Disregarding Training Data Means Missing Opportunities to Prosper
Learn from John Peebles how companies can use training data to boost employee retention and tackle costly turnover.
This article by John Peebles, CEO, Administrate, discusses how with the right tools, organizations can use training data to gather valuable insights to boost employee retention, scale across the organization, and form effective strategies to tackle costly turnover.
As our economy continues its journey into uncharted territory, businesses need to seize every opportunity to innovate and prosper.
Next year could bring some relief to companies that have seen high inflation, labor shortages, and supply challenges eating away at their bottom lines. But there is no guarantee. A recession could be in the cards, which will mean further belt-tightening and a series of difficult decisions for business leaders.
Not even the most knowledgeable pundits can say what the future holds. But one thing is certain: the months and years ahead are a time for company leaders to know precisely what kind of good resources they have at their organizations and how to conserve and make the best use of them.
Among the most valuable resources of any organization is its people. But many companies are struggling to keep them. Workers have been abandoning their positions in record numbers. According to Gartner, the annual employee turnover would likely increase by about 20% from pre-pandemic levels. And replacing them is far more expensive than keeping them around, teaching them new skills, and promoting them.
And while many companies have taken steps to retain top talent, some still struggle with building a repeatable, reportable strategy to solve the employee turnover problem. The key to creating such a strategy is understanding why employees leave.
Information companies need to understand this trend and even reverse it is available. But this vital information is often overlooked, as it usually sits siloed and disconnected in the training departments of many organizations.
The conventional thinking is that information on employee skills and training can help the training department but is of little value to the rest of the organization — this is a misconception that costs companies money. Training data holds the key to retaining the best talent instead of seeing people walk out the door. And in today’s business climate, few things are as important.
How a Leading Company Reduced Turnover
Boat manufacturer Boston Whaler enjoys the reputation of being the producer of great products and a great place to work. But there was a time when this world-class company struggled to hang on to its new hires. The company was experiencing high turnover as it quickly scaled up its manufacturing operations, threatening its scale-up and profit margins. My company Administrate, which works with training data, worked with Boston Whaler on remedying this problem.
We found that Boston Whaler’s training technology did not integrate with the company’s other departments and business functions. This meant its decision-makers could not see why so many new hires left during or shortly after their training.
Moving the company’s training data to a digital format, then applying learning analytics to study it, and then integrating this data with other functions at the company revealed shortfalls and gaps in their training program. When these were addressed, employee turnover settled down to an average level.
See More: 9 Ways to Simplify Live Online Remote Training
Using the Right Tools
This is just one example of how training data can increase ROI for a whole organization once it is analyzed and integrated with other company departments. Boston Whaler is one example of an enterprise that saw results by breaking this valuable data out of silos and putting it to good use.
But other organizations, including many for whom turnover is still a problem, lack the tools to glean essential business insights from training data. As a result, these businesses are operating without a clear picture of the skills and skill gaps their organization has. This limits their ability to pivot the company when necessary and can compromise their ability to hold on to the best employees.
Businesses struggling to form a concise, effective strategy to tackle turnover may want to look at their learning technology. Investing in a platform approach to training data can yield a fully connected, proactive implementation of data. This gives the training function more flexibility versus point solutions that fit only specific use cases.
Companies that are ready to upgrade to a platform for training data should find a platform that:
- Pulls training data from disparate databases and connects it to other departments of the organization, providing valuable insights about workforce capabilities and/or skills gaps
- Uses machine learning to training operations, which can help turn training departments from cost centers to generators of lasting value
- Scales to allow the training function to rapidly change course in an evolving market. This provides resilience to the organization by identifying talent needs far in advance, highlighting any skills gaps, and offering insights into how to enter new markets or otherwise pivot the business.
Every business today is preparing for sustained economic contraction. However, many of them can feel the pressure start to ease once they create a repeatable strategy for retaining top talent.
Training data offers the insights a company needs to increase employee retention and get a handle on the problem of turnover. And the tools to gain actionable insight from this data are available — businesses simply need to use them.
How are you using training data to retain talent and tackle turnover? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Image source: Shutterstock
MORE ON TRAINING
