By Carl Romanos, Stanford Energy and Environment
Policy Analysis Center Fellowship Intern, Motu Economic and Public Policy
Research
A recent news article says that off-site
course-based learning has been an ineffective way to approach staff training
for Kiwi small businesses. While this approach may generate some human capital,
it requires much employer follow-up in order to relate some of these generic
courses to the unique needs of a small business. And by unique needs, I am
referring to the jack-of-all-trades mentality that many employees at smaller
firms must take. Without the specialized departments you see in bigger firms,
employees at smaller firms be versatile and take a generalist approach.
Regardless of firm size, staff development is a
key part of maximizing both profits and productivity. The cost of a generic
course may be low, but the actual returns to productivity can be limited when
the learning does not directly translate to the firm’s workflow. While
larger-scale corporations may see benefits from this off-site approach, smaller
firms should consider other methods of training their employees. A more
hands-on approach to staff training by supervisors in the firm would be more
ideal. A caveat is that supervisors in these small firms may have less spare
time or may not have enough expertise in order to effectively train their
employees in meaningful ways onsite.
Staff development is definitely a key part of
small businesses because it helps promote a culture of loyalty in the staff.
Investing in employees, especially younger ones can help reduce turnover. At
the same time, business owners are motivated to ensure that employees gain
firm-specific human capital that cannot be easily transferred to another job, in an effort to minimize the employees taking
their increased skill set elsewhere. A more involved on-site approach to
dealing with staff training could promote loyalty and tight bonds within the
firm and also increase productivity by increasing firm-specific human capital
at the same time.
My solution would be for the "boarding
school" mentality to be reversed- perhaps it is the bosses themselves that
need to be more proactive in the developmental area. I argue that these bosses
should take the time to look into problem areas in their business and find
quality courses that teach the skills that can help cover those gaps. By
investing time and money in being able to train their staffs effectively and
efficiently, they will see the benefits of constant on-site staff development
as well as a reduced loss when highly trained employees jump ship.
