Conferences, trade shows and conventions shouldn't be the only meetings that corporations, associations and government agencies host. Training seminars also should be in the mix, argues the National Conference Center in Leesburg, Va., which this week published a new white paper in its quarterly "Meeting Discoveries" series.
Titled "Invest in Training and I'll Stay: Why Training is Non-Negotiable for Companies to Compete and Retain Top-Notch Employees," the white paper examines training and development as the top motivators for today's workforce. Featuring contributing research from Joni Mamana of the National Conference Center, Margie Kersten of Ernst & Young, Rodney Miller from Microsoft Corp., and Fred Lang, a former Chief Learning Officer from the U.S. Department of Commerce, its main arguments are:
• Training isn't limited to just new hires: "Training is no longer a proecess that new hires experience in the first month," writes the white paper's author, Sarah Vining, marketing manager for the National Conference Center. "It's a career-long endeavor."
• The best employees will leave if the company isn't invested in their future: "Money is no longer motivating the workforce," Vining says. "Instead, it's training and development … Therefore, training should be non-negotiable and comprise 3-5 percent of a company's budget."
• Not training the workforce can result in expensive mistakes: "Progressing forward with the tools of yesterday can result in expensive losses, including lack of communication, losing key accounts and disastrous mistakes," Vining argues. "Organizations should support training as a means of ensuring high performance levels, in order to maintain competitiveness in the private sector and efficient operations in the government."
Concludes Vining, "Training senior- executives and employees beyond the first day is an investment in further developing employee skills, engagement and retention rate, which can benefit a company's profitability. This will become more important as the market recovers and companies want to compete with others. An investment in ongoing training for your employees guarantees a return later."