In this hyper-competitive world where technologies and trends are changing every day, it has become imperative for human resource managers to alter their approach to talent acquisition and retention. The speed at which industries across the spectrum are evolving has made it nearly impossible for any employee to match pace with all developments with suitable alacrity on their own.

And this is precisely why training and development in the workplace has emerged as paramount factors determining the success of businesses today.

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Training employees for business success: It is critical for companies to invest in good and committed employees and then train them suitably in the specific skills required for the success of their organisations.

While it’s only natural for functional heads and HR managers to look at hiring experienced resources, it is important to remember that no employee will ever be ready for everything that the future can throw their way. Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data and Analytics have all swept across different domains in a massive way and their application is only going to become more widespread in the coming days. Even C-suite executives of various companies have needed to upskill themselves in these technologies and their concomitant advantages to stay ahead of the curve. So it’s only natural that junior to mid-senior level executives need assistance in these domains and other relevant ones as per their nature of work.

Maintaining efficiency and relevance in the workplace: Organisations need to take cognizance of the fact that their human resources are the only gold mine they have to rely upon in order to make their mark in the near and distant future. The mindset that upskilling and reskilling is the onus of employees has already changed to a great degree and a more palpable shift needs to come about in the Indian context. It was Henry Ford who pointed out that businesses need to stop worrying about investing in employees only to see them leave at a later point in their career. Instead, he said, businesses should worry about employees whose skills aren’t developed and they continue to stay on in the organisation as eventually they will prove to be dead-weight and bring down the dynamism of the company. It is only through consistently upskilling and training employees for new and evolved roles that businesses can hope to stay relevant. It makes employees equipped and flexible enough to respond to any market changes and help the business tide over uncertainty and fierce competition.

Enhancing employee loyalty: Besides business-related importance, training and development also has a huge bearing on the culture of a workplace. When a company invests in its workforce, it instills a feeling of being valued in the employees. It enhances their loyalty towards the company and imbues them with a passion to give back to the organisation. New skills, training and development programmes etc. inspire confidence in the employees and offers them exciting challenges to work towards. Retention plays a key role in keeping a company afloat and stable and saves a business several hundred dollars a year in employee replacement costs.

Additionally, helping the old and loyal employees upgrade themselves instead of replacing them boosts the collective morale of the workforce in an organisation. Further, regular training and development initiatives give a fillip to the brand value of a company. Promising new talent is more likely to want to join such an organisation where they feel their skills will be further honed and their career given better momentum. This instantly puts the company at a competitive advantage in the market compared to its peers; the company that manages to attract the cream of the talent pool, after all, will be more successful in the long run.

Best approach for training and development: Companies in India often acknowledge the need to constantly help their employees to keep themselves updated with the right knowledge and skills. Yet, they grapple with the best ways to achieve such results. After all, just instituting a training and development plan to tick off a check box is futile and will not help a company achieve any of the aforementioned advantages.

Some companies look at leveraging the expertise of their existing senior employees in training the junior level workforce which ends up compromising the real value of the seniors and takes away from their core duties. This is where companies can look towards specialised training and skilling organisations that come on board as consultants. Such tie-ups help prevent adding burden on internal resources and streamline the process of training and development. These specialised consulting organisations leverage the latest technology tools and the prowess of their experienced, qualified and certified trainers, and subject matter experts to truly help employees transform their abilities and levels of productivity.

They conduct highly focused and industry relevant courses, programmes and workshops after garnering a clear understanding of the organisational goals as well as values and ethos. This helps employees adapt to the learning environment with ease and a high degree of comfort. Training and development of employees has certainly become a key aspect for businesses to focus on. However, instead of looking upon this as an added burden or cost, companies in India need to start viewing the same as a necessary investment into their future, business success and brand perception. With the emergence of highly committed training and reskilling partners available in the country today, achieving this goal has become easier and more effective than ever before.

The writer is founder and CEO, Safeducate