Investing in workplace training and development may be the crucial step organisations need to improve employee retention rates and boost productivity, despite many organisations falling behind in this area.

Workplace learning is an important factor in lowering employee turnover and increasing engagement through increased job satisfaction according to HR Daily Advisor. Allowing your workers to learn new skills ensures they feel more confident and secure about their future with your company, which can inspire loyalty and boost productivity.

Additionally, encouraging employees to take part in training will benefit your business by enabling your staff to acquire industry-leading skills and update their knowledge. This can lead to massive gains in productivity and innovation within your organisation.

However, despite these strong benefits, more than a quarter (28 per cent) of Australian businesses have failed to invest in a professional development program, according to a recent survey conducted by iHR Australia.

iHR surveyed more than 125 business leaders from multi-location companies across Australia regarding their organisation’s human resource investments. This included the inclusion of workplace training and staff development programs across all locations.

Just over two-thirds of the respondents (69 per cent) believed their company had a professional development program in place, which shows a significant number of businesses are failing to take advantage of the benefits of workplace training.

Furthermore, a third of the participants (33 per cent) who identified their company as investing in workplace learning admitted that their professional training program was not tailored to each site and location across their organisation. This means many workplace training programs may be inappropriate or unsuitable for the specific employees of each branch.

It is important to ensure that your company’s workplace training program is tailored to your specific needs to ensure the investment in effective and efficient.