4.4.1 Importance of training

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.

4.4.2 Methods of training

Induction training

1. Induction happens in the first days or weeks of a new job, which is what separates it from every other kind of training.
2. A typical induction covers a tour of the workplace, the procedures and policies the employee has to follow, an introduction to the colleagues and managers they will work with, and health and safety, including fire exits and how to use equipment safely.
3. It usually ends with the basics of the job itself, such as the till system, the paperwork or the software the employee will use every day.

Benefits of induction training

1. The new starter reaches full speed sooner. Knowing where things are kept and how the systems work means less time spent asking, so the employee becomes productive in days rather than weeks.
2. Fewer accidents and mistakes at the riskiest time: a new employee is most likely to hurt themselves or damage stock before they know the procedures, so covering safety and process on day one prevents both.
3. Better retention: a starter who is welcomed, introduced to colleagues and told what is expected is far less likely to walk out in the first month.
   1. Losing a recruit early wastes everything already spent on hiring them, so a good induction protects the cost of recruitment.
4. Less demand on managers: because the new employee knows who to ask and what the rules are, supervisors spend less time answering basic questions and can get on with their own work.

On-the-job training

1. Shadowing: the trainee watches an experienced worker do the job, then takes over the simpler parts of it while still being watched.
2. Mentoring: a more experienced colleague is assigned to give advice and answer questions over weeks or months while the employee settles into the role.
3. Coaching: a manager or specialist works through one particular skill with the employee, watching them do it and giving feedback until it is right.
4. Whatever the form, real work is being produced while the learning happens, and the skills learned are the ones this business actually uses.

Off-the-job training

1. Common forms are a course at a college, often one day a week for an apprentice, a course run by an outside training company, a session at a specialist training centre, and training given by the supplier of new machinery at its own site.
2. It is usually taught by a specialist and often leads to a recognised qualification, such as a food hygiene certificate, a first aid certificate or an engineering award.
3. Because the employee is away from the queue, the phones and the production line, they can concentrate on learning a whole skill rather than picking pieces of it up between tasks.

4.4.2b On the job and off the job training

Benefits of on-the-job training

1. Cheaper: there are no course fees, no travel and no outside trainer to pay, because the teaching is done by staff already on the payroll.
2. The trainee keeps producing. Work still comes out while the learning happens, so the business does not lose a whole day or week of that employee's output.
3. Directly relevant: the employee learns on the exact machinery, systems and customers of this business, so nothing has to be adapted afterwards.
4. Flexible: training can be fitted into quiet periods and paused when the shop or the line gets busy, which suits a business too small to spare anyone for a fixed course.

Drawbacks of on-the-job training

1. The trainer stops doing their own job. An experienced employee teaching a newcomer produces less, so the business loses part of the output of two people rather than one.
2. Bad habits are passed on. The trainee copies whatever the colleague does, including shortcuts that skip checks, and those habits then spread to the next new starter.
3. Mistakes happen on real work. Errors made while learning can spoil stock, damage equipment or reach a customer, which can cost more than the training saved.
4. Narrow skills and no qualification: the employee learns only how this business already does things, so no methods from outside come in and there is usually no certificate at the end.

Benefits of off-the-job training

1. Expert tuition: a professional trainer teaches the correct and up-to-date method, so the employee is not learning one colleague's version of the job.
2. Full concentration: away from the queue, the phones and the production line, the employee can learn a whole skill in one go instead of collecting fragments between tasks.
3. Wider skills and outside ideas: learning alongside people from other businesses brings back methods this business has never tried.
4. A recognised qualification: many off-the-job courses end in a certificate, such as food hygiene, first aid or a forklift licence, and some work cannot legally be done without one.

Drawbacks of off-the-job training

1. Dearer: course fees, travel and sometimes accommodation are paid on top of the employee's normal pay, which a business short of cash may not be able to afford.
2. Nothing is produced. The employee is away for the whole session, so output is lost and colleagues either cover the work or the business pays overtime.
3. It may not fit this business. A general course teaches the standard method, which can differ from the firm's own equipment, software or procedures, so part of it is wasted.
4. The employee becomes easier to poach. A recognised qualification makes staff attractive to rivals who can offer more pay without having paid for the training.

Choosing the right method

1. The budget decides a great deal, because a small business with little spare cash usually has to train on the job, while a large business can spread course fees across many employees.
2. The skill itself can settle the choice, because anything needing certification, such as first aid, food hygiene or driving a forklift, has to be taught off the job by a qualified provider.
3. When new machinery arrives and nobody in-house knows how to use it, off-the-job training from the supplier is the only realistic choice, whatever it costs.
4. For routines unique to the firm, such as its own till or stock system, on-the-job training is more relevant than any external course could be.
5. The deciding question is usually what a mistake would cost, because where an error is dangerous or expensive the lost output of an off-the-job course is worth paying for, and where it is not, on-the-job training gives most of the benefit for a fraction of the cost.
6. Many businesses use both, sending staff on a course for the underlying knowledge and then embedding it on the job, which is often the strongest recommendation to make.