Instead of asking, "What happens if I train them and they leave?" ask yourself, "What happens if we don't train them and they stay?"

By Jeff Shiver CMRP, Aladon Network RCM2 Practitioner

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In recent years you, like many others, may have faced a double-edged sword with respect to finding or developing people with the needed craft skills and knowledge for your organization. From the hiring perspective, you may have experienced researching over 100 resumes to find a single candidate that you would consider interviewing.

For one company building a new facility, the struggle had been quite pronounced as the maintenance manager had not been able to find a single potential hire locally. On the opposite side of the sword, during the economic downturn the first items cut were training and travel budgets. Now the with economy showing signs of revitalization and with a surge in manufacturing openings coupled with retirements from the baby boomer generation, companies are being driven to develop internal craft skills and knowledge once again. That said, do you know how to approach training and development to maximize your investment?

First, you must answer the question of “what level to train to?” Some individuals within organizations amaze me with statements like, “If we train them, they’ll leave.” The easy counter to that is, “What happens if we don’t train them and they stay?”

No doubt from a return on investment perspective, you need to come to grips with the role your organization plays locally in the marketplace. In current competitive markets like Houston, Texas, some organizations can’t compete with the larger companies from a wage and benefits perspective. The smaller companies are often forced to take less skilled individuals and develop them.

Once a level of development is achieved, those individuals frequently move on to the larger companies. In those environments, skills and knowledge training should be limited to the specific fundamental needs of the organization to maximize the training dollars spent.