Every company wants to hire unicorns – those magical employees who bring groundbreaking ideas and industry-shaking innovation to your business. But your employees – even the gifted ones – aren’t magic, and expecting them to perform at peak without proper support is unfair and unrealistic.
Your employees need training. When they’re new, they need training during the onboarding process. When they’re hitting their stride, they need training to keep progressing and meeting their goals. When they’re leading teams and mentoring direct reports, they need training to fine-tune their leadership skills.
We’ve compiled some stats below to show you exactly how costly it can be to ignore corporate training. Plus, we’ve created a quick guide to selecting an LMS (a learning management system) that lets you improve every facet of your program – from online courses to in-person training sessions. Avoid costs and increase profitability one training session at a time.
The costs of ignoring your corporate training program
At first glance, corporate training might feel like an easy strike-through in your budget. But a close study of the data shows that thorough training is integral to high job satisfaction, a thriving company culture, and increased productivity.
- 55% of employees say they need additional training to perform better in their current role, and 8/10 people say training gives them a sense of purpose at work. That’s because your employees want to feel engaged at work and interested in their job roles. Upskilling keeps them engaged at work and more likely to stay with your company.
- 92% of people consider a company’s learning and development opportunities when deciding whether to take a new job. Gen Z and Millennial workers are especially invested in training, with this cohort listing learning and development opportunities as the single most important factor to staying engaged at work.
- Companies that make a substantial investment in training see a 24% higher profit margin than those that skimp.
Poor corporate training costs you your best employees
The stats above make it clear: employee training is vital to attracting the best people and keeping them happy in their roles. Ambitious employees don’t want to stagnate in their current jobs – they want to climb, and thriving corporate training programs show them they can advance their career in your company. Without a solid training program, you’ll lose top quality candidates to the competition.
Orientation training programs are important, too. They make your new employees feel welcome and prepared. Without them, your company looks disorganized – like you’re scrambling to get new hires in the door and unsure of what to do with them when they get there. It doesn’t instill confidence, and your new hires won’t feel good about joining your company.
Throughout an employee’s tenure at your company, they’ll rightly expect on-the-job training to stay current in the industry. They’ll want to hone their leadership skills with leadership training and become more proficient in their job roles with technical training. Without them, they’ll start to feel unprepared or even bored. They’re more likely to start looking for a new job where they can upgrade their technical skills and find the next challenge.
Ignoring corporate training can cost you customers, too
Neglecting your corporate training costs you customers on two fronts. For starters, you’re not offering sales training, so your sales teams aren’t selling as effectively as they could. You’re missing leads, letting sales slip through your fingers, and wasting months on would-be customers who never convert because your salespeople don’t know how to guide them towards a signed contract.
And customer service training, you’re hemorrhaging current customers, too. Training programs tailored to serving customers show your employees how to interact positively, listen carefully, and find solutions to the problems your clients are facing. It makes the difference between a frustrating customer call and a productive one, and if your employees don’t handle those interactions correctly, your customers will walk.
LMS benefits for sales and customer service include:
- Consistent training – Ensures all employees receive standardized training on products, services, and company policies, leading to uniform messaging and customer interactions.
- On-demand access – Provides 24/7 access to training materials, allowing sales and customer service teams to learn at their own pace without disrupting daily operations.
- Performance tracking and analytics – Tracks employee progress, identifies skill gaps, and provides insights to improve training effectiveness.
- Scalability – Supports training across multiple locations and teams, making it easy to onboard new employees and update content as needed.
- Interactive and engaging learning – Offers simulations, role-playing exercises, and gamification to enhance engagement and improve retention of sales and service techniques.
- Faster adaptation to market changes – Quickly updates employees on new products, policies, or industry trends to keep them competitive and informed.
If you’re not careful, it can cost you legal fees
Compliance training isn’t just an HR box you need to check, it’s a legal requirement. If you don’t offer up-to-date safety and compliance training (and keep precise records of your training outcomes), you risk running afoul of the law and incurring serious fines.
Depending on your industry, you might be obligated to provide intense compliance training. For OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) training, you’ll need to train employees on workplace hazards, emergency procedures, and proper use of protective equipment. ISO (International Organization for Standardization) requires you to train employees on relevant ISO standards (e.g., ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO 27001 for information security) and how to implement best practices for continuous improvement.
In healthcare, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) means that employees handling protected health information (PHI) are trained on patient privacy, data security measures, and breach reporting to comply with U.S. healthcare regulations.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) applies to all businesses, and it requires employees handling personal data to be trained on data privacy principles, lawful processing, and individuals’ rights to ensure compliance with EU regulations.
Compliance training ensures workplace safety and protects the people you serve – like patients. You’ll have less employee downtime due to injuries and better morale from employees who feel they can perform their job functions safely and correctly. And you’ll be on the right side of compliance training regulations so you can avoid incurring heavy fines and a poor reputation for your company.
LMS selection: How the right training platform maximizes ROI
If you’ve neglected your training programs, we get it. Training’s only worth doing if it’s returning measurable results, and it can be hard to measure training effectiveness. That’s where a learning management system (LMS) comes in.
Using an LMS is one of the best corporate training strategies for employee retention. It’s an easy way to offer standardized training to employees regardless of their location.
✔ Create new modules in minutes
✔ Assign courses to users based on their role or learning journey
✔ Monitor and report on learning gaps and goals
✔ Communicate with learners and teachers as if you’re standing at the watercooler
LMS software gives every training module structure, so you can set clear training objectives and measure whether your course is meeting them. You can develop training materials in the software, making sure each piece is appropriately branded and follows your company standards to the letter. That way, your courses look more cohesive, your training’s more organized, and your employees see confidence-inspiring order at every turn.
An LMS also allows you to follow metrics like course completion rates and retention rates so you can pinpoint knowledge gaps and address them with the right training modules. You can create learning journeys tailored to the specific training needs of each department so every employee has the necessary skills to be successful in their roles.
Plus, an LMS platform helps you present the results of your productivity-boosting training program so you can show stakeholders how you’re improving employee skills in a way that’s aligned with your organization’s training goals. Training data gives you the advantage of strategic thinking, helping you measure and refine your courses to ensure they support your organizational objectives.
An LMS is brilliant for your corporate training program, but LMS selection isn’t always straightforward. Read our guide on how to choose an LMS for corporate training.
LearnRight makes LMS selection easy!
The right LMS vendor makes good on all of the potential positives of corporate training with purpose-built, data-driven software. If you’re ready to stop risking your employee retention and sales growth on a neglected employee training program, book a demo of LearnRight.
No need to slog through other LMS vendors and fret over making the right decision selecting an LMS for your training programs – LearnRight’s the flexible, feature-rich LMS that makes training employees positive and profitable.
