8 Reasons Why Internal Training Is Important
Every employer such as yourself is aware of the importance of a highly competent workforce. A competent workforce enables a faster and efficient operation and helps the company become successful in the longer term. For that reason, employers and companies invest in training and development programs. Training workers is a necessary step in employee management if an employer yearns to improve the competency of a workforce. The best approach for you to achieve that goal, as an employer, is by conducting internal training. We will help you understand internal training by sharing with you the eight reasons why it’s important.
8 Reasons Why Internal Training Is Important
What Is Internal Training?
Before we jump in, let us define internal training for you. Internal training, also known as on-site training, is a type of employee development program wherein employees are trained on the actual working field by their employers or direct superiors. From the word “internal,” internal training programs are arranged and funded by the company itself. Because financial assets and valuable time are involved, a thorough HR planning is observed for the development of internal training programs. In an internal training setting, the trainees (employees) will be reporting their progress and productivity to their trainers (employers or direct superiors). The trainers will guide the employees on proper operating standards and provide feedback mandatorily.
So without further ado, here are eight factors that’ll help you understand the concept of internal training, and especially its importance.
Increases Productivity and Efficiency
Employees undergoing internal training will earn a better sense in performing their day-to-day tasks. That’s because their trainers will be directing and guiding them along the way. In return, their productivity and efficiency metrics in doing their job will increase. For that to truly happen, the internal training plan will likely have a phase wherein the trainees must complete a set of tasks within a time limit. However, it’s all up to the employers and trainers on how to improve employee productivity and efficiency.
Boosts Employee Engagement
Conducting internal training is one way of injecting employee empowerment in the workforce, which leads to improvements in employee engagement. During the course of internal training, the trainees will receive a lot of employee motivation from their trainers; and, they will also be empowered to perform their tasks well and perfectly as much as possible. Ultimately, internal training enables employees to be more engaged with their work and with the company.
Cost-Effective
If you want a cost-effective approach to improve your company’s manpower, conducting internal training should be among your checklist of strategies. Remember that the employers and supervisors will be the ones to prepare internal training programs. That said, the company can ensure the development of the trainees because they will be overseeing it first-hand. If the option is to send employees to other places for training, the company has no direct means to monitor their improvement. Plus, hiring third-party entities to train employees is quite costly. With that in mind, internal training is certainly more cost-effective.
Employee Retention
Employees who will be subject to internal training will feel that their association with the company as a worker is valued, which can boost their morale in the long run. Also, the employees will appreciate the company’s efforts in internally training them. In gratitude, they will dedicate themselves to working for the organization and build loyalty. In that case, the company’s capability to retain employees, especially highly competent ones, will improve substantially. Employee retention is integral if you want the workforce to remain consistent and cut expenses in recruiting and training new employees.
Leadership Development
Talent management is one of your core responsibilities as an employer. You should know that a big part of talent management is developing potential leaders within the workforce. And developing potential leaders can be fulfilled through effective internal training. Employees who are skilled and possess leadership qualities should be considered for internal training. Hiring internally for possible supervisory and managerial vacancies is much better than hiring externally. Longtime employees know the company’s principles, operations, and processes much better; hence, they don’t need to undergo full orientation. However, companies can’t hire internally if their existing employees aren’t trained to become leaders. That said, your company must implement internal training for employee leadership development.
Contribute to the Company’s Success
As professionals in the business world, we all know that there are many factors that lead to the success of a company. Among the primary factors is the performance of the entire manpower. If each employee is doing their jobs well and accordingly with standards, it causes a domino effect of positives for the company. With that in mind, employers and managers must invest time and effort to train their employees internally. Ultimately, subjecting employees for internal training can contribute to the company’s success in the future.
Increases Employee Satisfaction
Through internal training, employees will feel satisfied with their job role in the company. During the course of the internal training, the employees will be aware that the company is concerned about their professional growth. They’ll feel that their skills, despite not having reached full potential yet, is being valued by the company’s HR management. If employees are satisfied with their jobs, that means their morale is high and they’re committed. When that happens, endless opportunities for success will open up for the company.
Improve Employee Skills
Improvement in employee skills is the most direct reason why internal training is important. That’s because it’s the very foundation that establishes the competency of the workforce as time goes by. Plus, it’s very likely that employees want to hone and develop their skills. According to research conducted by Middlesex University for Work-Based Learning, 74% out of their 4,300 employee respondents believe that their full potential isn’t achieved due to insufficient opportunities for development. If you ponder on that statistic, you’ll realize that you don’t want your employees to feel like they’re underachievers. So, make sure to provide them the chance to improve their skills by conducting internal training programs.
Your company is like a boat that needs as many rowers as possible for it to reach its ultimate destination. If some rowers are struggling, you don’t push them overboard. Doing so will make things even more difficult because the number of required rowers is depleted. What you must do is to develop their strength and endurance to row the boat faster and more efficiently. That is the concept of internal training. You help your existing employees to improve for their growth, and especially for the company’s success. So as an employer, integrate internal training as a primary operation in your company.