Many organizations have to engage in employee training as a result of the nature of their business. These include organizations operating in regulated industries that follow strict compliance guidelines.

Businesses that engage in the sale of complex products, for instance, many SaaS businesses, also have no choice but to spend time and money on training their employees to be proficient with their product.

On the other hand, businesses that don’t have complex products or compliance guidelines to follow, also sometimes invest in employee training in the form of sales training and customer support training.

While all these are necessities, there are other forms of training that may not be necessary, but are highly advantageous.

Let’s look at few examples of such forms of training, and the reasons why your organization must consider investing in them:

1- Onboarding Training

Onboarding training has so many pressing benefits that it has almost become a necessity in many organizations. The purpose of onboarding training to help new joinees attain the skills and the knowledge needed to not only fit within your organization, but to contribute to its growth.

While many of the training types mentioned earlier, like technical training for products, sales training, and customer support training can be considered a part of onboarding training, the concept covers a number of areas.

For instance, a great onboarding training program will not only provide new employees with the necessary technical expertise they require to carry out their jobs efficiently, but will also provide them with the knowledge needed to acclimate them to the work culture and environment of your business.

2- Soft Skills Training

Many employers are so invested in looking for the right set of “hard” technical skills that are required for the role that they either completely overlook the importance of soft skills or assume that their new and/or existing employees already possess them.

However, doing so can turn out to be a big mistake. While the importance of technical knowledge and relevant certifications cannot be understated, the importance of soft skills like being a team player, having efficient communication skills, being flexible, accepting feedback amicably, confidence, and many such others is crucial to ensuring smooth turning of your organizational wheels.

Only when your employees possess these skills, will they be able to use their technical or “hard” skills in a harmonious way that contributes to the growth of your organization.

3- Leadership Training

Running a business is not a one man show. Those who understand this also understand the importance of having effective leaders on their core team. While hiring such leaders is definitely an option, what works even better is developing them.

Having comprehensive leadership training programs has several advantages. For starters, the leaders you develop will come from an existing workforce and will be extremely motivated to learn new skills that improve their chances of a promotion. At the same time, a chance to grow their skills, paid for by their employer, will be remembered by them dearly, and this should reflect in their enthusiasm to contribute to your organization.

Moreover, other employees in your organization will have a clear picture of what happens when they display a zeal for doing better and as a result, will be more motivated to bring their best foot forward on their respective jobs.

Finally, developing a leader from within your organization will eventually mean having individuals that understand your organization, its functions, and its culture, on your core leadership team. Achieving the same can turn out to be a separate challenge when you hire someone at a leadership position.

Conclusion

As you can see, apart from improved motivation levels within your employees and improved retention rates for your organization, there are several advantages of investing in the training and professional development of your employees. If done right, the ROI of such training programs can turn out to be truly impressive.