Progressive companies are rapidly moving toward building continuous learning and development cultures within their workforce. Even Fortune 500 companies adopt this culture despite its seemingly major disadvantage of extra expenditure.
The motive for implementing this culture varies according to the objectives of each company. What are the major reasons that should motivate you to also adopt continuous learning and development within your company? Learn more about the benefits of continuous learning and development within your workforce.
Autonomous process improvement
Whenever processes need to be changed within a company, the change is painful, like a rip of a bandage. With continuous learning and development, these changes can be smoother and more autonomous. Advancing the knowledge base of your employees makes it easier for them to adapt to newer technologies and systems. Enrolling employees in Six Sigma certifications help employees implement business strategies in action for getting desired results.
Headed by Peter Peterka, 6Sigma.com trains its participants to eliminate errors and defects through advanced quality management systems. With it, the company improves overall and profit margins increase due to continuous learning and development can be reinvested. Autonomous process improvement can be realized through continuous learning and development because this culture makes employees spearhead the change instead of forcing it on them.
Employee retention
Continuous learning and development can help your companies retain employees for as long as possible. Training employees to develop and hone their skills is an act of good faith that shows that you care about them. As a result, they will be more prone to stay onboard and be of service to your company.
Employee retention greatly benefits companies since it minimizes costs incurred due to the hiring and onboarding processes. At the same time, you do not have to retrain newly hired replacements for employees that you could have retained. This goes a long way in cost savings and maintaining a good company reputation as employees are also key brand ambassadors.
Career development prospects
In addition to retaining employees, training them can result in career development prospects within the company. Instead of hiring and onboarding someone new in the company for senior positions, you can simply promote a well-trained replacement internally.
This benefits the company since you already know whether the promoted individual has what it takes to take the company to greater heights. His work ethic and track record of training will play a huge role when looking to fill some spots that open up as time goes. Continuous learning helps HR have a wide talent pool they can choose from for any senior positions that might open up.
Certification and competency
Some job assignments require certification or proof of competency as an industry and OSHA standards. On the other hand, you might need competent standby replacements for unforeseen circumstances. Training your employees continually can help mitigate the risk of being short-staffed in a certain trade or workgroup.
Periodically looking into which certification and competency each employee can pursue will help you have sufficient certified employees to meet unforeseen emergencies. Doing so will mitigate any potential to lose revenue in the event of being short-staffed which leads to delayed production.
Boosting work performance
A positive byproduct of continuous learning and development is the boost in work performance. Training and improving employees show a personal interest in their sustainability in the job market. Hence, employees might feel indebted to your company and be open to working harder to show gratitude.
Others might work harder to get more training. In either case, the overall performance of the staff will see a boost. You can even incentivize the training if possible and feasible within your industry.