The Cost of Training

Martz Witty

Head of the Martz Group.
www.martz.co.nz
 
At our firm we undertake a lot of team training making sure everyone is up to date and top of their game.
Conversely we are privileged to also assist many businesses train and upskill their own teams. A common grizzle from clients is often “Oh, but I spend all this money training my staff and then they go and leave on me!”
It’s not an uncommon complaint, but let’s take a moment and put this into perspective. I personally would turn that argument on its ear and ask, “Is it better to invest in someone, glean some advantage (money, experience and expertise) from the training and then lose them… or to spend nothing on them, have them useless in their role and have them stay?”
I know which I prefer out of the two – but ultimately I would rather train and have them stay – of course.
There is a fundamental rule in business, well there’s lots, but today I want to focus on the rule that “If nothing changes – nothing changes.”
It would be one step short of insanity to change absolutely nothing and pray that a different result will happen in terms of your team. It is human nature that (most) want to better themselves, be more productive, more efficient, earn more money. These all go hand in hand with upskilling and training.
The good news is – training is (usually) tax deductible, so that’s another win for you as an employer, as well as a win for your team member.
When it comes to training, how much should you spend? Well that of course depends on the business, the nature of the position, the skills required, the individual employee/ manager/owner.
There are too many variables to give a succinct answer here. Nonetheless one thing is certain – everyone in the organisation needs training – on something: from health and safety, to systems, to stress management, to HR, to finance, and so on.
And just because you own it, doesn’t exclude you from needing training (in my honest opinion). Probably more in fact!
A challenge can be finding courses that fit your needs. They are out there – it’s just a matter of sourcing them. A favourite these days are webinars where you can leverage the cost across a greater number of attendees.
Keep a record of all your training on your individual employee files. It’s best practice and appropriate if you should ever end up in a performance managed exit where you might be accused of failing to provide support and training.
Now go to it.