The recruitment process can be expensive and time consuming. Once a 
workforce is established, it is difficult for employers to allocate additional resources for staff training and development. While maintaining competitive IT capabilities and systems within your organization requires regular training for IT staff, there are other steps that an employer can take on a daily basis to improve workforce efficacy that do not require any financial investment. The American Society for Training and Development suggests the following:
- Encourage self-learning. Provide on-line tutorials for staff to watch at their own pace. They can learn new software or gain exposure to other company information when they have downtime or on an as-needed basis. Staff can also be encouraged to use libraries, external online resources, or other resources that the company can recommend. Providing incentives for self-motivated learning can effective especially if incorporated into yearly appraisals.
- Voluntary work is an opportunity for staff to learn new skills that they can apply to their own work setting. Community outreach carries the added benefit to employers of relationship building with an external market. Additionally, a company that contributes to the local community and the development of its employees is more likely to attract the best talent.
- Internal mentoring programs are mutually beneficial. Each individual can learn skills from the other and communication, listening, and coaching skills can be developed and training costs reduced.
- Encourage creativity and allow for mistakes. Innovation requires an environment that allows for failure. Give employees autonomy for decision making when working in teams to achieve a certain goal. Hard work should be rewarded and staff held accountable for reaching targets and goals.
- Allow time for social activities and promote social networking. Social interaction is a key motivator and a human need. Employers must balance the benefits that online network tools can bring such as cross functional collaboration with online knowledge building tools, but develop guidelines and policies that employees can follow to avoid detrimental use of social media.
Leaders should be encouraging and set a good example. A culture of trust with transparent rules and policies can be developed through that facilitate feedback from staff such as staff surveys or online chat rooms. However, workplace adjustments must respond to staff feedback such as instituting flexible working arrangements or procedural changes that make sense.
For more information, contact us today! Experts in staffing the Las Vegas, Nevada area, we are happy to discuss any staffing questions you may have.
