Copyright © 1998, Nanette Miner
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Reprinted/excerpted with permission. The Training Doctor. Author: Nanette Miner. www.trainingdr.com

The Link Between Recruitment, Training, and Retention

By Nanette Miner, EdD

I've consulted with a number of companies that have the short-sighted view, "Why train people? Turnover is so high that we'll never get our money's worth from the training we provide." What they haven't considered is that the lack of training contributes to turnover. There's a well-known saying in the field of training, "What's worse than training your people and losing them? Not training them and keeping them."

Numerous studies have been conducted that have established the link between recruitment, training, and retention. As you may have noticed, the face of recruitment has changed. When contemplating whether or not to join an organization, people are less concerned about a "fair day's pay for a fair day's work" and more concerned about long-term skill enhancement and there being a career-path within the organization. Workers want to constantly increase their skills and abilities. Frequently, workers jump ship because another company offers them a chance to learn something that they cannot achieve where they are presently employed. If you want to prevent your workers from leaving in order to develop their careers, there needs to be some thought given to career paths and career enhancement. Employees want to know that the origination is investing something in them.

Now I hear some of you saying "But if I send them out for training and they gain skills that they didn't have before, then they become more marketable, and I run the risk of losing them." Yes, you run that risk. But you would run that same risk had you not given them an opportunity to increase their skills. Your organization doesn't necessarily have to offer the training internally, but it needs to offer the opportunity for people to acquire new skills. If you don' t have an internal training department, consider offering tuition reimbursement or a flat-fee amount for each employee to be spent on seminars or workshops offered in your area. A word of guidance regarding tuition reimbursement: many organizations only allow tuition reimbursement if the person is gaining skills that contribute to their present-day job. That's shortsighted. The organization should be looking for someone to increase their skills so that they can move on to the next job within the organization. Also, be wary of limiting the amount of tuition reimbursement too strictly. That's like saying, "We want you to get smarter, but not too smart." There is no way that increased knowledge and skill are going to hurt your organization. If people want to take on extra knowledge quickly, help them to do it. If you do have an internal training department, allow open enrollments. Anybody should be able to come to an Excel class or a business writing class, even if they work in the graphics department.

The Saratoga Institute, a prestigious human resource research and consulting facility based in California, recently conducted a study that found that when employees received training as part of their jobs, 12% left their current company anyway. However, when they did not receive training, 41% left. Because employees value training, they'll be more loyal to a company that provides it.

I recently completed a consulting assignment with a small retail origination. The organization was having tremendous problems with turnover at the managerial level. As you can imagine, the turnover was costing them a significant amount of money in terms of recruitment (they had a full-time recruiter on-staff to constantly search out management candidates), lost productivity (when a store manager position was vacant for awhile, the store would lose momentum), and the costs of the learning curve (getting a new manager up-to-speed on the policies, procedures and techniques of their particular organization). Over a period of three years, we instituted a nine-course management development curriculum. Some of the courses were regulatory in nature, some were intended to make one's job easier and more productive, and some of them were simply for personal enhancement. At the end of the three years, we conducted a return on investment analysis to see if the results were worth the time and effort put into the design and delivery of the management development program. The resulting data proved a resounding affirmation. Management turnover was reduced by a total of 28% over the three years. Management promotions from within increased by 5% each year. The position of recruiter was eliminated from the organization since the company was now able to groom managers from within. In all, the organization realized a net savings of over $200,000 in the first three years. Of course, they will continue to reap benefits for years to come.

When we collected anecdotal evidence of the success of the program, employees told us that they stayed with the company longer because they felt that the company was investing in them, that the company valued their contribution, and that they could see a clearer career-path for themselves within the organization. You will find it increasingly difficult to recruit employees for your organization if you are not able to communicate to them that they will have the opportunity to increase their skills and knowledge and to contribute to the organization through education opportunities that are offered through your company.