Staff training lift firms through recession

by Macharia Kamau

At her office at Adams Arcade, Ngong road, Ms Terry Waweru is a satisfied entrepreneur.

"I am lucky to have my staff; they are very responsible and run the business as their own," says Waweru, the founder of a medium size interior design consultancy firm, Terry Designs Ltd. She attributes their continued business growth through the recession, to efforts of her well trained staff.

Mr Ian Ng’ethe Group managing director of Raiser Resource Group— a human resource consultancy and training company —says human capital will be critical for companies to survive through the recession. Having well trained staff will give firms an edge. Indeed, even management experts warn that much as companies are concerned about costs, efficiency in service delivery should be the main focus.

Business performance

Laying off staff to cut down costs, for instance, could be counterproductive and might fail to improve business performance if inefficiencies still persist. "Many organisations have realised that having the best products and processes works well only when you have great people in your organisation," says Mr Ngethe. "They are the glue that binds the products and the processes." Although it is tempting to cut staff training costs during difficult times, it could be what the company needs to enliven, he says. Mr Ng’ethe believes that one aspect that will differentiate performing staff from the rest is training. "Training offers solutions to various needs or problems being experienced in a company resulting in positive change," he says.

Offer solutions

For a large organisation with downcast staff , managers will need to know how to motivate them, while time management training could be what a company loosing work hours needs.

Unfortunately, while many organisations will spend money and time on technical skills, not much is spent on people management skills. "Training ensures that your staff is better geared for jobs, have day to day confidence and that the organisation becomes more productive," he says.

He says, while most firms believe that the best way to attract the best people is to pay higher salaries; that may not be true. "The organisations that attract the most loyal staff have unique characteristics like creative hiring process, and look for staff in unique places. They hire for attitude as opposed to skills only – and adapt training to employee needs as opposed to delivering a one-size-fits-all type of solution," says Mr Ng’ethe.