Due to ineffective training, companies lose an average of $13.5 million per 1000 employees every year. This is not a surprising statistic when you consider the fact that 40% of poorly trained employees leave their job within the first year and it costs up to three times their salary to replace them. The statistic is even less surprising when you factor in the seven out of ten who say that training and learning opportunities — or the lack thereof — influence their decision to stay with a job.

With effective training having such a staggering impact on both retention and revenue, it is imperative that companies invest in careful and thorough training for their employees.

Let’s start with the initial training that employees receive when they start a job.

In traditional classroom and training settings, teachers and trainers deliver 80% of the information orally. This contrasts sharply with the mere ten percent of the population whose primary learning style is auditory. Recent studies show that 40% are visual learners while the remaining 50% are kinesthetic learners, meaning they learn by imitating and taking physical action. Trainers therefore must develop courses and learn to deliver information in a manner that employees will more readily understand and retain.  

Training for current employees also lags sadly behind.

Companies that employ less than 100 people offer an average of twelve minutes of training yearly, while companies with 100-500 employees cut that number in half, averaging six minutes of training per year. The result of this huge training deficit is two-pronged.

First, only 12% of employees feel that they even use the skills that their training was supposed to teach them; and second, 74% of employees believe that they are not reaching their full potential in their current positions. Training therefore must consistently address the issues that employees actually face, providing them with practical tools to improve their performance and fulfill their potential.  

Effective employee training is essential to company advancement, both financial and professional. Beginning with appropriate new employee training and continuing throughout their time with the company, investing in creative, consistent, and practical training results in drastically improved employee engagement, production, and retention.

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