“You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken.” – Mark Szyperski
Many employers view retraining as an expense that should be weighed against others. An article by Lorman even states that “74% of employees are willing to learn new skills or even go through a retraining program in order to remain employable.” In addition, according to the article, “companies with unsatisfactory onboarding processes are twice as likely to experience employee turnover when compared to companies with more comprehensive training.”
This leads one to wonder what the disconnect is between the desire of the employees to retrain, and the inaction the employees witness from their employer. By developing more comprehensive and recurrent training, companies would be reinforcing their commitment to their employees. Part of the lack of response that a recent article from Forbes elaborates on is that training has commonly been viewed as an expense for the company. It is often overlooked as a key factor in increasing employee retention, which saves the company money when compared with the rehiring process. It is this mindset that has left companies short-sighted in terms of how they view training expenses.
So, is the key to retaining employees simply developing a focus on retraining and developing career skills to ensure someone remains adept in their occupation? No. A study done by Harvard Business Review (HBR) found that there is one more key factor when examining retention rates among places of employment. They discovered that while 41% of workers are contemplating quitting their job, this means that 59% are not. While that may seem obvious on the surface, HBR took it one step further. They investigated why the 59% of people who are not thinking about quitting are staying right where they are. It was uncovered that the businesses who were keeping their employees had one common practice: humanizing the workforce. This was seen in different ways across different departments, such as creating a workplace culture, both virtual and in-person, emotionally engaging in 1-1 meetings rather than focusing on work-related items only, and more.
With these two things in mind, retraining employees to retain and develop professional skills while fostering a workplace that promotes human connections are the leading forces in promoting employee retention. These should work in harmony, ensuring that the employees are satisfied with their management, stay sharp with their skills, and contribute to the long-term success of their employer. In turn, the company will save money due to less onboarding training costs, and increase revenue through a more efficient workforce.
