Dear HR Executive:
Here’s the sort of short-term thinking that companies just can’t afford right now: A new survey finds that few firms are willing pay for employee training on emerging-media skills. Yet they’ll pay top dollar to recruit new hires with those same skills.
A survey of HR execs conducted by profs at Ball State University found that 90 percent of firms were willing to pay a premium of 1 to 8 percent for workers with new-media skills. And 94 percent of respondents said it was important for employees to have these skills. Yet 77 percent of the firms said they provided little or no employee training on them.
Yes, new-media skills are in short supply and companies desperately need to develop those capabilities to stay competitive. But it’s almost certainly more cost effective to train current employees than to hire someone new at a higher salary. And it’s likely to be a lot less risky. That new hire may be a technical wizard, but does he or she know your business, your goals and your culture?
Your current employees know all of those things. And you know which ones are capable of growth. When you train and promote from within, you send two powerful messages to the entire workforce: We care about your advancement, and these skills are important to us.
So the next time someone says, “We need to bring in people who know how to do X,” step back and ask whether it wouldn’t make more sense to train someone instead.
Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Café Training Center
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