Should You Offer Continuing Education to Your Employees?

Maybe an employee dropped it off anonymously in the company suggestion box a few weeks ago. Maybe one of the new bright-eyed
employees stopped you one morning while you were on your way to get coffee. Or maybe Janeen from Accounting asked about it.
For whatever reason, you have continuing education for your employees on the brain. And you cannot stop thinking about it.

On one hand, you think it is a great idea. It can boost the company’s internal intelligence level while increasing company
morale and encouraging employees to stick around. On the other hand, you think it is expensive and will cut in to productivity during the workday.

Baloney! Offering continuing education to your employees is the best choice you could make for you, your company, you
employees and your customers. Just think about it: you could offer a customer service training to all of your staff who
have direct contact with customers. The staff learns important lessons and techniques for amazing customer service and in
turn, your clients are happy. That means they will be more likely to do repeat business with you and your company makes more
money.

Then, you look better in the eyes of YOUR boss. And who does not want that?

Or, all of your IT staff goes through a continuing education course on the importance of the new software the company is
using. The IT staff learns the ropes of the software and even learns a few little tricks to keep the software running
effectively and smoothly. In turn, your products go out on time and customers are happy. Again, that means they will be
more likely to do repeat business with you and your company makes more money.

And again, you look better in the eyes of YOUR boss. So tell me again why you think continuing education is a bad thing?

Also, it boosts company morale because it shows your employees that you care about their minds and want to help make them
in to better employees. So actually, the return goes both ways. You have a more educated staff and they have the greater
self-confidence and intelligence needed to create a dynamic work environment.

You could also look in to creating a program where employees can choose to take a class of their own choosing each year.
That way they will be more loyal to your company because they feel like you have a vested interested in them and their
well-being. And they are happier.

So, get your coffee, go back to your desk and create a winning plan for continuing education at your company. You will look
good, your employees will feel good, your customers will be happy and your boss will be impressed. You company will
flourish and sales will continue to increase by the thousands (or maybe even millions!) Everyone is happy and you get the
new corner office. You are now officially the company idealist, sales savior, favorite employee and the boss of the year!