By Joe Lair, A Brandt Group Trainer
I hire these students for the summer and in the fall they leave and go back to school. Seems like a waste.
This is a pretty simple question that needs to be addressed each time a new hire happens. Every business faces the problem on whether they will train or not train new hires.
My belief is to train each and every time a new hire takes place no matter the position or the duration of the hire. As employers you are not given a crystal ball for the length of time an employee will stay or how good they are going to become.
It’s always best to train each employee as if they are the best of the best and that they are going to be working for a long time. Riding the fence on this or any issue only gives splinters and that is the reward for not training each and every employee it only hurts your business.
What the employer is willing to do for the short-term employee sends a message to the employee who has been with them the longest. Long-term employees need training just as much as new hires and when they see their employer willing to train that gives them encouragement to keep fresh.
I love sports and I’ve coached lots of kids throughout the years in soccer; I’ve had to learn to adapt to different levels of skill as I worked with my teams. A team can work as fast as the slowest player and a team can go only go as far as the least trained. What does that mean?
As a team goes down the court or field on a fast break the fastest player is hindered by the slowest player. They can only make a break with support and their teammates need to be working with them side by side as they make their way up the field of play.
When employees are working they have to adjust to the tempo of the day just like players in a game. The better-trained employees are the better they can adjust to the tempo of the day.
More training gives them better skills to handle what comes at them as the day progresses. Each employee faces hundreds of decisions that need to be made to keep the day flowing productively. So train them all and train them often.
Have Joe answer your business questions. Send them to: johnb@thebrandtgroup.com
