Your business needs survive first, then thrive.
With the current financial uncertainty, you may think your business will soon be in fight or flight mode. A probable recession is what seems to be one of your main enemies at the moment.
Some business functions are more easily affected. Employee education is one of them. As companies try to cut costs, training budgets are among the first to shrink. However, training should not be seen as an obligation in times of recession. instead of that, it should be seen as a strategic moveespecially in times of recession.
But what does a recession look like for businesses? Depending on the size of your organization, a recession can change the way things have been done up until now. You could witness lower sales and cash flow, delayed payments or a hiring freeze.
Even if there is no particular need or pressure to cut costs, the overall pressure of lower income, difficult sales, and financial imbalances could make you feel pressured to start cutting back. And training during a recession is the most obvious choice in which you should not invest.
Just the opposite, there is great strength in training. By changing the way you approach employee training and development, there’s a good chance you’ll get through that period and find yourself one step closer to success.
Here’s why.
Investing in training can help build a recession-proof business
By investing in training, you will create more space for growth, stability and a brighter future for your organization.
According to Eran Galperin, founder of Gymdesk, “it can be tempting to scale back learning and development initiatives during an economic recession; however, this is often a misjudgment.”
“Employees should feel part of a successful company, even in difficult times. Reassurance and appreciation comes through the L&D initiatives the company is willing to invest in.”
Let’s see what training will help you weather the recession.
Soft skills training
Training people in specific soft skills such as resilience, tolerance, emotional intelligence and adaptability can help overcome challenging situations. What’s more, according to a CNBC article, economists believe flexibility, project management and communication are some of the “most recession-proof” skills employers will be looking for in the coming years.
Developing such soft skills will help your teams to develop and be ready for all upcoming challenges and difficulties. Adaptable individuals, with excellent communication skills who can handle any crisis with flexibility and resilience, are your keys to success for a recession-proof business.
Interactive training
By implementing interactive forms of training, you help employees better prepare for less expected or less common situations. You can achieve this with simulations. Your teams can practice in a realistic scenario to approach a particular situation, according to Galperin. This initiative is one of the best experiential learning activities as it takes place in a completely safe environment.
“Simulations can be a useful method for training employees to deal with difficult customer experiences, difficult efforts or other types of challenges,” adds Galperin.
Improvement of skills and retraining
“First and foremost, we plan to invest in the training of our employees,” Michelle Hague, head of human resources at Solar Panels Network USA, states.
“We understand that times are difficult, which is why we adopted a “print now, pay later” approach to ensure our workers have the skills they need for the future. This will help us remain competitive as the economy evolves.”
More and more companies are thinking about investing in training and retraining programs for their teams. Such L&D initiatives will help employees in staying ahead of the curve and equip them to deal with any changes that may occur.
By implementing this initiative, you will not only increase motivation and morale, but also prepare well-rounded teams for the future by investing in your current workforce. As a result, you’ll end up with a learning culture that gives employees the opportunity for ongoing training and professional development.
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Financial wellness training
In times of financial crisis, it is common for people to feel stressed, frustrated and lost. The process of managing finances is a particularly time-consuming and stressful process. As a result, employees bring their concerns to their work.
What could help your organization stay ahead of the curve and become a recession-proof business is providing financial wellness training. Your employees will learn how to manage their money more efficiently and focus on their work, making them more productive and happier.
According to a study by TalentLMS, Enrich and Tapcheck, “Financial wellness training improves job satisfaction: 83% of employees who received it are satisfied with their jobs, compared to a satisfaction rate of 63% who did not receive the training.”
Firms like Cloud Peak Law Group prioritize mental health and wellness initiatives. “We are focused on mental health and wellness initiatives, which include providing education and training for employees.” Mark Pierce, CEO states. For example, they conduct financial health training to help employees learn how to deal with rising stress levels that affect their personal and professional lives.
But (how) can we reduce training costs?
While you may want to invest in training to build a recession-proof company, it goes without saying that you don’t want to—or can’t—spend a fortune on this investment.
Fortunately, there are ways you can cut back hidden costs of employee training without compromising quality and efficiency.
Focusing on online training
Technology has made learning available anytime, anywhere. That said, now is the perfect time to transition or focus your efforts on online training.
By using an eLearning platform, your students can access training from anywhere in the world and take advantage of the benefits it offers. At the same time, you won’t have to worry about spending money on travel expensesor planning fancy personal training sessions at a physical location.
Another advantage of online training is that it can be delivered asynchronously. Your teams can engage in learning without worrying about time zones or their busy schedules.
“This type of training is cost-effective and employees can access it anytime, anywhere. It is also flexible, which is important when employee schedules are constantly changing,” Edward Solicito, CEO of To The Top, says.
“By investing in online, asynchronous training, we can ensure that our employees have the skills they need to be successful without breaking the bank.”
Reliance on internal experts
Outsourcing your training initiatives can be quite expensive if you want a recession-proof business. What you can do is leverage in-house experts for course development, presentations, mentoring and knowledge sharing opportunities.
Riley Beam, managing attorney at Douglas R. Beam, supports that this looming recession has created the perfect opportunity for create an internal knowledge exchange program where inexperienced or new staff can learn things faster than the experts on their teams.
“As General Counsel, I’ve often wondered how to channel all that expertise so that entry-level and relatively inexperienced staff at our firm can learn things that would otherwise take decades,” Beam adds.
Moreover, by having local experts help with training, you encourage employee cooperation and knowledge exchange. You can also create a continuous learning environment that helps employees discover new skills and grow through lifelong learning.
Using ready-made exchange rates
Time is money.
And money is a sore spot when it comes to recession.
Save time and focus on more important business aspects by using pre-made courses. Ready-made course libraries they cover different topics you can use to train your employees, in a small and interactive way that will make the training exciting. At the same time, you won’t have to spend hours wondering how you’re going to manage to reuse content or build a course from scratch. It’s a win-win situation.
“We’re moving away from longer recorded sessions to a series of microlearning modules that are easier to digest and takes less time (15 minutes or less).”
“To increase engagement, some of these modules will include gamification and real-time tasks,” Alex Douville, Head of Onboarding Experience and Altis Academy, at Altis Recruitment, states.
Meet TalentLibrary™
A growing collection of ready-made courses covering soft skills
that your teams need to succeed at work
You have to fight for your right to survive the crisis!
As scary as it sounds, this economic downturn should not be so hopeless. With proper planning and proactivity, you will be able to face any pressing challenges that may come your way and manage to keep your business running and thriving.
“I believe the most important thing to do now is to keep your eyes on the prize,” Gauri Manglik, CEO and co-founder of Instrumentl, believes.
“Instead of worrying about how things will be in six months or a year, I think it’s more important focus on the big picture: you want your organization to be able to weather the storm of this recession and come out stronger on the other side.”
A recession-proof business is the challenge ahead. The good news is that you have plenty of solutions on your side, such as training and development.
Crises leave room for unusual thinking, creativity and renewal. By investing in your people and helping them maximize their potential during these times, you are most likely to come out stronger on the other side.