The Consequences of a Lack of Training in the Workplace

If you ignore the importance of adequate employee training it can severely impact business performance, team morale, financial turnover and your ability to attract and retain good employees. Strong development and career progression opportunities are considered amongst the most compelling opportunities you can offer to attract potential employees. As a result, overlooking your responsibility to train and invest in your employees could potentially deter top candidates from applying.

In this article, we will explore the consequences of a lack of training to help you understand why investing in training opportunities is so important. We will also outline some steps you can take to improve the availability of training in your workplace.

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What are the Effects of a Lack of Training in the Workplace?

Training is vital to business success. Depending on your business, the type of training opportunities available will vary, but there are many benefits to offering education opportunities in the workplace.

By ignoring the importance of workplace training, you could risk the following:

Unsafe Work Environments

As an employer, under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, you have a legal obligation to ensure you provide your employees with the necessary information, instruction, training and supervision needed to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of your employees at work. By ignoring this responsibility, you could face legal repercussions, an increase in workplace accidents, decreased staff morale and an increase in staff absence.

Unhappy and Unsatisfied Employees

Inadequately trained employees are likely to experience poor job performance and increased levels of work-related stress. If your employees are feeling unhappy and undervalued, the chances of them searching elsewhere for progression and development opportunities will increase. If you want to retain good employees, invest in their happiness by prioritising their development.

Reduced Productivity

With constant updates in technology and an increase in global trading, the level of competition between businesses is ever increasing. This means that it’s even more important that your workforce is adequately trained with the education and skill levels needed to work safely and productively. Poorly trained employees are likely to feel undervalued, which will reduce workplace productivity, loyalty and engagement. 

If all your employees are making the same careless mistakes and performing poorly, it’s time to assess the type and standard of training you provide. By giving your employees the necessary skills the first time, you will reduce the time, money and resources needed to rectify mistakes. Once you invest in your employees’ training you’ll see productivity and profits soar.

Increased Staff Turnover

As well as increased workplace stress, poorly trained employees are likely to feel unappreciated in their jobs. As a result, they will either leave in search of better opportunities or could end up underperforming. While this might not seem like a big problem, high staff turnover is expensive. However, if you demonstrate that you are an employer who is invested in the development and success of your employees, you are likely to see an increase in company loyalty and staff morale. To learn about the causes of employee turnover and how to reduce it, see our article, here.

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How to Deal with Lack of Training at Work

As we have discussed, there are many negative outcomes associated with a lack of training in the workplace. On the other hand, there are a number of benefits to training employees, including improvements in performance, efficiency, productivity and opportunities for development.  

There are things you can do to resolve a lack of training in your workplace, including:

Encouraging conversations around development – in order to achieve a goal, it is likely that some training and learning will be required. Encouraging discussion around training and ensuring that employees know why it is important, will help employees apply themselves fully to training. Open discussions can also help with understanding each employee’s personal development goals. 

Creating personal development plans – one way of understanding each employee’s training needs is by creating personal development plans. This will help you outline what the employee’s goals are and what steps they need to take to achieve them. 

Differentiating between mandatory training and optional training – it is important to establish which training all of your employees need and which training is optional. Optional training should be offered around topics that will help employees with their personal development, mandatory training includes the necessary information that all employees need to know regardless of their personal development goals. 

Providing eLearning opportunities – once you have established your employees’ training needs, including the mandatory and optional training, you need to find a training provider. Some topics can be taught through online training, such as health and safety training for employees. Other training that is specific to your organisation may need to be taught in house.

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As shown in this article, there are many consequences of a lack of training in the workplace. Investing in your business and employees by providing training and development opportunities will result in the full benefits of an adequately trained workforce.

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Further Resources:

• Online Business Essentials Courses
• 10 Development Areas for Managers
• What is EQ? A Guide to Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace
• HR Guide to Health & Safety – PDF Template
• How Online Training Can Benefit Your Business
• Training Calendars: Why Your Company Needs One
• Why is Continuous Learning Important?