The benefits of training employees (plus tips and best practices)

To run a successful business, you need more than just a great product or service. 

Once you’ve got past the challenge of how to come up with a business idea, you need to figure out not only how you’ll get your idea off the ground but, more importantly, how you’ll operate efficiently and profitably. 

In the early days of figuring out how to start a business, you’ll likely rely on your own skills and expertise. Then, as your business evolves and you start hiring employees, you’ll face new challenges, such as:

• How do I keep operations smooth and efficient as the team grows?

• How can we stay versatile and adaptable to market shifts?

• How do I leverage my employees’ skills to their full potential?

This is where employee training comes in. With effective training, you can build a competent, confident team who are fully equipped to steer your business towards long-term success. 

And don’t believe the myth that employee training is only possible on a big budget. With careful planning and a goal-driven approach, you can reap all the benefits of employee training — even with limited resources. 

Keep reading to explore:

• What employee training is 

• How does training and development of employees benefit the organisation

• 5 types of employee training that are especially valuable for small businesses

• Tips and best practices for effective employee training on any budget

What is employee training?

Employee training encompasses everything you do to develop your employees’ knowledge, skills, and professional competence.

It involves teaching employees about your business and the industry, providing opportunities to expand their knowledge, and generally equipping them to excel in the workplace. 

There are many different types of employee training — from formal courses and qualifications to workshops, mentorship, and on-the-job learning. If it serves to teach your employees new skills and build their confidence, it can be classed as employee training.

The benefits of training employees 

Employee training isn’t just an investment in the individual. It’s an investment in your business, creating a skilled and competent team who can help you achieve your goals. 

Here are the key benefits of training your employees. 

1. Boosts employee motivation and morale

Regular training helps employees feel competent and confident in the workplace. It encourages them to step outside their comfort zone and trust in their own ability to learn, adapt, and take on new challenges. 

This is great for employee motivation and team morale — creating an engaged and enthusiastic workforce who are driven to excel. If you’re wondering how to motivate employees, don’t overlook the importance of employee training. 

2. Improves employee retention 

When you provide opportunities to learn and grow, you show your employees how much you value them — and that they are integral to the company’s success. You also show that you’re invested in their future and believe in their potential.

This helps to increase job satisfaction and boost employee retention, which is crucial for productivity and keeping costs down.

3. Drives productivity and efficiency across your business

Employee training is essential for effective operations management. With proper training, your employees can carry out their work more efficiently, independently, and with fewer errors. 

This helps to streamline and optimise day-to-day tasks and workflows, increase productivity, and generally keep things running smoothly.

4. Creates a positive workplace culture

If you’re thinking about how to create a positive working environment, employee training may not be the first thing that comes to mind. 

But, when you equip your employees with the skills and confidence to do their jobs, you create a culture where everybody thrives. Collaboration and communication improve, learning and growth become the norm, and everyone feels empowered to succeed. 

5. Improves health and safety in the workplace

Knowing how to run a business means prioritising the health and safety of your employees and customers. Regular training ensures that everyone is familiar with health and safety protocols and knows how to respond in emergencies. 

This reduces the risk of accidents and injuries, and creates a safe and enjoyable experience for your customers. 

If you’re exploring business opportunities in the hospitality industry, for example, you’d need all employees to be well-versed in food safety and hygiene protocols.

6. Ensures a positive customer experience

Your employees’ knowledge, skills, and competence all have a direct impact on how clients and customers perceive your business. 

With training in topics such as what is good customer service, how to deal with difficult clients, and managing client expectations, you can equip your employees to handle client-facing interactions with confidence and professionalism. 

Not only does this help to improve the customer experience, foster customer loyalty, and boost customer retention; it’s also crucial for your business reputation.

7. Promotes trust and autonomy 

With the right skills and knowledge, your employees can work independently, make informed decisions, and take ownership of their tasks. This promotes a culture of trust and autonomy — freeing you up to focus on more strategic initiatives.

While your team handles day-to-day ops, you can concentrate on long-term objectives — be that business growth strategies, developing a marketing strategy for your small business, or small business networking. 

8. Keeps your company agile and adaptable 

Change is inevitable in the world of business — and it can happen quickly and unexpectedly. If you want to remain adaptable and competitive, it’s essential that you keep your employees’ skills up-to-date.

With regular training, you can equip your team to navigate industry trends, meet ever-changing customer needs, and keep up with new tools, processes, and technologies. 

Whether you’re thinking about how to scale your business or focusing on small business risk management, this kind of agility will help you navigate rough patches and build towards long-term success. 

9. Cuts costs and drives profitability 

Investing in employee training can result in significant cost savings — helping you to manage your cash flow and stay within your small business budget. 

It does this by boosting employee retention (and therefore reducing the costs associated with employee turnover) and improving overall efficiency. 

In addition to keeping costs down, employee training can indirectly impact your revenue, too. We mentioned earlier how employee training helps to improve the customer experience which, in turn, drives sales and supports new customer acquisition. That’s all good news for your bottom line.

5 types of employee training to benefit your small business

Employee training can take many different forms — it all depends on the specific needs and goals of your business, as well as your employees’ existing skill level. 

Here are some of the most common types of employee training you might consider for your small business. 

1. Employee onboarding and orientation

After you’ve navigated the practicalities of how to hire employees and got to grips with the various types of employment, you’ll want to focus on employee onboarding.

This is the first type of training your employees should receive when they join your business. Employee onboarding introduces new hires to your company culture and structure, explains any relevant policies, processes, and tools, and eases them into the specifics of their role. 

This initial training is crucial for helping new team members settle in and learn the ropes — and sets a positive tone for your future working relationship.

2. Job-specific skills training

Whether you’re hiring employees to help get one of your online business ideas off the ground, enlisting extra support with running your restaurant or café, or hiring an apprentice for your beauty salon; the chances are that your employees will need certain role- and industry-specific skills.

Job-specific training focuses on teaching those skills — be it food preparation techniques, customer service principles, or proficiency in specific software and tools. 

This kind of training helps to improve workplace performance and keep your employees’ skills up-to-date. As such, it should be offered as and when the need for new skills arises. 

3. Cross-training

Cross-training teaches your employees how to perform additional tasks and responsibilities beyond their primary role. This creates a highly versatile, multi-skilled team who can wear many hats. 

Let’s imagine that, after weighing up several small business ideas, you’re now running a café with a team of three employees: a barista, a cashier, and an employee responsible for preparing snacks. 

With cross-training, you might train the cashier in how to prepare basic coffee orders, and train both the barista and kitchen staff to work the till. That way, if one employee is out sick or overwhelmed during peak hours, someone else can step in. 

Cross-training is especially valuable for small businesses who need to keep costs down, ensure effective cash flow management, and create an environment where everybody can muck in. 

4. Health, safety, and compliance training

In addition to fulfilling the legal requirements of starting a business, you also have a responsibility to ensure that all employees are aware of — and compliant with — any relevant health and safety regulations. 

This type of employee training can cover anything from industry-specific laws and regulations to emergency response procedures, learning how to operate equipment and machinery safely, handling food hygienically, and generally maintaining a safe working environment.

5. Product or service training 

No matter what kind of business you run, it’s essential that your employees are well-versed in the products and services you offer. 

If you run a restaurant or café, for example, your employees should be trained so that they’re familiar with all the dishes on the menu and their ingredients, as well as your pricing strategies.

If you’re hiring someone to help with email marketing for your small business, you might provide training to make sure they understand your target market and your unique selling proposition (USP).

Product and service training enables your employees to provide good customer service, expertly communicate the value of your offerings, and increase sales.

Tips and best practices for effective employee training

We’ve explored the many benefits of training employees. Now let’s consider some tips and best practices for effective employee training on any budget. 

Align employee training with business requirements

If you’re looking at how to develop a training program for employees, start by identifying the specific skills, knowledge, and competencies your business needs to thrive, as well as the key business goals you want to achieve. Then focus your employee training efforts accordingly.

Set measurable goals and objectives

Tie your employee training initiatives to specific goals and outcomes. If you’re running a café, for example, you might focus on reducing customer wait times or increasing sign-ups for your customer loyalty program. 

If you’re exploring creative ways to make money by running your own boutique agency, you might train your employees in additional skills so that you can expand your service offering. 

By defining measurable goals, you can monitor the effectiveness of your employee training efforts. This also goes hand-in-hand with performance management techniques. 

Foster a culture of continuous learning

Training shouldn’t be a one-time event reserved for new hires. Make continuous learning and development a core part of your workplace culture. 

Encourage peer-to-peer learning through shadowing and cross-training, and provide opportunities for employees to learn new skills over time. 

This helps to keep your team engaged and contributes to effective change management for your small business, supporting long-term stability and growth.

Encourage hands-on training and real-world application

If you’re investing time and money in employee training, you want to make sure that it sticks — and that it translates to real workplace scenarios. 

Wherever possible, offer practical training such as on-the-job learning, role-play scenarios (during a training workshop, for example), and shadowing. If you wanted to train an employee in bookkeeping for small businesses, for example, you might have them shadow and support you while you do the year end accounts. 

Gather feedback to continuously improve your employee training efforts 

Finding the most effective approach to employee training may take time — and some experimentation. Seek feedback from your employees to learn, from their perspective, what’s working well and what could be better. 

This enables you to continuously improve and update your employee training efforts, ensuring maximum engagement and impact.

Key takeaways and next steps

If you want a skilled, competent, and confident team to help you run your business, employee training is critical. 

The benefits of employee training trickle down to every area of your business — from day-to-day efficiency and team morale, right through to your financial stability and future growth. 

Ultimately, effective and ongoing employee training results in:

• Greater workplace efficiency and productivity

• Happier staff and improved employee retention

• A better experience for your customers and clients 

• More cost-effective operations and long-term financial gains 

Next steps 

You’re well-versed in the benefits of training employees — so how do you get started? Consider these next steps:

1. Define your employee training goals and priorities: First and foremost, figure out exactly what you want to achieve with employee training. If you’ve already gone through the process of how to write a business plan, refer back to the strategic objectives you outlined — and consider how employee training can help you achieve them. You might identify improving customer service as a priority area, for example.

2. Identify skills gaps: With your goals and priorities in mind, assess your employees’ current skills and pinpoint any areas where additional training is needed. It’s also worth speaking to your employees directly at this point; perhaps they’re conscious of certain skills gaps that you haven’t noticed.

3. Think about delivery: Consider the best training format for your business — whether it’s in-house workshops that you can lead yourself, online courses and external training, on-the-job shadowing, or a combination of several. Think about your budget, available resources, and how much time you can realistically dedicate to employee training. 

By following these steps (together with the tips and best practices we shared earlier in this guide), you can ensure a focused approach to employee training that aligns with your goals and drives meaningful results for your business.