Why Sustainable Training Plans Are Key

Many businesses think that enterprise-level employee training is only available to big corporations and companies. This is not true. There are many employees training plans out there that will not only upskill your employees in an affordable way but also, a sustainable one to help you stay ahead of the curve.  

Read more below about the benefits of having a sustainable training plan in place for your business.

Enterprise-level employee training plans look great, right? Employees get access to the best and latest in training content across multiple areas such as leadership skills, health and safety, cybersecurity and much more. Yet, often these kinds of training plans can also come with a hefty price tag which isn’t always attainable for leaders of smaller businesses.  

If you are currently looking to create or update your employee training plan, don’t give up on the idea of enterprise-level training just yet.  

Here at the Training Company, our mission is to provide training opportunities that originally were only available to corporate enterprises in a more sustainable and cost-friendly way. We believe that all employees should have the ability to access upskilling opportunities in the workplace and should be given a platform to carry out continuous learning.   

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What Is A Sustainable Employee Training Plan? 

The business environment is moving quickly – and it doesn’t slow down if you happen to be a smaller business. All leaders want to be able to keep up in a fast-moving economy and to stay ahead of their competitors. In order to do this, a well-defined and sustainable employee training program is key.  

The skills you need in your employees are probably shifting quicker than you can hire to fill them. And this trend isn’t going to stop any time soon. The only answer to this is to start thinking of your employees as renewable resources. The mindset of leaders needs to shift from replacing employees to fill a skill gap and instead, developing and upgrading people’s skills. How is that achieved?  

Sustainable training plans are designed to keep your company agile while also providing specialized training solutions to multiple teams. Instead of providing training in an all-encompassing package that has to purchased upfront, they are aimed at allowing you to approach training with a ‘pick and mix’ attitude. Sustainable training means that you can build a foundation for employee training that will continue for years to come at a consistent pace. For this reason, you can focus on accessing training modules intermittently throughout a given year that meets your training needs at that point in time. For example, perhaps there has been a recent technology update when it comes to Microsoft and your finance department needs updated learning material. Or maybe, you would like to improve the leadership skills of the new manager that you have just brought on board.  

Your sustainable training plan may look different on a yearly basis but the key point to takeaway is that it is all changeable depending on what skills you would like your employees to improve. Accessing training opportunities for your employees this way means that you can make sure that your training program is always relevant and will provide them with the skillset that they’ll value the most on a professional level and your business will benefit the most from on an operational level.  

The Benefits Of Having A Sustainable Training Program

According to research, up to 86% of employees value training opportunities in the workplace. And when these opportunities are provided it leads to the creation of great employee and workplace culture. Training plans are just beneficial for ensuring that your employees have the skills to do their jobs but it also shows them that you value their professional development.  

Having a sustainable training program in place which prioritizes employee training on a regular basis can go a long way in improving employee engagement, productivity and morale overall. These programs also ensure that it’s not just new hires who are focused on but also your tenured employees. No matter how many years your staff have worked as part of your company, each individual deserves the training opportunities to help them tackle the latest challenges in your industry.  

Below, we list some of the core benefits you can expect to see when you invest in a continuous training plan as a small business:  

• Employees can hone their knowledge, skills and mitigate weaknesses 
• Makes your employees feel valued, engaged and fosters loyalty to your business 
• Creates a team of highly capable individuals who can keep up with new industry trends and challenges 
• Puts you ahead of your competitors 
• Helps your business attract better talent

All businesses, whether small or big, want to invest in their workforce to make their employees the best that they can be. And sustainable and continuous learning options are certainly key to keeping your staff developed on a professional level year after year.  

Still wondering how you can make it work financially. We understand. Large-scale and continuous employee training requires a lot of planning when it comes to dividing up your financial resources. However, there are means of financial support available that allow businesses to implement sustainable training programs for their employees.  

In Ontario, the Canada-Ontario Job Grant (COJG) program was developed to help those businesses who want to invest in their workforce but don’t have the financial means to do so. The COJG program accepts participants from all company sizes and requires all applicants to go through an eligibility process. Direct financial support is available from this program for those companies that are providing short-term training to both new and existing staff members.  

If your business successfully matches the eligibility criteria to participate in the program, the COJG could potentially cover up to 100% of the cost of the training. 

How Businesses Can Leverage Blended Training To Upskill Their Employees

Blended learning modules can be very successful when adopted as part of a consistent, sustainable professional training program. This kind of employee training allows your staff to learn and upskill with a mixture of both online courses and in-person and/or virtual instructor led training sessions.  

As we’ve highlighted, these blended learning opportunities helps to ensure that your business receives the best of both worlds. Employees can easily make training a part of their regular work routine and it helps smaller businesses to save costs both on time and financial resources. Many of our clients have adopted and achieved substantial training ROI by implementing blended solutions as part of their continuous training plan.  

If you are interested in learning about how you can adopt a more sustainable approach to professional training programs for your business, get in touch with us today and we’ll be more than happy to answer any learning and development questions that you have.