Whilst many businesses, not only within the logistics industry but across the board, will be focusing on driving business growth or maintaining stability as the UK's economy is still on the road to recovery, staff development and investing in training is an important factor in keeping staff on top of their game and morale high. Matthew Marriott, Hellmann UK's Commercial Director, discusses the ins and outs of 'people development' and how this can not only keep staff happy but customers too.
Good customer service is a paramount skill set that should be practiced by all businesses and 'best in class' customer care should always be at the forefront. By keeping staff motivation levels high and investing in personnel, customers benefit with exceptional customer service and quality relationships. Through continuous investment and development, whether through in-house training schemes or business life in general, the knowledge we all hold helps contribute to our success.
So why spend what little money we have on staff training you might say? Although times may indeed be tough, the money that you invest in staff training could make a big difference in terms of both staff and client retention, which in turn could lead to business growth. Giving staff the necessary skills can only help to improve productivity and equip them with the knowledge to handle everyday challenges within the business.
If money is tight, developing an in-house training scheme could easily save the pennies, instead of forking out the costly expense of paying industry associations for one or two training days here and there. This way, a scheme could be devised and tailored completely to your businesses' requirements to get the best out of your employees' development, as well as giving you the power to oversee how employees have progressed from stage to stage.
In 2009, we launched our training initiative, the International Logistics Management and Leadership Programme (ILM), which is a global talent programme, designed and implemented by Hellmann, in association with the Deutsche Logistics Academy (DLA) to give us a clear performance management process centred around constant feedback, performance appraisals and goal agreements. If companies were to develop schemes of a similar nature, they could help identify and retain the most promising employees as well as help the employees themselves develop and progress to exceptional levels within the organisation. This type of thing is a great way to develop our own skill sets and future senior management.
In-turn, through this strategic approach to retaining talent, businesses could see the benefits in staff retention, morale and satisfaction, helping to stay one-step ahead of the competition when it comes to offering an unrivalled level of service.