One of the biggest challenges for companies is to keep the workforce motivated at all times. When employees do the same work day in and day out, it becomes difficult to keep them interested and doing their very best.

The solution to this problem is further education. Learning new skills or improving an existing skillset will relieve stasis and set the workforce forward. It benefits employees by keeping them from getting bored and boosts productivity for the company overall.

Education is Among Top Employee Benefits

Companies can offer various benefits to keep employees, but it is important to understand which benefits motivate employees the most and can result in the most effective results. A study conducted by Iveta Němečková for the Central European Business Review found that, out of a variety of motivational tools, language education paid by the employer was one of the top three most preferred benefits (after sick days and pension contributions).

Particularly following an economic downturn, companies may decide to cut costs associated with employee training, but its effects may be drastic in the long term. It may lead to decreased employee skills, productivity and retention rates. Offering education can be a way to stave off highly motivated employees from leaving the company for greener pastures that offer further career growth.

Further Learning Interests the Highly Motivated

A company-wide learning initiative is beneficial for everyone when it comes to keeping the workforce engaged and improving on performance. However, it has the greatest effects on employees who are already highly motivated and demonstrate a passion for learning.

As Brad Stone of the New York Times notes in a review of How Google Works, these are the employees “companies need to hire and keep … but smart creatives aren’t necessarily dazzled by perks like high salaries and corner offices.” Innovative, prestigious employers like Google seek out employees who demonstrate a love of learning and a commitment to improving themselves.

Ignoring the potential of employees like this would be detrimental to companies. Instead, companies should foster and nurture those self-motivated workers through an engaging training system.

Employee Training Directly Results in Increased Productivity

A highly productive employee can do double the work in the same amount of time as their less productive counterpart. So it stands to reason that companies have a vested interest in producing productive employees in order to increase general output while minimizing resources.

In their paper on productivity in the UK, Dearden, Reed and Van Reenen discuss a correlation between boosted levels of productivity and training, even suggesting that employee education leads to a higher level of productivity than what follows a wage increase. Further research by Konings and Vanormelingen finds that “the marginal product of a trained worker is on average 23% higher than that of an untrained worker.”

Providing training improves the productivity of your workforce. It attracts people who like to learn, helps retain employees and helps employees work more quickly and accurately. You will ensure that your employees reach maximum levels of productivity, immediately increasing their individual contributions to the company.

Key Takeaway

Education can not only motivate current employees and increase productivity but also attract and foster top talent whose personal aim is continuous learning. Thus, it is important for companies to keep training in mind at all times as a valuable employee benefit.

Interested in learning more about how language training can help attract and retain the best employees? Check out our white paper on Managing Top Talent.

Start building increased productivity today with language training from Speexx.

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