When you start hiring, you’ll probably want to offer extensive training and support. Anything to get the right candidates to apply, right? Sadly, many entrepreneurs fail to deliver on that promise. In truth, training costs too much for many small business owners to afford. As well as the expense of the training, you’ll have to consider paying your staff for the time. It isn’t always practical.
But, failure to follow through on your promises can cause a variety of staffing problems. Your employees will feel deceived, and rightly so. They may opt to leave you. And, even if they do stay, they won’t be in a position to do the best job possible. How can they if they haven’t received adequate training?
The good news is, there are ways to provide training without putting yourself out of pocket. Admittedly, this will involve taking more responsibility on your shoulders. But it’ll be worth it in the long run! Let’s look at some ways you can achieve the goal.
Host in-house training courses
For the most part, your staff aren’t going to care whether they’re sent away for training or do it right there in the office. What matters is that they’re getting the information they need. You could argue that you’re the best person to teach them, anyway. No one knows what you want better than you do. There will still be some costs involved. To ensure your course is top quality, you might want to look into something like Conference Data Services projector hire. This will add a professional touch to proceedings and ensure a visual aid to your teaching. It’s also worth thinking about printing worksheets to hand around to staff members. The more additions you provide, the better chance they have of learning.
Books: The cheap way to learn
Books are an endless learning resource. Even better, they’re cheap. At least, they are when you compare them with spending hundreds on training courses. You don’t have to stock up on a copy of a book for each staff member. But, having a small library of essentials in the office will be a huge help. Books about dealing with customer complaints, or fixing issues in your chosen computer programs, will be a huge help. This way, staff will be able to rest easy that they can always do some research if they’re stuck.
image: stocksnap
On-the-job training
Most importantly, though, you should turn to on-the-job training. The main benefit here is that you don’t have to pay for time spent training. All you need to do is shadow your staff and teach them on the go. In many ways, this is the most efficient training method. After all, listening to someone speak will never match up to doing it themselves. Either stick with your staff for their first week or pair them up with a long-standing member of staff. This will help put their mind at ease, and ensure they can face most issues working for you might throw at them.