The Pew Research Center discovered that the second most common factor among employees leaving their positions was lack of opportunity for advancement. Small businesses and associations often feel that they simply cannot offer advancement opportunities because there are so few job positions within their organization.

However, job advancement does not always mean simply moving from staff to team lead to management to executive level. A meaningful, well-planned, and purposeful training program can provide employees with a great sense of satisfaction, help track performance over time, and ensure that staff are adequately skilled for each job task they are assigned.

Roles and Tasks

While solid job descriptions are valuable, especially when recruiting new hires, they can never fully explain what a job position entails. Understanding the collection of roles and tasks that make up each job within the company is an important first step in creating reliable, standardized training programs. It should be noted that while job roles and tasks may be closely related, they are not always interchangeable.

Understanding this distinction can help when creating training pathways and may also identify functional issues within the organization. For example, a factory worker may be assigned to work on a specific machine throughout their shift, but they are also expected to detect and report defects, so they also have a quality control role within their position.

However, the specific actions (tasks) they should be taking to watch for quality are often left undefined. A single role may include many tasks. Consider the office administrator who is responsible for processing accounts receivable, ordering supplies, and handling all outgoing invoices. Understanding that managing invoices is a task under the administrative role, and not the entire job itself, means that it can be reassigned if necessary. This also opens the door for more cross-training opportunities as well.

Building a Roadmap

Once all the roles and tasks of each position have been identified, it is much easier to create training plans, or roadmaps, for new and existing staff. While it can be helpful to have standardized training processes for all new hires, it is also important to recognize that no two people are exactly the same and that experienced staff – your Gen X and Millennial employees – are the most likely to be frustrated by job stagnation.

Periodic reviews and performance evaluations are a great way to identify learning opportunities and construct a training plan together. Metrics and expectations also play a key part in these roadmaps. If you want an employee to learn how to process orders on the computer, consider these questions: how long does it typically take for a new person to master this task; how many orders should they be able to process per hour or per day; how many or how few errors are considered acceptable? Sharing this information upfront helps with performance reviews and training advancement.

The University of San Diego provides some great tips for designing employee training plans.

Benefits of Training Employees

Training employees internally is an investment and the long-term benefits to the business are numerous. On a functional level, well-trained employees demonstrate greater uniformity of process, create less waste, and require less direct supervision. This overall increases the productivity and profitability of the business. On a slightly less tangible level, well-trained employees feel valued, resulting in greater morale and a better workplace environment. Staff who feel that their employer has invested in them are more likely to adhere to company policies and more likely to continue reporting for work.

Support Career Development

Training does not have to be strictly internal. Many large companies already provide some form of tuition assistance or reimbursement. Consider sending staff to industry conventions, encouraging them to attend professional development seminars or networking events, or offering to cover their association fees. It may be worthwhile to design a mentorship program, which can also extend outside the organization. Some employers shy away from these types of investments, fearing that they will ultimately cause them to lose good employees, but the benefits of career development should outweigh that notion.

Conclusion

Employees most often leave positions because they feel that the compensation is inadequate or that there is nowhere left for them to grow within the company. It is no longer acceptable to tell staff that they must remain in their position for at least 6 to 12 months before they even think about applying for a promotion without being able to provide them with a roadmap for future advancement, because in those next 6 to 12 months, they will likely exit their position for another job elsewhere.

Organizations that support the development of their staff are rewarded with better trained, more skilled, and happier employees. As an additional bonus, these valued employees tend to stick around longer, benefitting the company even more into the future.