Every entrepreneur knows the importance of investing in their business. But when was the last time you invested in your employees?
Helping your employees upgrade their skills is just as important as staying up-to-date on the latest technology. If your team is behind the curve, you won’t be able to create a superior product or service and edge out your competition.
Still not convinced you should pay to retrain your team? Here are four ways that upskilling employees benefits you and your company.
Increases Productivity
Investing in your employees shows them that you truly value them and want to see them succeed. This builds goodwill with them and boosts their morale, which can motivate them to work harder.
Learning new skills will also help increase your team’s efficiency. As everyone learns newer and better ways to do things, their productivity will increase—and hopefully so will your profits.
Improves Retention
Another way upskilling employees benefits you is through improved retention rates.
Employees want to feel self-actualized at work. They want to learn, grow, and advance their careers—not just collect a paycheck.
That’s why upskilling your employees can help improve retention. It makes them feel happier and more fulfilled, so they won’t be tempted to look for a more exciting or challenging role at another company.
According to a report by LinkedIn, a whopping 94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it provided learning opportunities.
If you currently have an employee retention problem, solving it will improve your bottom line substantially. The cost of replacing an employee is estimated to be one-half to two times that person’s annual salary.
Paying for tuition reimbursement for your current employees is ultimately much cheaper than finding and training new workers. So even though upskilling seems like a costly and unnecessary expense, it’s worth the investment.
Increases Customer Satisfaction
Upskilling employees benefits your customers and increases their satisfaction with your products and services.
Employees who have career advancement opportunities are generally happier at work and more engaged with their jobs. Satisfied employees provide better customer service, which will make your customers happier too.
Learning new skills will also enable your employees to produce better work. This may help improve your company’s reputation and attract new clients.
Your existing customers will appreciate the increase in quality and may even be more likely to recommend your services to people in their network as a result.
Bridges the Skills Gap
If your company has a need for employees with highly specialized skills, you may have trouble finding suitable candidates and filling open roles.
According to Brookings, 2.4 million positions will remain unfilled from 2018 to 2028 because employers can’t find people with the necessary skills. This will cost companies a combined $2.5 trillion in lost productivity.
Investing money in upskilling employees allows you to consider a wider range of applicants. If they have adjacent experience but don’t possess the exact skillset you’re looking for, you may still be able to hire them and train them during the onboarding process.
Upskilling your employees can help you provide better service to your customers and ultimately make more money, so it’s well worth the investment.
Vicky Monroe is a freelance personal finance and lifestyle writer. When she’s not busy writing about her favorite money saving hacks or tinkering with her budget spreadsheets, she likes to travel, garden, and cook healthy vegetarian meals.