The Importance of Continued Education Programs for Your Business

Employees are always looking for more opportunities and the ability to learn. Of course, these are just a few aspects of a great work environment and job opportunity, but they’re some of the most important differentiators between good workplaces and great workplaces. 

While having a bad employee is costly, it’s even more costly for a business to continuously have to recruit new employees. It makes sense for businesses to keep good employees by putting money into their continued education so they can continue to grow their expertise and help the business succeed. Here are the benefits of continuing education programs for your business. 

Benefits of Continued Education Programs for Your Business

 

Investing in employee education enhances the productivity of employees while providing them with a valuable education they can use to excel within your business. The more you invest in your employees, the more effort they’ll be able to put into their work, and the happier they’ll be about it. 

Investing in your employees makes them more loyal to you. The more loyal your employees are, the less likely they will be to leave their job for a position at your competition, improving your employee retention rate, which can offset the total cost of continued education for employees. 

Simply put, turnover is expensive. While there are many costs associated with the hiring process, including recruitment and HR, one of the most expensive things about employee turnover is the loss of productivity that can impact your entire business.

Offering continued education programs allows you to appeal to the needs of your employees. If your employees don’t recognize the fact that your company offers growth and invests in its employees, then you can expect to lose them to the competition or other opportunities. Jobs without growth opportunities might be appealing to those who are desperate, but those who want to find a job that offers more opportunities and growth in the future will require you to keep up with their demands. 

Strong continuing education programs can also help you find and recruit top talent. The best employees are always looking for ways to improve their positions and get to the top of a company. By offering continued education, you can appeal to more qualified candidates. 

Benefits of Continued Education for Employees

While employers can expect higher retention rates thanks to continuing education programs, employees can also benefit directly from these programs. 

An employee training program demonstrates that employees are valued by the companies where they work while helping them achieve personal and professional growth and success. Not only that, but educational programs give employees the skills they need to go after opportunities with more responsibilities, which can help them make more money and feel like an integral part of a business. 

Continuing education programs also keep employees’ skills up to date so they can continue to learn from within the company rather than taking time off for their education. In addition to honed skills, continued education allows employees to learn more about their colleagues as employees that train together develop a deeper relationship with one another. 

Considerations for Continued Education Programs for Businesses

While a continued education program offers benefits for both the business and the employees, there are things your company will need to take into consideration before you begin investing in the education of your employees. 

Opportunities

There are many different types of continued education opportunities available for businesses and their employees. Remember, every employee in every position might require different training. For example, individuals in the marketing department might require continuing education that helps them keep up to date with current marketing strategies like SEO, social media, and PPC. 

There are also different types of work programs, including:

On-site programs:

On-site programs include corporate training for all departments. With on-site training, you’ll provide workshops and training to your employees. 

Off-site programs:

Off-site programs include conferences, seminars, classes, degrees, and certifications. Off-site programs typically require your employees to spend some time away from the office so they can learn more skills, but they typically get a better, more specialized education that can help them succeed in their specific departments within your business. 

Hybrid programs:

Hybrid continued education programs include learning on-site and off-site, which means your employees will have to do workshops while in the office and take time to work on homework at home. Hybrid programs may not be right for your business if your employees need the time after work to focus on their families and other responsibilities. 

Cost

All educational programs come at an additional cost for your business, but ultimately the cost can be offset by saving your business time and money through better employee retention rates. Not only that, but you can easily keep costs under control by getting creative. However, it’s important to remember that full-tuition reimbursement programs can still cost less than the cost of replacing employees. 

 

If you decide to offer tuition reimbursement, then make sure it’s available to all employees without limits. You should ensure that if your employees are going to school for something it is still beneficial for your business in the long run. 

Time

Education takes time, and it may require your employees to spend more time on their learning and less time at the office. If your business requires employees to partake in continuing education programs, then you’ll need to find a way for your employees to be able to get their education without sacrificing their home lives. 

Working full time and going to school is difficult, so it might not be worth it to ask employees to do anything work-related after hours, especially if you already know that many employees won’t be able to keep up with the workload. 

Employee Continuing Education Programs

There are many ways to make sure your employees continue to learn while working for your business. While your company may not have enough resources to allow all of your employees to go back to school full-time, there are ways to support their need for learning opportunities. You can encourage leadership to get an OKR Certificate to help your organization.  Consider speaking with your employees to learn how you can support their educations without hindering their home lives. 

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Matt Casadona has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Psychology. Matt is passionate about marketing and business strategy and enjoys San Diego life, traveling, and music.

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