News - Midlands
Train to retain
Staff retention is the number one concern among the business community at present. Getting the right person for the job is hard enough, but keeping them at your company is an even greater task.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) annual Recruitment, Retention and Turnover Survey finds that almost eight in ten organisations struggled to hang on to their staff in 2006, compared with nearly seven in ten in 2005.
But too often employees' career progression needs are wilfully overlooked. While the large majority of organisations - 89 per cent - providing additional training to internal staff say that it has a positive impact, only 29 per cent of employers actually do it.
Nicola Monson, author of the report, says: "Employers will continue to struggle to find suitable candidates and keep staff turnover under control if their approach to recruitment and retention fails to take account of both business and employee needs.
"Only half of employers have a formal resourcing strategy, which suggests many are not planning for the future skills requirements of their organisation. This is particularly worrying given that specialist skills and required experience are still in such short supply.
"All organisations rely on talent. Employers need to take a proactive approach to talent management and tap into the skills of the people wanting to contribute and progress."
She adds that actively developing employees should not only deepen the internal talent pool, in turn reducing their reliance on external candidates, but also ease problems retaining staff due to new career opportunities.
Clearly, the training of valued members of staff generally is not happening, costing businesses time and money in the seemingly never-ending recruitment process.
But there is a balancing act to perform, according to Robbie Wigley-Jones, head of PricewaterhouseCooper's human resources team in Birmingham.
"When deciding whether to train an employee, an employer should weigh up whether their needs would be best suited by in-house training or by exposing them to outside influences. Businesses are also beginning to track what they're spending against performance in this area, so it's vitally important to get it right," he says.
Despite the fact that only 29 per cent of companies in the CIPD survey say they provide internal training, Wigley-Jones seems sure the continuous learning ethic is now embedded in the consciousness of managers throughout the business community.
He adds: "We live in a world of constant change and skills often become redundant, an employee has to keep learning and training just to stand still. The problems that some see with training staff only for them to move onto another organisation simply don't exist. If a company invests heavily in training then it's going to keep its most important and vital members of staff."
So are the unsung heroes of a company in the human resources department, those shadowy figures who roam the corridors of power with dossiers on just who needs training and who doesn't?
Yes and it's time to get used to the fact, says Martyn Sloman, training and education adviser at the CIPD. "The latest facts and figures show that, without a shadow of a doubt, there is a series of links between human resource practices and business success," she says.
"There are two key elements that a human resources team must identify: the senior management must have the right vision and the same senior management must have the right people to carry that vision out successfully."
Effective learning is not something that just happens and it's certainly not something that can be left to training courses or to a training department.
It is a diverse, less structured and more challenging process. But there's a range of actions and interventions that can and should be taken to promote learning. The need for professional input and expertise has become greater, not less.
So far we've heard about how effective training and education can help the organisation. But what about the individual and who takes the blame for ineffectual education?
Sloman believes any manager attending training or a course should strive to transfer the newly acquired knowledge to his or her workplace. However, he also believes it is not only the responsibility of the member of staff to make the training a success.
He says: "The buck has to stop somewhere and there are two ways in which a course could be considered a failure. Training could be a complete dead loss for certain individuals and in this case the questions have to be asked: Who made the mistake? Did the course not deliver what is promised?
"There's a second scenario, which
is perhaps even more serious. Is the person attending the course completely untrainable? If this is the case, then the entire management needs to take a drastic course of action and ensure that they have the right person for the job."
What everyone to whom Insider spoke agreed on was that companies should never be afraid of training key personnel.
There is a tendency from some, more backward-thinking organisations to shy away from education should it lead to members of staff taking their new found knowledge and qualifications to a rival.
However, it is the lack of training that forces people to leave, according to Sloman. "This debate has taken place and the outcome has been unanimous. No company can afford to not retrain. Training has proved time and again that it leads to long-term retention of staff, proves to staff that the business has confidence in them and that the company is going places," he says.
"If you put the right training regime in place, the best people will stay with you."
It's a woman's world
Laura Davidson, 26, of Hagley is carving a career for herself in the male-dominated world of property development.
Davidson, a development executive at Regenco, the urban regeneration company for West Bromwich, discovered her passion for property and regeneration four years ago and opted for a part time MSc in Real Estate Management to realise her dream.
She says: "After university I worked as project coordinator for a robotics company, but did not get a real buzz out of work until I started working in regeneration. I really enjoy the diversity that my job offers and wanted to further my knowledge and career.
"My chief executive was very supportive and helped me to choose a course that would help me develop and enhance the operational experience that I am gaining. I eventually chose a two-year, part-time MSc conversion course. The course is Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors accredited, which is really important as it is recognised in the industry and will enable me to begin my assessment of professional competence.
"I started my course in September 2006 and attended university one day a week. At first it was a bit of a shock to the system going back to university and I found it pretty stressful balancing learning and work, but I soon got into the swing of things."
"I take a range of modules, including valuation, property law and planning and development, which reinforces everything that I work on on a daily basis. I will also learn things that I haven't touched on as yet, such as strategic finances and construction technology.
"I'm really enjoying the course and it is already proving to be an invaluable experience. I have made some key contacts that will be useful in the future. The whole Regenco team is extremely understanding and is always ready to lend a hand and the development team ensures I put what I have learnt into practice."
Karen Walker, chief executive officer of Regenco, says: "We're really proud of Laura's progress and she is a real asset to our team. She's now leading on one of our key projects and it's fantastic to see her grow and develop.
"It's vital that businesses invest in their staff and I believe executive education is extremely important. Even though university provides valuable skills, it's vital these are built on to help equip staff with the skills that they need to progress and succeed in their chosen field.
"The course, Laura's attitude and approach has been excellent for us all, so much so that even though we're a small team we had no hesitation in putting forward our project assistant, Donna Annis, to apply to the course.
"Continuous professional development helps instill confidence in the individual and as a result you get the best out of people and the best out of your team."
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) annual Recruitment, Retention and Turnover Survey finds that almost eight in ten organisations struggled to hang on to their staff in 2006, compared with nearly seven in ten in 2005.
But too often employees' career progression needs are wilfully overlooked. While the large majority of organisations - 89 per cent - providing additional training to internal staff say that it has a positive impact, only 29 per cent of employers actually do it.
Nicola Monson, author of the report, says: "Employers will continue to struggle to find suitable candidates and keep staff turnover under control if their approach to recruitment and retention fails to take account of both business and employee needs.
"Only half of employers have a formal resourcing strategy, which suggests many are not planning for the future skills requirements of their organisation. This is particularly worrying given that specialist skills and required experience are still in such short supply.
"All organisations rely on talent. Employers need to take a proactive approach to talent management and tap into the skills of the people wanting to contribute and progress."
She adds that actively developing employees should not only deepen the internal talent pool, in turn reducing their reliance on external candidates, but also ease problems retaining staff due to new career opportunities.
Clearly, the training of valued members of staff generally is not happening, costing businesses time and money in the seemingly never-ending recruitment process.
But there is a balancing act to perform, according to Robbie Wigley-Jones, head of PricewaterhouseCooper's human resources team in Birmingham.
"When deciding whether to train an employee, an employer should weigh up whether their needs would be best suited by in-house training or by exposing them to outside influences. Businesses are also beginning to track what they're spending against performance in this area, so it's vitally important to get it right," he says.
Despite the fact that only 29 per cent of companies in the CIPD survey say they provide internal training, Wigley-Jones seems sure the continuous learning ethic is now embedded in the consciousness of managers throughout the business community.
He adds: "We live in a world of constant change and skills often become redundant, an employee has to keep learning and training just to stand still. The problems that some see with training staff only for them to move onto another organisation simply don't exist. If a company invests heavily in training then it's going to keep its most important and vital members of staff."
So are the unsung heroes of a company in the human resources department, those shadowy figures who roam the corridors of power with dossiers on just who needs training and who doesn't?
Yes and it's time to get used to the fact, says Martyn Sloman, training and education adviser at the CIPD. "The latest facts and figures show that, without a shadow of a doubt, there is a series of links between human resource practices and business success," she says.
"There are two key elements that a human resources team must identify: the senior management must have the right vision and the same senior management must have the right people to carry that vision out successfully."
Effective learning is not something that just happens and it's certainly not something that can be left to training courses or to a training department.
It is a diverse, less structured and more challenging process. But there's a range of actions and interventions that can and should be taken to promote learning. The need for professional input and expertise has become greater, not less.
So far we've heard about how effective training and education can help the organisation. But what about the individual and who takes the blame for ineffectual education?
Sloman believes any manager attending training or a course should strive to transfer the newly acquired knowledge to his or her workplace. However, he also believes it is not only the responsibility of the member of staff to make the training a success.
He says: "The buck has to stop somewhere and there are two ways in which a course could be considered a failure. Training could be a complete dead loss for certain individuals and in this case the questions have to be asked: Who made the mistake? Did the course not deliver what is promised?
"There's a second scenario, which
is perhaps even more serious. Is the person attending the course completely untrainable? If this is the case, then the entire management needs to take a drastic course of action and ensure that they have the right person for the job."
What everyone to whom Insider spoke agreed on was that companies should never be afraid of training key personnel.
There is a tendency from some, more backward-thinking organisations to shy away from education should it lead to members of staff taking their new found knowledge and qualifications to a rival.
However, it is the lack of training that forces people to leave, according to Sloman. "This debate has taken place and the outcome has been unanimous. No company can afford to not retrain. Training has proved time and again that it leads to long-term retention of staff, proves to staff that the business has confidence in them and that the company is going places," he says.
"If you put the right training regime in place, the best people will stay with you."
It's a woman's world
Laura Davidson, 26, of Hagley is carving a career for herself in the male-dominated world of property development.
Davidson, a development executive at Regenco, the urban regeneration company for West Bromwich, discovered her passion for property and regeneration four years ago and opted for a part time MSc in Real Estate Management to realise her dream.
She says: "After university I worked as project coordinator for a robotics company, but did not get a real buzz out of work until I started working in regeneration. I really enjoy the diversity that my job offers and wanted to further my knowledge and career.
"My chief executive was very supportive and helped me to choose a course that would help me develop and enhance the operational experience that I am gaining. I eventually chose a two-year, part-time MSc conversion course. The course is Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors accredited, which is really important as it is recognised in the industry and will enable me to begin my assessment of professional competence.
"I started my course in September 2006 and attended university one day a week. At first it was a bit of a shock to the system going back to university and I found it pretty stressful balancing learning and work, but I soon got into the swing of things."
"I take a range of modules, including valuation, property law and planning and development, which reinforces everything that I work on on a daily basis. I will also learn things that I haven't touched on as yet, such as strategic finances and construction technology.
"I'm really enjoying the course and it is already proving to be an invaluable experience. I have made some key contacts that will be useful in the future. The whole Regenco team is extremely understanding and is always ready to lend a hand and the development team ensures I put what I have learnt into practice."
Karen Walker, chief executive officer of Regenco, says: "We're really proud of Laura's progress and she is a real asset to our team. She's now leading on one of our key projects and it's fantastic to see her grow and develop.
"It's vital that businesses invest in their staff and I believe executive education is extremely important. Even though university provides valuable skills, it's vital these are built on to help equip staff with the skills that they need to progress and succeed in their chosen field.
"The course, Laura's attitude and approach has been excellent for us all, so much so that even though we're a small team we had no hesitation in putting forward our project assistant, Donna Annis, to apply to the course.
"Continuous professional development helps instill confidence in the individual and as a result you get the best out of people and the best out of your team."