December 17, 2013

5 Ways Workplace Learning Can Help Your Business


CFO asks CEO: What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave us?

CEO: What happens if we don’t, and they stay?


During times of fiscal restraint, why should companies care about investing in their employees? In a 2012 interview for Forbes Magazine, Diana O’Brien, managing principal of Deloitte University, demonstrated the value of workplace training programs and their potential to contribute to a company’s long-term success. O’Brien discussed the importance of investing in people in order to keep up with the changing demands of the global economy, increase workplace productivity, retain talent, strengthen the culture of the company, nurture innovation and creativity, and improve customer relations.

Workplace learning and development is not only for large corporations—it can also drive better results for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). Research on Work-Related Learning in SMEs conducted by the Conference Board of Canada in 2011 discussed five pressures felt by SMEs.

Workplace learning and development can alleviate these pressures and help your business:

1.    Globalization. To remain competitive on the global level, your organization can improve productivity and foster innovation through workplace training.
2.    Keeping Up with a Knowledge-Based Economy. A knowledge-based economy means that there is a direct relationship between the quality and quantity of knowledge and skills in your organization and its success.
3.    Addressing Skills Shortages. Workplace learning addresses skills shortages that occur due to cyclical pressures and structural changes in the economy.
4.    Mature Workforce. The baby boomer workforce of the western world is heading into retirement. Investing in learning programs in your organization will help ensure that expertise and organizational memory are not lost, but are effectively transferred to younger employees.
5.    Getting the Best out of Diversity. You can meet your need for skilled and knowledgeable workers at least partially by hiring skilled and educated immigrants. As your enterprise becomes more diverse, workplace learning can help increase cultural awareness and promote diversity as a strategy.

Investing in employees will yield positive long-term results. By empowering your people with knowledge and skills, and fostering a positive work environment, you will create a workplace that will have the power to grow and sustain itself within an ever-changing environment.

The Learning Nut would love to hear about your experience with workplace learning and development! Comment here or find us on twitter @FocusFit2007

Stay tuned for The Learning Nut’s next post: How to implement a successful training and development program in your organization.

Guest contributors for this post: Jenny Papadakis and Lisel Douglas.

Works Cited

Quast, Lisa. (2012, May 14). Want your company to succeed in the future?Invest in employee skills training like Deloitte LLP. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2012/05/14/want-your-company-to-succeed-in-the-future-invest-in-employee-skills-training-like-deloitte-llp/2/

Hughes, P. D., Stuckey, J., The Conference Board of Canada. (2011). Investing in Skills: Effective Work-Related Learning in SMEs. Retrieved from http://www.workplaceskills.ca/_uploads/media/4nvbw3ps0.pdf