With small businesses playing such an important role in the current economy how can they ensure that they stay at the cutting edge in terms of training for their staff? With tighter training budgets than larger companies, can they still obtain a good return on investment in their training?
What Is The Definition Of A Small Business? The Government refers to SME’s, ie Small and Medium sized Enterprises, which can cover any sized business with 1 to 250 employees. Obviously at the larger end of the scale, this is a sizeable business. For the purpose of this article we define small business as any company employing between 10 and 100 staff, with the term “micro business” being used for companies employing less than 10 people.
Barriers To Small Business Training There can be many reasons why Small Businesses fail to fully embrace training in their organisations, often despite the obvious benefits, but here are some of the most common ones:
The cost of the training
Lack of understanding of the types of training that is available
Inability to assess where the training will add value
Being Unaware of the potential benefits of the training
Providing cover for the person attending the training
Lack of relevance of the courses or qualifications
The fear that staff may leave once they are better trained
Other items of expenditure being seen as more more important than training
Return on investment is harder to quantify
Despite all of these problems every small business invests in training in some shape or form. This may include on the job training, or local free training events, often sponsored by business support agencies, but the training is carried out nonetheless.
Overcoming The Barriers To Small Business Training Small businesses need to be more strategic in their approach to training and include it as part of their overall strategy for growth. This can include:
Identifying the issues that are most likely to lead to a return on investment by new client acquisition or client retention and obtaining training for them
Attempt to obtain on site training to remove the cost and inconvenience of staff being away from the offices
Learning how to quantify the return on investment
Using informal training methods whenever possible
Applying for specific training grants from local business support agencies.
Summary Although it can be harder for Small Businesses to justify the investment in training, the returns on investment can be much more easily quantifiable. In a difficult market small businesses can move more quickly and respond to opportunities as they arise. If the team are all trained to work to their maximum efficiency, this can result in a rapid return on investment.
For more information and a training newsletter with course details, visit MASS Training for all of your Legal Training needs. MASS Training provide cost effective, practical and interactive Personal Injury Courses.
Nick Jervis is a Solicitor (non-practising) and a Legal Marketing Consultant for Solicitors and Legal Businesses in The UK and a Director of Samson Consulting.
