What if you fail to provide skills training for your employees? What will happen to your tourism/hospitality business?

One recent survey discovered a startling statistic. Roughly 40 per cent of employees who receive no or poor job training leave their positions within the first year. They cite the lack of skills training and development as the number one reason to move on. No way to learn, no reason to stay. It’s that simple.

The benefits of training

As any successful tourism operator will tell you, effective and appropriate employee training is worth the investment—many times over.

Research shows that a proper staff training program can increase productivity and employee feedback, reduce absenteeism, improve customer service, lower the number of complaints, add sales and decrease the need for supervision. It can also boost personal confidence and job satisfaction because employees feel valued, appreciated and committed to your business.

The cost of turnover

Without training, frontline employees leave. Consider the cost of turnover. With one less worker, your company’s productivity slips and sales decline. Your current staff members are required to work more hours. Morale may suffer. To find a replacement, you spend time screening and interviewing applicants. Once you hire someone, you need to train that person.

When totalled, the cost of staff turnover and the downtime to find a new employee adds up. Figures vary, but it costs a minimum of  $1000 to $2500 (depending on the position) to replace a frontline employee. A hefty price to pay for not training staff.

Which brings us back to the main point: employee training and development is vital to your business success. It increases your bottom line—and reduces staff turnover.

The stages of training

So where do you start? To develop an effective training program, follow these steps:

• Begin with a new employee orientation that outlines expectations
• Train your staff members according to their job descriptions
• Find out what the employees don’t know, and train to fill those particular gaps in their experience. This saves time and money, and shows you value the specific background of each employee

From there, build skills that exceed the job description:

• Give them more responsibility to make decisions
• Ask them to train junior employees
• Provide incentives, such as professional training seminars. This will lead to greater motivation and a potential job promotion for your employee

This is the big picture view of how employee training benefits your company. It starts from day one, and becomes successive as your employees grow. Training motivates them to improve and builds self-confidence.

Learning and upgrading employee skills makes business sense. Granted, it may take some time to see a return on your investment, but the long-term gains associated with employee training make a difference. The short-term expense of a training program ensures you keep qualified and productive workers who will help your company succeed. That’s an investment you can take to the bank.