We all want to see our bottom line in the green. The more in the green zone we are the better. This motivates us to try and cut our losses wherever we can, but it can also have some negative by-products. This usually reflects in some “budget friendly” measures which do more harm than good in the long run.

When the situation requires cutting some part of the budget on a company level (as with worker training), most of the leaders tend to scratch them out as redundant at the first bad turn. Before you actually cut them as deficient investments, you need to look at the benefits these things get you and how they influence your revenue and worker performance.

As far as worker training itself is concerned, we can actually identify multiple benefits and it is hard to see a situation in which it would actually pay off not to invest in it.

Productivity increase

It is a widely accepted fact that there is a significant increase in worker productivity in cases when they get to apply their new skills. This will reflect both on their efficiency, motivation and overall return on investment for the training. Worker training actually gives them practical new ways and tools to deal with boring tasks that can be automated. This will also be time efficient, since there will be less manual work and people can focus on really important issues and deal with paperwork and reports, which also provides a greater insight into the work that an individual worker has accomplished.

Hybrid positions and greater multitasking

Software and hardware are very important for any company these days and it separates modern, cutting-edge companies from those that are not keeping up with the pace of the current trends and ways of doing business. By using the right software, you can speed up tasks, enable people to have a better understanding of their obligations, follow work progress and constantly keep the right information at hand.

Revenue return

The statistics also speak in favor of worker training. Basically, when we look at the stats across the board, there is always an increase of return for training investments per worker. This fact makes it baffling for me that employee training is the first thing to be scratched off when things start to go sour. Even if we disregard the return on investment you get from worker training, the demotivating element of the whole thing, and the negative influence on productivity it has – this is something that you want to avoid in times of hardship.

Can you afford not to have worker training?

Things are changing fast and when we sum things up and look at the situation as a whole, cutting on worker training is counterproductive and will reflect negatively on your bottom line. If you have a well-organized training program, I would advise against attempting to save money since you could actually lose more than you bargained for.