Train To Retain

In the current economy, as companies are downsizing to run more and more lean and management becomes more and more stressed, there is a tendency to believe a terrible misconception: you don’t have to worry about your employees because they are afraid of losing their jobs. While this may be true in the very short term, unhappy employees will eventually find a way to greener pastures. The question is: what are you doing now to ensure a vital, productive workforce when the economy rebounds?

In a struggling economy, non-profit-center departments are the first to feel layoffs and hiring freezes. In most organizations, this usually means Human Resources. Those managers who believe they will get top performance from their employees because they are afraid of losing their jobs, are the first to look to Human Resources departments for FTE cuts. And once they have cut the employee base to bare minimum, the next order of business is to curtail all unnecessary expenses – like development training. So now these employees are working longer and doing more, all in a stressful and fearful environment. They are afraid for the future of the jobs they have now, and are not being trained for promotion when things get better. Wouldn’t you start updating your resume?

The winners in this topsy-turvy economy we are now experiencing will be those organizations who recognize that in order to be able to leap forward competitively when the market turns upward, they have to be training and preparing their current employees now. There are cost efficient ways of delivering training, such as webinars and teleseminars, that are just as effective but don’t break the bank. And employees who are being trained and motivated are far more likely to be engaged in their current roles, and committed to a clearly defined career path.

What type of training and development are you doing now to prepare and retain your employees for an improving economy?