The people you employ are your primary assets, and no matter what business you’re in, investing in your people is critical.

While a lot of organizations have a training budget and they recognize that there is value in training and development, in times of uncertainty and financial woes, the training budget is often one of the first things to be cut.

This means that HR and Training and Development teams now have to fight harder for their budget, and they have to spend it more wisely than ever before; they also have to be able to prove that this spend is worthwhile and in the company’s best interest.

The UK has a particularly low productivity level; it is 30% lower than the USA and 35% lower than Germany. As well as this, there are few companies offering employees formal training opportunities in leadership and management skills and techniques.

People are often a business’s most significant cost – and asset. According to research by YouGov, poor management is a severe problem in the British workplace as 80% of employees have experienced what they consider to be poor management, or a poor manager, at least once in their career.

The survey, which was made up of 2006 British employees also found that 73% of employees who have experienced poor management have also considered leaving a job and, of this 73%, 55% of them actually did quit their job because of bad management.

It is also well documented and proven that management style impacts employee engagement. A recent study by Gallup showed that engaged workers are 21% more productive than their disengaged peers. Therefore, well-trained managers are critical in achieving improvements in productivity.

Rather than looking at spending money on training as an expense in a company, it is essential that you look at it as an investment. Unhappy people impact on morale and therefore have a negative impact on productivity. Unhappy people also leave organizations in search of a more fulfilling experience.

Even Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, once said, “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.”

But losing people doesn’t just cost the recruiters fee, the amount it costs to get a background check, or what the initial training was; it causes a loss in productivity too. It costs in the time it took for a co-worker to help and support and induct the new person and the time of the manager who brought the new employee to a stage where they are able to actually contribute well to the organization.

A report by Oxford Economics has estimated that the average cost of replacing a valuable employee is over £30,000, so this is definitely something that all businesses should proactively seek to avoid.

Investment in training makes complete sense and pays back time over. Your people are your biggest asset – if you allow them to be.

© New To HR