As a marketer or person responsible for developing staff, you may be finding bosses are less willing to invest in training. With the economic climate the way it is, many business leaders are being more cautious with budgets when it comes to staff development. So what is the best way to help business leaders see just how valuable training is, especially during difficult times?
With businesses across all sectors facing tough economic conditions, it can be hard for companies to know what to invest in and what to cut back on in order to make savings, without cutting corners or letting reputations suffer. Would it surprise you to know that some of the most successful companies around today are continuing to spend on training despite the tough economic climate?
Here’s some insight into why these leading companies are continuing to invest. Could any of these training benefits work to convince your organisation of the need to protect your budget and keep you up-skilled? After all marketing is evolving daily and you and the company you work for can’t get left behind.
– Increased job satisfaction and morale among employees
– Increased employee motivation
– Increased efficiencies in processes, resulting in financial gain
– Increased capacity to adopt new technologies and methods
– Increased innovation in strategies and products
– Reduced employee turnover
– Enhanced company image
Future-proofing you and your Organisation
Marketers report strong doubts about their skills, effectiveness, and ability to measure the impact of their campaigns according to research released from Adobe.
Based on a broad survey of marketers, the findings revealed a striking lack of confidence in digital ability. Less than half (48%) of professionals who consider themselves primarily digital marketers feel highly proficient in digital marketing. A majority of digital marketers haven’t received any formal training in digital marketing: 82% report learning on the job. Marketers also express low confidence in how their companies’ marketing programs are performing. Only 40% think their company’s marketing is effective.
Marketers feel the pressures, and in some cases understand what they should do, but lack the confidence that they will succeed. They’re anxious about understanding ahead of time what makes for good creative and smart digital strategies, managing complexity, and measuring real impact. Plus, so much of marketing today is a moving target.
Learning from your Peers
A big focus for many companies is the use of mentoring. This involves learning from an experienced professional and sits alongside any accredited training and development an employee may be undertaking. Some of you may have a line-manager who invests their time, shares their experiences and contributes to your development.
However many marketers work in an environment where mentors are scarce and they are left to do the marketing without any input from other marketers. Listening to those who do what you do and learning from them is an invaluable experience and should be embraced where possible.
Keeping Good Employees
Employee retention is a huge challenge (and expense) for employers. So is the hiring process. Supporting personal development is key to keeping your best employees. Investing in your staff now through a mix of accredited training and peer development will also show potential employees that you are a company that invests in its team. You’ll then start to attract the best the industry has to offer.
Whilst the economic environment is still tough, there will be an end to it and the most successful people and companies will be ready to take advantage of the upturn as soon as it comes. Retaining and enhancing skills now will mean you’re first to the new opportunities when they come, rather than scrabbling around trying to hire back and retrain the talent you lost.
Next time you talk to your boss about staff development why not raise some of these points? Whether you want your company to be fit for the upturn or to improve employee satisfaction levels during difficult times – they will almost certainly thank you for it in the long run.