Staff training: A business essential

In the hustle and bustle of a daily business routine, proper training of the company staff is often forgotten. Whether the personnel requiring instruction are new hires or long time employees, good staff training is essential to business success. If an employee is unable to do the job assignments, simply as a result of not knowing how to complete the tasks at hand, the company bottom line can experience some severe damage.

It is not unusual for a new employee to be shown the desk or work station and be left to fend for herself. It is also commonplace for a long term employee to receive a promotion or new job assignment with no direction or instructions. Without proper training and guidance the employees are unable to produce good results and generate less revenue for the company. Unable to complete their assignments properly, the staff members often become frustrated and leave the job. Rinse and repeat.



Some business owners and managers take the penny wise route of skimping on saving. They also experience the pound foolish outcome of lower productivity. To cut back on training is asking for lower monetary returns. Instead of recognizing that staff training is an important investment, it is seen as a luxury expense that is one of the first places targeted for budget cuts. Lower production numbers and weakened staff morale soon follow.

Increased company revenue and improved staff productivity and morale are the most visible benefits of proper staff training. Less well known are lower accident rates on industrial sites, lower company health care costs, fewer problems with meeting government standards and regulations, and possible lower insurance and Workers Compensation premiums. At the same time, some potentially very costly and even business crippling lawsuits may be avoided by ensuring employees understand their job duties and responsibilities.



Customers and clients of your business recognize well trained staff people as well. Customer questions are answered properly and fully by employees who understand their job and their department completely. By knowing and understanding the client's needs and requirements, sales can be made where they were lost in the past.

Proper customer service training helps keep patrons happy and returning to your place of business. Reports and projects completed on time help the business to meet new challenges and opportunities, in the marketplace, quickly and with the appropriate plan in place.

Don't neglect proper employee training. It may be the most profitable investment that you can make in your company's future. Most business people state that their employees are their most important business asset. Not everyone practices what they preach, however. You can walk the talk, however, by ensuring that your staff members are trained fully in their job and its requirements.

Staff training is vital to your company's short and long term business success.

Tags: staff training, personnel management, employee productivity, customer service.

Employee relations: Separate sets of rules

Treating employees fairly is usually a motto of most successful businesses. All too often, however, the reality to employee relations falls short of the ideal standard. Many times, some employees are held to very different standards from other members of the organiztion. The differences may be subtle, or they may be overtly blatant. In almost every case, they are damaging to the company.

To most people, any thought of unfair treatment is restricted to the inexcusable and illegal discrimation against women, visible minorities, those holding other religious beliefs, older workers, and the physically challenged. There is little doubt that these blatant discrimination practices must be excised from every organization. There is no excuse or justification for such terrible bigoted behaviour. Such intolerable actions should be dealt with swiftly, and with vigour.



Other different sets of rules exist, that often go unnoticed, within otherwise enlightened companies. These practices include favouritism, old boys networks, and even lower goal targets for certain staff members. Good, hard working employees often discover very quickly that some staffers get preferential treatment that has little to do with any contribution to the company bottom line. Very often, the golden employee will be excused for actions that result in reprimand or dismissal for other workers.

More often, however, the company management simply has different performance requirements for various employees at the same level. A sales total that falls below the deemed requirement, that would get the average sales rep placed on warning or terminated, will be glossed over or even praised for the chosen ones. Other members of the sales team soon discover the biased results. Lower staff morale and falling sales overall are the usual result. The company bottom line suffers.



Since sales is a department where results are quantified readily, abuses are seen very clearly. Other departments, which practice separate rules, are less easy to spot at first glance. The differences, while subtle, are readily apparent to the members of the staff, however.

Special invitations, time off, vacation scheduling, and even lunches with the boss are noticed and filed away by everyone. If a pattern emerges, and the person receiving the benefits is not seen as earning them, staff morale can fall precipitously. Once again, overall productivity and company profits pay the price.

Treating employees fairly, and setting up clearly defined rewards available to all, is a must for any organization. If one selected individual receives the prizes, regardless of the effort or result, the company will reap only resentment. Unfortunately, many managers give undeserved rewards and perks to pet staff members. It is a practice that reduces company morale. Unhappy workers are less productive workers. Discrimination and favouritism cost the business money.

If your organization has slipped into the habit of preferential treatment for certain employees, it is time to stop. Your company's performance and profits depend upon it.

Fairness is good business.

Keep the rules the same, for all employees, and watch your staff morale and business profits soar.

Tags: employee relations, staff morale, boosting profits, eliminating discrimination.