities i.e., making money today.

A well-conceived training program can help your firm succeed. A program structured with the company's strategy and objectives in mind has a high probability of improving productivity and other goals that are set in the training mission.

For any business, formulating a training strategy requires addressing a series of questions.

Who are your customers? Why do they buy from you?

Who are your competitors? How do they serve the market? What competitive advantages do they enjoy? What parts of the market have they ignored?

What strengths does the company have? What weaknesses?

What social trends are emerging that will affect the firm?

The purpose of formulating a training strategy is to answer two relatively simple but vitally important questions: (1) What is our business? and (2) What should our business be? Armed with the answers to these questions and a clear vision of its mission, strategy and objectives, a company can identify its training needs.

Identifying Training Needs

Training needs can be assessed by analyzing three major human resource areas: the organization as a whole, the job characteristics and the needs of the individuals. This analysis will provide answers to the following questions:

Where is training needed?

What specifically must an employee learn in order to be more productive?

Who needs to be trained?

Begin by assessing the current status of the company how it does what it does best and the abilities of your employees to do these tasks. This analysis will provide some benchmarks against which the effectiveness of a training program can be evaluated. Your firm should know where it wants to be in five years from its long-range strategic plan. What you need is a training program to take your firm from here to there.

Second, consider whether the organization is financially committed to supporting the training efforts. If not, any attempt to develop a solid training program will fail.

Next, determine exactly where training is needed. It is foolish to implement a companywide training effort without concentrating resources where they are needed most. An internal audit will help point out areas that may benefit from training. Also, a skills inventory can help determine the skills possessed by the employees in general. This inventory will help the organization determine what skills are available now and what skills are needed for future development.

Also, in today's market-driven economy, you would be remiss not to ask your customers what they like about your business and what areas they think should be improved. In summary, the analysis should focus on the total organization and should tell you (1) where training is needed and (2) where it will work within the organization.

Once you have determined where training is needed, concentrate on the content of the program. Analyze the characteristics of the job based on its description, the written narrative of what the employee actually does. Training based on job descriptions should go into detail about how the job is performed on a task-by-task basis. Actually doing the job will enable you to get a better feel for what is done.

Individual employees can be evaluated by comparing their current skill levels or performance to the organization's performance standards or anticipated needs. Any discrepancies between actual and anticipated skill levels identifies a training need.

Evaluate your budget periodically with actual operations statistics. With effective records you can do this. Then, where
discrepancies show up you can take corrective actions before it is too late. The proper choices for the ideal corrective action
will depend upon your own understanding of management techniques in purchasing, pricing, selling, selecting and training staff,
and handling other management problems.

You're thinking you can hire a bookkeeper or an Accountant to handle the record keeping for you. Yes, you can. But remember two
very important details:

1. Provide the accountant with accurate input. If you buy something And don't record the amount in your business checkbook, the
accountant can not enter it. If you sell something for cash and don't record it, the accountant won't understand about it. The
documents the accountant prepares will be no greater than the information that you provide.

2. Utilize the records to make conclusions. If you went to a physician And he told you you were ill and needed certain medication
to get well, you'd follow his guidance. If you pay an accountant and he tells you that your earnings are down this year, do not
hide your head in the sand and pretend the issue will go away. It won't.

Business Management Roll in Personnel Selection. If your business Will be large enough to require outside help, an important
responsibility will be the selection and coaching of one or more employees. You may begin with relatives or business partners to
help you. But if the company grows - as you expect it will - the time will come when you have to select and train personnel.

Careful choice of personnel is essential. To Pick the right Employees decide beforehand what you need each one to do.

Then look for applicants to fulfill these specific needs. In a small Business you may need flexible employees who can shift from
task to task as needed. Include this in the description of the jobs you would like to fill. At precisely the exact same time, look
ahead and organize your hiring to assure an organization of people capable of performing every essential function. At a retail
store, a salesperson might likewise do stock-keeping or bookkeeping at the start, but as the business grows you'll need sales
people, stock-keepers and bookkeepers.

Once the job descriptions are written, line up applicants whom To make a selection. Don't be swayed by clients who may suggest
relatives. In the event the candidate does not succeed, you may drop a client as well as an employee. Some sources of possible new
employees are:

1. Recommendations by friends, business acquaintances. 2. Employment agencies. 3. Placement agencies of high schools, business
schools, and schools. 4. Trade and industrial institutions. 5. Help-wanted ads in neighborhood papers.

Your next job is to display want ad answers or application Forms sent by employment agencies. Some applicants will be removed
sight unseen. For every one of those other people, the application form or letter will serve as a foundation for the interview
that ought to be conducted privately. Put the applicant at ease by describing your company generally and the job in particular. As
soon as you've done this, invite the applicant to speak. Selecting the proper individual is very important. Consult your questions
carefully to find out everything about the applicant that's pertinent to the job.

References are a must, and should be checked before making a final decision. Check through a personal visit or a telephone call
directly to the applicant's immediate former manager, whenever possible. Confirm that the information given you is accurate.
Consider, with conclusion, any negative comments you hear and what is not said.

Checking references can bring to light important information Which may save you money and future annoyance.

Personnel Training. A well-selected employee is only a possible Asset to your business. Whether or not he or she becomes a true
asset is dependent upon your own training. Remember:

To allow adequate time for training. Not to expect too much from The trainee in too short a time. To allow the employee learn by
performing under real working conditions, with close oversight. To follow along with your training.

Examine the worker's performance after he or she was in work For a moment. Re-explain important points and short cuts; bring the
employee up to date on new developments and encourage inquiries. Training is an ongoing process which becomes excruciating
oversight.

Personnel Supervision. Supervision is the third essential of employees control. Fantastic oversight will reduce the expense of
operating your business by cutting down on the number of employee errors. When errors are corrected early, employees will find
more satisfaction from their tasks and perform much better.

Motivating Employees. Small businesses occasionally face special Issues in motivating employees. In a large business, a good
employee can see An chance to progress into management. In a small company, You're the management. One thing you Might Wish to
Think about would be to provide good workers a Small share of their profits, either via part-ownership or even a profit-sharing
plan. Somebody Who has a"share of this action" is going to be more Concerned about helping to make a success of the business
enterprise.

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