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Training and development doesn’t begin and end with tertiary study – it should continue throughout an employee’s career.
While this can greatly benefit talent who go from strength to strength as they upskill and expand their experience, it also offers a myriad of benefits for employers. However, our Marketing State of Play report found that as many as four in 10 teams do not have a dedicated training and development budget in place.
This shows there is potential for employees and employers alike to benefit from training and development endeavours.
Training and development entails any kind of learning and practice for employees. While employees can undertake this professional development on their own, it is usually the business that initiates these programs.
There are four overarching types of training and development:
Orientation
Orientation refers to the basic onboarding training all employees receive. This covers everything from their daily duties to training on the software and programs the company uses.
This can be carried out by a dedicated HR person, a manager or a colleague on the team.
In-house training
In-house training taps into the existing resources within the company. For example, a senior team member may have specialist skills and experience in a certain software program, and could run a training session for other employees on how to use that program.
This costs the business nothing but time, and can result in gaining a number of employees capable of operating that software program.
Mentorship
A mentorship is a valuable relationship between a senior employee and a more inexperienced one. It doesn’t serve to pass on a specific skill, but rather to support and encourage the less experienced mentee as they grow in their career.
It can involve everything from how to manage stressful clients, to negotiating a pay rise and navigating office politics. It is generally an informal relationship, but one that can help the mentee to grow in their personal and professional capacities and confidence.
External training
External training involves a third party teaching employees a specific skill or information. This could be anything from a course on conflict resolution to an introduction to the basics of Google AdWords.
This kind of training can be ‘open’, in that employees join an existing course with staff from other organisations, or ‘closed’, where the course is held specifically for your own employees.
Training and development can prevent skills gaps in your business and give you a stronger, more skilled workforce overall.
For example, having one senior staff member who is proficient with a certain software program is a boon for any business, but should they leave, take a holiday, or take time off due to illness, it can be challenging to fill that space. By setting up in-house training, this staff member can pass on enough information to fill the gaps they leave during time off.
“A good learning and development program isn’t just about training – it provides a raft of learning opportunities for team members to bolster their skills and experience,” explains Teresa Sperti, Director and Founder of Arktic Fox, and key collaborator in Michael Page’s Marketing State of Play 2022 report. “Whilst on-the-job learning has always been seen as the best approach, the cost of not complementing this with other forms of learning and development can be significant. As a result, businesses forgo revenue and value due to team members not being equipped with the skills to deliver on key outcomes.”
Sharing knowledge within an organisation and training staff across the board can also mean that you have more scope for internal promotions, which can help give staff better options for career development within your company, rather than seeking progression elsewhere.
Offering training and development for staff, either internal or external, can also help with employee retention. These programs offer added value for staff, and are often seen as one of the best non-financial employee retention strategies a business can utilise.
Download our Marketing State of Play 2022 report to learn more about what’s happening in the marketing industry, including coverage of the growing skills gap occurring across numerous Australian sectors.
