Training and Certification: Improve Morale by Providing Outlet for Growth
Company-subsidized training and certification for your IT staff is not just another perk. When implemented properly, these initiatives can be valuable tools for hiring and retaining IT professionals.
With the average cost of hiring IT workers estimated between three and four times their annual salary, it makes good business sense to develop and hold onto your valuable resources. Your IT organization and your company’s overall business performance can reap benefits such as increased productivity from the new skills acquired by your employees and improved Information System performance. A potential risk to not providing employees with training is a poorly skilled and unmotivated IT staff, leading to ongoing system disruptions.
Training, to a motivated IT pro, is the gateway to career success and security. That is why the inclusion and encouragement of company paid / sponsored training and certification can be used as great tools to demonstrate commitment to your employees. It fosters employee loyalty and retention and makes your IT organization attractive to job candidates. A policy of retraining employees can even lessen or eliminate the need for layoffs as the IT organization moves from project to project or expands into different technology arenas.
A recent study from the American Management Association confirmed what many other polls of IT professionals have been reporting—the opportunity to learn new skills and the ability to have a flexible work arrangement rank far above salary as factors “most important” in a position.
Granted, some employees may play a different game by using their new skills to seek employment elsewhere. But most IT professionals who take their career seriously value the opportunity to learn and use new skills even more than they do compensation. The payoff to training costs can translate not only in greater retention and a moderation of salary costs but also in reduction of IT staff as well as productivity and efficiency increases throughout the entire company. Shorter and less frequent system downtimes may also result.
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