TRAINING

Training is the development of the employee skills

and knowledge in order to perform the job well with
efficiency and effectiveness.
Importance of training:
✔ Improves the efficiency of the workforce
✔ Decreases supervision needed
✔ Increased productivity
✔ Improve opportunity for internal promotion
✔ Decreases chances of accidents at work place
 Cont..
✔ Improved customer service
✔ Ability to use new technology
✔ May be used to introduce a new process or
method of production
✔ Provides training for the unskilled workers to
make them more valuable to the business

NB: Training aims at:

• Increasing skills
• Changing people’s attitude
• Increasing knowledge
• Raising awareness of workers
 Types of Training
• Induction training:
It is an introduction given to a new employee,
explaining the firm’s activities, customs and
procedures and introducing them to their fellow
workers.
Advantages:
✔ Helps new employees to settle into their job quickly
✔ It is a legal requirement to give health and safety
training at the start of a job
✔ Reduces chances of workers making mistakes
✔ Motivates the new workers to take up the job
 Disadvantages
✔ It is time consuming
✔ Delays the start of the employees
commencing their job
✔ It may be costly, and no work is being done by
the worker
✔ If poorly done, it may demotivate the new
worker who may leave the business.
Summary of Induction Training
 • On- the-job training
This is where a person is trained in/within the
business by watching a more experienced worker
doing the job. This means that workers are trained in
the work place while the job is being done. Different
approaches can be used by a business:
✔ Watching and copying another worker do the job
✔ Mentoring, this is where a trainee is paired with an
experienced member of staff for a given period
✔ Job rotation, which may involve a new recruit
spending a period in different departments at a
business
 Advantages:
✔ It ensures there is some production from the
worker whilst they are training
✔ It is cheaper than other forms of training
✔ Training is based on the specified needs of the
business
✔ Individual tuition is given at work place minimizing
travel costs
✔ Relevant because trainees learn by actually doing
the job
✔ Can be easy to organize
 Disadvantages:
✔ Output may be lost if workers make mistake
✔ May be stressful for the worker- particularly when
working with others
✔ Staff may get frustrated if they are ‘unpaid’ trainers
✔ Could be a danger to others, eg surgeon or train
driver
✔ Increase in wastage of materials as the new worker
learns doing the job
✔ The trainer will be less productive during training
period
✔ The trainer may have bad habits and may pass on to
the new worker
Off-the-job training
Some employees receive training away from the
normal work place. This is called ‘off the job’
training. It might involve workers going to a
college once in a week, or a small group
travelling overseas to learn about a new
management techniques. It may also involve
classroom learning, using lecture, role play, case
studies or computer simulations.
 Advantages:

✔ Output is not affected if mistakes are made

✔ Learning cannot be distracted by work
✔ Training can take place outside working hours if
necessary
✔ Customers and others are not put at risk
✔ A broad range of skills can be taught using
different techniques
✔ The business will only need to pay for the course
needed by the employee
 Disadvantages
✔ No output because employees do not
contribute to work
✔ Some off-the-job training is expensive if
provided by specialists
✔ Some aspects of work have to be on the job
and not off the job
✔ It may take time to organize for the training
 Need for training
The main reason for training is to provide workers
with skills and knowledge needed to do their jobs
effectively. As a result their productivity will increase.
However, there are several other reasons for training
namely:
✔ Keeping workers up to date with new technology
and modern equipment
✔ Improving labour flexibility by making them
multi-skilled
✔ Improving job satisfaction and motivation
✔ Sometimes due to expansion and growth, new
products, new technology, new jobs are created.
This often means that some staff need retraining.
 Cont..
✔ Training is also needed when workers are
promoted. At every stage of promotion
workers will need to learn new skills and
methods.
 Government training schemes
It is common for the government to provide
training. Some of the schemes available are:
Apprenticeships: They earn a wage and work
alongside experienced staff to gain job-specific skills
National Vocational Qualification (NVQs):This is a
‘competence-based’ qualification. This means that
people learn practical, work related tasks, designed
to help develop the skills and knowledge required to
do a job.
 Cost of training
• Training courses and other resources. Business
have to pay the training providers and buy
training materials which is costly.
• Loss of output. If workers are involved in
off-the-job training, they will not be producing
anything.
• Employees leaving. This can be frustrating to the
business if employees leave after they are trained.
The business will have incurred training cost and
time which goes to waste.
 Workforce planning

It is the establishing the workforce needed by

the business for the foreseeable future in terms
of the numbers and skills of employees
required. The number required will depend
upon the firm’s sales forecasts, its future plans
such as expansion or automation, and its
objectives eg. Introducing new types of
products. Downsizing is the reduction of
employees due to a number of reasons such as:
 Cont..
✔ Factory outlet closure
✔ Merging of companies
✔ Reduction in number of customers
✔ Falling demand for their goods and services
✔ Introduction of automation
Essentials of workforce planning:
✔ Finding out the skills of all the present employee
✔ Counting out anyone who will be leaving soon
✔ Consulting with existing staff on retraining to fill the
new jobs
✔ Preparing recruitment plans to show how many staff
will be recruited
 Cont..
Ways of reducing staff:

Dismissal: This is where a worker is told to leave a job

because his work or behavior is unsatisfactory.
Reasons for dismissal include Constant lateness,
stealing, drunkenness.

Redundancy: This is when an employee is no longer

needed and so loses his/her job. The following
features may be considered for redundancy:
✔ Length of time employed by the business
✔ Employment history of the worker (bad or good)
✔ Which department need to loose or train
✔ Some workers may volunteer
 Cont..
Other ways may include retirement and
resignation.
NB: Workers with essential skills that are
needed by the business or whose skills could be
transferred to other departments are often
retained.