Learn from Starbucks and support your staff's studies - you'll become an employer of choice.
While spending money on training in the economic crunch may seem counterintuitive, for companies that train employees, this in fact turns out to be a financial investment.
Starbucks, the ubiquitous coffee chain, allows employees (even those who work part time) to study any course of their choice through Arizona State University’s online option.
Seattle Genetics, which employs 800 people, offers tuition reimbursement, onsite training causes, paid attendance at conferences and seminars and lifelong learning.
An article written by Emad Rizkalla, CEO of Bluedrop Performance Learning, and published on the Huffington Post notes that while Starbucks is taking a risk, it’s a calculated one.
“Offering training of this type engenders goodwill, further solidifying the company’s position as an employer of choice and attracting college-minded young people.”
Effective employee engagement is necessary in business, but are there real figures to work with to indicate that training is important for the bottom line?
Research by HR Magazine reveals that companies in the United States investing $1,500 or more per employee per year on training average 24 percent higher profit margins than companies with lower yearly investments.
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Companies that offer comprehensive training have a 218 percent higher income per employee than those with less comprehensive training, and these companies generate a six per cent higher shareholder return if the training expenditure per employee increases by $680.
No similar and robust research has been done recently in South Africa, but the same logic can be applied.
In addition, the new B-BBEE codes, released in May 2015, encourage skills development spend. An article in Polity explains that the amended codes introduced “priority” elements, like ownership, skills development and supplier and enterprise development:
“In simple terms, if an organisation fails to obtain 40% of the points allocated in any of these elements, its rating will be discounted by one level. The amended generic scorecard (for organisations whose turnover exceeds R50 million per annum), allocates 25 points to the skills development element and it is thus vital to score well in this element.”
There’s no doubt that training ROI can be measured in this respect.
CFO South Africa’s training partners offer excellent training courses to broaden your employees’ capabilities and improve your bottom line. Visit the CFO SA Training page and qualify for 10 percent discount with code CFO2018.
