What training is

1. Businesses train new starters, staff moving into a different role, and existing staff whose job changes because of new equipment, new products or new rules.
2. Training is treated as an investment, because the business pays now and collects the benefit over the months and years that follow.

Higher productivity and better quality

1. Increased productivity: a trained employee works faster, needs less supervision and repeats fewer mistakes, so the output produced by each worker rises.
   1. More output from the same wage bill lowers the labour cost of each unit, which lets the business hold its prices down or keep the difference as profit.
2. High quality goods and services: staff who have been taught the correct method follow it, so fewer items come out faulty and fewer jobs have to be done twice.
   1. Less waste and fewer returns cut costs directly, and quality that customers can rely on protects the reputation the business sells on.

New technology and legal duties

1. Dealing with changes in technology: new machinery, tills or software only pay for themselves if staff can use them properly, so training is what turns the purchase into extra output.
   1. Without training, staff avoid the new system or use only part of it, and the business falls behind rivals who did train their staff.
2. Meeting legal duties: the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires an employer to give staff the training they need to work safely. Trained staff then have fewer accidents, so fewer days are lost to injury and there is less risk of prosecution or a compensation claim.

Motivation, staff retention and customer service

1. Increased motivation: being trained shows the employee the business is prepared to spend money on them, and knowing how to do the job removes the stress of guessing.
2. Staff retention: trained staff who can see a route to more skilled and better paid work are less likely to leave, so the business keeps the experience it has built up.
   1. Every leaver costs money to replace through advertising, interviewing and training a newcomer who works slowly at first, so keeping staff is a direct saving.
3. Good customer service: staff trained in product knowledge and in handling complaints answer questions confidently and calm an unhappy customer instead of making the situation worse.

The costs of training

1. Training costs money. Course fees, an outside trainer, materials and the wages of anyone covering the trainee all have to be paid before any benefit appears.
2. Training costs time. While an employee is learning they produce less, or nothing at all, and any colleague teaching them produces less too.
3. Trained staff can be poached. New skills, especially a recognised qualification, make an employee attractive to a competitor who can offer higher pay without having paid to train them.
4. Not all training works. Training chosen without checking what staff actually need does not improve performance, so the money buys nothing.