No surprises – new skills training, promotions & pay rises key to retaining staff

A new report has revealed the priorities for bosses when it comes to retaining staff and keeping them positive in the workplace.

The study of 750 senior business professionals by Arch Apprentices provided an insight into employee retention – uncovering how to have a happy and productive workforce. Enabling employees to learn new skills was top of the list (73%) – followed closely by promotions (67%) and pay rises (65%).

Other ways to keep people content in their job included investment in training programmes (55%), praise (60%) and working within a knowledgeable team (53%).

Training has many benefits in the workplace – it means a team can acquire new skills, increase contribution to the business and build self-esteem. By and large, bosses are aware of the benefits, with around a third of UK businesses spending between £1,000 and £5,000 each year on training their employees, with most of the surveyed professionals saying they offer 5-9 days of training each year.

Further results illustrated that 70% said that informal training took place within their business at least once a month, with 88% offering on the job training opportunities.

An increasing number of businesses offer apprenticeships, with 39% stating they currently do so. Over a quarter (27%) said they felt enthused to learn from new digital natives in their business, with over a third (36%) also admitting to learning a lot from young people in the business.

Incorporating young people within a business through schemes such as apprenticeships can be essential for both bosses and the workforce as a whole – and statistics from the House of Commons show that 904,800 people were on an apprenticeship path in 2015/16, up from 871,000 the year before.

It is now easier than ever for large and small businesses to introduce an apprenticeship scheme with the introduction of the apprenticeship levy which happened in April 2017. This new tax on businesses with a payroll of over 3million, means employers must support this style of learning in the workplace or lose their money.

Ben Rowland, Founder of Arch Apprentices “It’s really positive to see that learning new skills tops the list when it comes to keeping employees engaged, beating promotions and pay rises. In the apprenticeship space, we’re seeing businesses such as Google and Facebook tapping into this appetite for learning through their digital apprenticeship training programmes, helping them to supercharge their investment in digital skills and retain their top talent.”

Visit their website here