Small businesses, in general, avoid investing in employee training, because they don’t understand the value of it.

But small businesses specifically benefit because multiple studies show that staff training provides five major benefits:

1.Positively impacts profits
2.Empowers staff to get more done
3.Helps retain staff
4.Can be the difference between business success or failure
5.Gives an edge over competitors

Although small business owners are concerned about training costs, the good news is that it needn’t cost a lot…

Here are the top three types of recommended employee training, as well as why small business should invest in them, and how to do it affordably:

#1: Skills training

Small business owners tend to believe employee training for the smaller business, is not that important in the greater scheme of things, but for small business specifically, their very success is dependent on the work of their employees.

To boot, 42% of small companies report that one of their greatest challenges is recruiting new employees. So, you want to hang on to the staff you do have, especially if they are top talent.

To build a strong workforce that is productive and provides quality outputs, it makes sense to provide skills training, because doing so ultimately increases the effectiveness of your employees, and impacts the business in the following ways:

●Helps retain the employees you already have, because they feel more fulfilled and they keep growing in knowledge, which is what all top talent desires.
●Improves productivity because staff feel valued and are better equipped to do their jobs with excellence.
●Helps attract top talent to your business, because they see the value of continual training.
●Helps employees “bond” with the business = higher engagement levels.
●Develops a positive attitude, and a learning culture.

Now, if your business doesn’t have a training budget, you can still empower your staff with skills by making use of online courses that are provided by experts. An example is Kajabi’s new online course marketplace.

By utilizing an option like this, employees do not need to travel, and they can complete the courses from their desks. In addition, these courses are a lot more affordable than the ones that usually last two or so days, and which require your staff to travel.

#2: Company culture training

According to Score, a whopping 30% of small business failures are due to poor hiring decisions.

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Reasons for that are possibly due to:

1.Recruitment not being a core function of the small business, so those responsible for hiring are not using the correct methods to find the right people.
2.Those doing the hiring do not hire according to desired company culture, so that vital “fit” is not there.

When employees do not fit the culture of the company (and every company has its own culture, whether it is a good one or a bad one), bad things happen.

In general, small businesses neglect paying attention to their desired culture, but culture begins with the founder and works its way down towards all employees, so owners need to first determine what kind of personality and work ethic they want for the business, and then roll it out to all players by means of company culture training.

The benefits of are:

1.The development of a strong brand, inside and out.
2.Everybody working for the company is on the same page about values, and “how things are done around here”.
3.When you focus on this aspect as a small business, the company will not have to go through major changes later on, as a big organization.
4.When small businesses focus on developing a strong culture, they will also develop an edge over their competitors, because internal culture is intentional, and extends from the inside, right to the outside where your customers and competitors reside.

#3: Company procedures training

Small businesses may scoff at the idea of company procedure training, because they think that due to their small size, everybody is already on the same page with regards to how to do things, but this is a mistake.

One of the greatest benefits of facilitating company procedure training, is that it maintains high standards, so that mistakes are avoided, people are more productive, and best of all, when you bring someone new on board, you can simply revert them to the documentation instead of needing resources to train them.

Since the majority of new employees who quit after their first six months, leave due to poor on boarding processes and lack of clarity around their role, this is a legitimate concern.

When you have the right tools, it becomes easy to roll out company procedures training. For example, using webinar meeting software, your business can train staff that are off-site, or situated in the remotest parts of the world!

All that is required for this option is the actual software, a presenter, the presentation, and each employee would need a computer and internet connection. Done this way, you can reach anyone, no matter where they are situated. You can even use the recordings for an intranet site, so that new employees can watch without the company needing to allocate a resource for on boarding programs.

In summary

Staff training can make or break the small business.

It has major benefits that impact the bottom line. The good news is that with a bit of creativity, it doesn’t even have to cost a lot.

Types of essential training are:

1.To enhance skills
2.To develop a desired company culture
3.To ensure quality standards are kept by all employees

Simple and affordable non-traditional online tools can be used for the small business to carry out training.