How upskilling your staff will increase your bottom line

Upskilling staff is when organisations invest in training programs that help employees develop new abilities and minimise troublesome skills gaps.

Many employers have questions and concerns surrounding upskilling – such as whether it’s worth it, if it could land the business in financial difficulty, and why it’s so important for their employees.

In this article, we examine why upskilling your staff is vital for a thriving business and how it will provide a great ROI and increase your bottom line.

Read on to find out how to upskill your staff and the 7 top reasons why upskilling employees is important.

1. Employees expect training opportunities

Professional development is incredibly important to Generation Z, with 91% citing professional training as an important factor when choosing an employer.

With more employees and jobseekers than ever looking to upskill, failure to provide for this could result in staff losses, recruitment costs and a detrimental effect on your bottom line. Studies suggest that losing an employee could cost as much as $25,000.

2. Motivation breeds productivity

Giving back to your staff by increasing their skills offering and investing in their future gives them a sense of accountability to the business that’s treating them so well. What you give out is what you get back.

Motivated employees means hardworking employees, resulting in better sales and an increasing bottom line.

3. Increase your ROI

In this climate, you need highly skilled and technology-wise workers. So, what do you want to do about it? Employ more staff and risk high recruitment costs, more salaries to pay, and advertising bills?

In terms of ROI, investing more heavily in existing staff is a much more cost-effective way to get the results that you want, with a much lower expenditure.

4. Foster a progressive workplace

If you were buying from you, would you want to support a company that values its staff? Buyers are more conscious than ever before.

From cruelty-free approval, to avoiding companies with a gender pay-gap – we are conscientious consumers. Companies with happy staff breed happy customers.

5. Fast track your business plans

If everyone in your company has high levels of digital literacy and technical skills, then everyone is on the same page. When your executive team pass down decisions, a skilled workforce can put them into action with speed and accuracy.

If you have a vision for the future of your business, investing in the employees that’ll take it there will fast-track the entire process.

6. Get tasks done in-house

How much do you spend on outsourcing particular tasks? Why do you outsource them? It’s probably because none of your employees are capable or confidence enough to carry out that particular role.

So, why not train them up? By pulling as much as possible ‘in-house’, you’ll be increasing your bottom line by decreasing your expenses.

7. It’s trackable

If you’re concerned about upskilling and whether your staff will take to it, you can track their progress and provide feedback. It’s very motivational for employees to be able to ‘measure’ their own success.

With our team of mentors, regular labs, and test preparation at Learning People, employees feel accountable and in control of their own learning – but not abandoned to take on all this new information without support.

As their employer, you can also keep an eye on their assignments, work output and productivity. This allows you to prove to yourself that upskilling your workforce is the right thing for your bottom line.

Start upskilling your staff today

If you’ve identified a skills gap in your organisation, think twice before putting out a recruitment ad. Could some existing employees be trained to fill this gap?

Contact Learning People today to find out about our business training packages. Our broad range of online courses in tech and project management can be assembled into a personalised collection to suit your business’s needs, while our StudentCare team oversees your employees’ learning to help them get accredited fast.