The Forgotten Benefit
“On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche, 19th century philosopher
When you think of employment benefits, what comes to mind? I’m sure that those of you who feel weary and overworked look forward to vacation and holiday pay. The sick or infirm will likely prize health insurance and sick pay. Some of you in the twilight of your careers might focus on our 401k and pension plans. Yet, there is one benefit greater than all of these, but is likely forgotten or overlooked: training.
Some of you may be thinking, “Training?? I haven’t received training since I began my career.” But, is this true? There are two types of training: formal and informal. At the very least, all of us have received informal training.
Informal training may be as basic as a conversation between colleagues or with a supervisor. For example, two maintenance employees might discuss the best means of troubleshooting an air conditioning problem. Their exchange of ideas and the development of key skills is the very essence of training, though we don’t often think of ourselves as trainers or trainees. In addition, supervisors discipline employees for infractions; this is also training. In fact, the root word for discipline is “disciple”, or “discipulus” in Latin, which means “student” or “pupil.” We may not want to consider a disciplinary action as training, but, like all training, it is intended for our benefit and growth.
Training is the fuel of success and professional growth. The more training you offer to your employees, the more valuable they become to you. There is a direct correlation between the best trained employees and those who have the highest productivity. Furthermore, those employees who thirst for training are often the most contented and happy in their careers.
Finally, training is an investment. It is both recognition of your employee’s future worth to your organization and an acknowledgment of their past accomplishments. I hope that you recognize the value of this benefit and seek to add a training program to your company- no matter how small. For my part, I feel a great debt of gratitude toward those who have trained me and continue to do so. Their gifts of knowledge, skill, and time will not be soon forgotten.
Brian Kopp works for Echelon Property Management in the greater Grand Rapids, Michigan area. He has 14 years of property management experience at the property and corporate levels. He has a Master’s Degree in Education and was formerly an SPHR from the Society of Human Resource Management.
Echelon Property Management specializes in apartment real estate management. Its mission is to acquire and manage real estate investments and deliver above average returns to property owners. For more information about our services, please contact Brian at bkopp@echelonpm.com.
The source of the problem is the performance measurement tool that you are using. Many companies rate employees based upon “Attendance”, “Relationships with Co-Workers”, “Job Knowledge”, “Creativity,” etc. Employees are then rated as “Excellent”, “Above Average”, “Average”, “Below Average”, “Poor.” Comments are added to the reviews like “He/she does well in this area.” Again, this is a poor way to communicate your performance expectations and evaluate your employee’s work. In fact, they really don’t measure performance at all, but rather internal rule compliance- something that is better addressed on employee discipline forms.
