Training and onboarding a new employee is certainly not free and can be relatively expensive. Training may involve seminars and courses led by trainers or industry experts that you’ve invited to lead a class. And when other employees lead training, departments can become understaffed as those people need to monitor and supervise the new hires. This results in a decrease in productivity in those undermanned units which will eventually also cost you money.

While you may think that training should be kept at a minimal to avoid spending too much, think about how not training your employees well will ultimately cost you more. But beyond what you may lose when you don't properly train your employees, you also gain from investing in employee training. Here are the top 5 reasons why you should invest in employee training.

Improved Retention

Training is an excellent retention tool. When employees are trained well and training is continuous, employees feel challenged and more likely to want to stay with the company because they continue to learn and grow.

While there are expenses involved in training, the costs are nothing compared to what a company loses when they have a high turnover rate. High turnover costs are more than you may realize. Beyond having to train and onboard a new employee to replace the old one, you’re spending more money to interview candidates and advertising the vacant position. And until the new hire is up to speed on processes, their level of efficiency as a new hire who is just learning the ropes is leading to a decrease in overall productivity, costing you more money.

Attracting the Best Talent

Finding the best talent to be a part of your organization is challenging as more companies start to offer candidates more perks and benefits. To most employees, continuous development programs that may result in promotion is attractive as it means growth.

Employee Loyalty

When employees are trained, and you invest in their development, they feel appreciated and valued. And when employees feel that their company cares about their continuous growth, they develop a sense of loyalty and eventually, become advocates for your organization. Loyalty and advocacy mean employees are engaged, improving your brand’s overall image and reputation.

Market Flexibility

No industry is immune to change. As markets evolve and old technologies are phased out, and innovations are introduced, companies who fail to continuously train get left behind. When employees are trained and developed, they respond to market and process changes better and faster.

Increased Productivity

When employees are trained well, they are equipped with the skills, knowledge, and resources to perform their jobs effectively. They require less supervision and commit fewer mistakes. And with improved competency comes an increase in efficiency and productivity. And when productivity is high, as is profitability.

Conclusively, there’s a positive impact on business results when employees are trained and feel that they are making a valuable contribution . While training employees do require an investment, the returns are considerable when you think about how a well-trained employee means better quality outputs executed more efficiently. Efficiency translates to fewer incidents thus keeping overall costs to fix mistakes at a minimum; proving that training is well worth the investment.