“People leave managers, not companies”. It’s a common statement you hear when discussing corporate leadership. In fact, one of our speakers on the latest webinar regarding the online training platform Valor/180 Skills said the very same thing, only this time it wasn’t in reference to leadership but rather professional development and training.

During this webinar, we discussed how employees actually want more opportunities to learn, as they understand this is a key factor in cultivating their career prospects. To confirm this, I searched online and found a Survey Monkey report that roughly 86% of employees say that job training is important to them—and nearly three out of every four (74%) are willing to learn things outside of work hours to improve their job performance.

Why? This piece goes on to explain that training inspires employees to do better work. Furthermore, this survey identified other highlights:

• 59% say it improves their overall job performance
• 51% believe it gives them more self-confidence
• 41% claim it helps their time-management skills
• 33% cite it as a factor in earning them a pay bump

Obviously, these are tremendous positives for an organization. Who doesn’t want more educated, more motivated employees? And yet, with all of the other things a manager has to worry about, I suspect training may not be high up on that list. Unfortunately, it is that very attitude that risks creating other, bigger problems that can ultimately lead to an employee looking for opportunities elsewhere. I’m sure that I’m not the only one that has experienced this in their career, no?

This discussion comes in the wake of FPSA’s recent announcement of the expansion of the Valor/180 Skills online training catalog. Not only does the library now exceed 800 courses, it now includes a new Food Safety track of 20 courses with a Pet Food Processing track to be launched this fall. Additionally, many of these courses are now also offered in Spanish for plant personnel who don’t speak English as a first language.

As should not come as a surprise to anyone, and as I have written about in the past, workforce shortages are still a serious issue for most of us trying to get product out the door. A good training program not only helps to improve the quality of your team’s work, but it also helps to secure good people for a longer period of time. In short, they are less likely to leave that manager who is working to cultivate their knowledge base and in turn their career, even if the overall goal is to make a more productive, efficient employee.

Andy Drennan, FPSA SVP