etermine how and when employees get training. A multinational I worked with used to sit down with its employees every year and ask them about their training needs for the following year. More often than not it was a list of “approved couTraining in its broadest sense is the provision of information to allow someone to carry out an old task better or to learn to perform a new task. Yet training is often seen as an extra cost and therefore affecting the bottom line. When the business environment is difficult it can be one of the first costs to be cut.

There is no denying that it does cost time and money to train people but it can cost far more when people are untrained. Much more time can be wasted showing people tasks that could have been learnt through some form of instruction.

I can understand this resistance to providing training in terms of cost. Even in larger companies the risk that people will jump ship after specialised training is always there. What’s more once people leave education they can often become resistant to learning, beyond basic tasks required of them in their work environment. Often it becomes the responsibility of the employers to determine how and when employees get training. A multinational I worked with used to sit down with its employees every year and ask them about their training needs for the following year. More often than not it was a list of “approved cour

the business environment is difficult it can be one of the first costs to be cut.

There is no denying that it does cost time and money to train people but it can cost far more when people are untrained. Much more time can be wasted showing people tasks that could have been learnt through some form of instruction.

I can understand this resistance to providing training in terms of cost. Even in larger companies the risk that people will jump ship after specialised training is always there. What’s more once people leave education they can often become resistant to learning, beyond basic tasks required of them in their work environment. Often it becomes the responsibility of the employers to determine how and when employees get training. A multinational I worked with used to sit down with its employees every year and ask them about their training needs for the following year. More often than not it was a list of “approved cou

showing people tasks that could have been learnt through some form of instruction.

I can understand this resistance to providing training in terms of cost. Even in larger companies the risk that people will jump ship after specialised training is always there. What’s more once people leave education they can often become resistant to learning, beyond basic tasks required of them in their work environment. Often it becomes the responsibility of the employers to determine how and when employees get training. A multinational I worked with used to sit down with its employees every year and ask them about their training needs for the following year. More often than not it was a list of “approved cou

ised training is always there. What’s more once people leave education they can often become resistant to learning, beyond basic tasks required of them in their work environment. Often it becomes the responsibility of the employers to determine how and when employees get training. A multinational I worked with used to sit down with its employees every year and ask them about their training needs for the following year. More often than not it was a list of “approved couetermine how and when employees get training. A multinational I worked with used to sit down with its employees every year and ask them about their training needs for the following year. More often than not it was a list of “approved courses”.

This in part is where the problem lies. Employees can often see no benefit beyond a day out because they are not expected to. As a result it can be easy to fill a one day course, when it’s a day out and you get paid for it. The employer fulfils their obligation and the employee gets training. Unfortunately this can also mean people attending courses unsuited to them, which will never benefit them or their organisation. A large organisation, I know of, had telephonists signing up to financial spreadsheet courses simply because they were free.

The problem is not with an organisation selecting the wrong training courses, but with the fact that training ends up as one of those things talked about once a year. Either that or it’s an emailed list of courses for people to sign up to. In my own case, over time the company recognised this and became more proactive in trying to identify more appropriate training.

This is