Is it worth investing in employees?

People are one of the most valuable company resources. Many entrepreneurs are finally faced with the question whether it is worth investing in their employees? The strategy of some companies is even based on investing in their employees, but are they surely right? Are you sure that the employees are so loyal that they will not leave the competition after they have been financed and provided with a range of training? Maybe it is better to look for someone more experienced, a specialist in a given field or use the services of an outsourcing company than to invest in an employee who will leave our company sooner or later? Or maybe we should look at training as a long-term investment? So what do we gain or lose by investing in employees?

We would all like to have specialists in our companies. Imagine that we invest in our employees, they become specialists in a given field. It seems to be an ideal arrangement. We finance the course, we gain specialists and as a result we have professional staff. Theoretically, we do not have to worry about anything, but are we sure? Acting in this way, we have to remember one thing – a more educated employee after the courses becomes a “greedy bite” for the competition or simply starts looking for another job. He is more and more attractive on the labour market. The horizons of our employees are expanding and no one can guarantee that even after signing the so-called “loyalty” after a certain period of time they will not leave for another company. Another issue worth noting is the costs associated with investing in employees, which are large, sometimes even very large. The costs I mean here are expenses related to courses and trainings, which increase employees’ knowledge and integrate the team. While being in the matter of team integration, let’s not forget that investing in employees is not only about broadening their knowledge and competence, but also important are human relations in the company. During working hours there is often no time for a quiet conversation and exchange of views on the tasks performed. Often there is no connection between employees, and we have more and more research that good relations in the company translate into better financial results. There are even separate work stations for people who deal with good relations in the company. Investing in good employee relations brings great benefits to the company – a goodteam works better. Integration trips are often the expense of several thousand. Are we sure we can afford it? Let us also remember that the costs related to the employee are not only courses, trainings and integration trips. It is also the whole social base, place of work or even costs connected with recruitment.

Having educated people in our company we gain advantage over our competitors. This is an unquestionable reason why it is worth investing in employees, but referring to the beginning of this entry – no one will guarantee that these people will stay with us for so long that the investment will not only pay off but also bring profit. Trainings can integrate employees very much, which also translates into higher processing capacity of the company. It is also worth noting that by having more educated staff, the overall image of the company on the market improves compared to the competition. We must remember that good employees are the company’s business card. Knowing that subsidized employees bring better profits in the company, what can we do to have an educated staff without incurring additional, often risky costs? In such a situation, outsourcing companies come to help. We can have experienced employees without investing in them. This type of cooperation allows us to use the resources of external companies specializing in a given field and have specialists without additional costs. No need to invest in trainings, courses, recruitments. The outsourcing company will not only reduce the costs related to the employment of employees, but also take the responsibility for decisions concerning whether it is the moment when we should send our employee for training, or we can certainly afford it, or we will certainly not lose it? In this way we eliminate the risk of additional expenses related to employee training, recruitment costs or even teamwork. Maybe this is the moment to use the services of an outsourcing company?