Firms should be focussed on plugging their skills gaps in order to survive the recession, says Julie Allen of Vantis.
Headlines abound with companies laying off staff in a bid to reduce costs, but in cutting loose key talent many firms are losing the experience and skills they need for the future. Companies should be looking at their business needs (both for now and for the future) and assessing the skills gaps in their workforce. Investing in the right staff and ensuring that there is a good spread of relevant skills in the workforce is essential to surviving the downturn and ensuring the business is well equipped for recovery.
While providing extra financial rewards to staff is difficult for many organisations at the moment, offering the right training and development (T&D) opportunities can help firms retain their best people by giving them increased job satisfaction and making them even more effective for the company.
Training from within
Effective in-house T&D can offer major cost savings and can work well alongside more general external courses.
Smaller companies often have the edge over larger companies when it comes to in-house T&D, as they can develop highly tailored programmes covering the specific skills that the business needs. With limited group sizes, smaller companies also find it easier to work closely with the individuals involved, through ongoing support and guidance.
Offering this kind of training helps to retain talent within the business. Firms should remember that developing existing staff is much cheaper than recruiting new people. An in-house programme also ensures that employees receive the training they need, so it’s better targeted than external training.
Making a commitment
At Vantis, employees participated in an in-house programme called Steps 2 Success, which worked on matching the aspirations of talented individuals with the needs of the business. The programme focused on making employees more commercially aware and better able to understand the full range of services offered by the company, as well as improving their skills in presentation, communication, networking, pitching and report writing.
The programme works because it has active support and commitment from the company’s board, senior managers and line managers. Candidates are nominated by their managers and heads of department. All three parties sign a learning contract, working together to support the candidate’s progress. Getting management buy-in and ensuring that there is a reporting line when it comes to monitoring employees’ progress is essential to creating a successful in-house training programme.
Redeployment
More than ever, companies need an adaptable and flexible workforce with a good range of transferable skills that can be used where they will be most effective. Training staff in-house means redeployment of existing staff is a real option. Furthermore, investment now is critical when looking beyond the current recession. If firms don’t plan ahead, they could be left with skills gaps later on and have staff who are not committed to a long-term future with them.
Julie Allen is group development director at Vantis plc, the AIM listed UK accounting, tax, business recovery and advisory group.