Staff Planning

Hints and tips

• Talk to staff about their job, how they see their role developing and their training needs. It's a good idea to try to retain and develop your existing workforce as they have knowledge of the business.

• Staff should be continually made aware of the business's objectives so that they can identify their own development needs. This can be done through ongoing meetings and in appraisals.

• A formal staff development policy should be developed and agreed with staff. This will give staff confidence in the management's commitment to training.

• It is advisable to check the background and status of external training consultants before agreeing for them to conduct training for any of your employees.

• The training expenses for small businesses can be reduced by joining businesses of a similar size when undertaking training and sharing the costs.

• Workplace training can be an effective option such as the online courses available through Learndirect business.

• After any training, the benefits should be evaluated. It is important to ascertain whether the training has improved the skills of staff sufficiently to fulfil the business's requirements.

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