When a new year begins, it is always interesting to read about trends.  If you invest just a little time looking around online, you will find plenty of opinions about technology trends, leadership trends, marketing trends, and the list of trends goes on and on.

You will also find a lot of predictions about trends that pertain to hiring and staffing. For example, we just found and liked “5 HR Trends for 2017,” a forward-looking new post that Ryan Golden wrote on the HRDrive blog. The author writes that companies that hire most effectively in 2017 will offer better benefits for new parents, launch diversity and LGBT initiatives, and offer more eLearning, flexible training, and mentorship programs for new employees. Those are all great points.

But in today’s post, we would like to add a few comments to amplify that last point that Mr. Golden makes about the role that learning can play in building a top-notch workforce. Because here are some ways that we have seen excellent training help companies recruit and keep good workers.

Companies with Great Training Attract Better Applicants

When a company offers excellent training for new employees, word gets out. The company attracts a bigger and better pool of applicants who realize that any company that is willing to invest in employees will offer them longer and more secure employment.

Companies with Great Training Recruit from a Larger Pool of Potential Employees

Companies that shortchange training can only hire only employees with directly applicable skills and experience. Companies that will train employees those skills can recruit employees who have traits like attitude, energy, intelligence and ambition. The result? More high-potential employees to consider and a superior workforce.

Companies with Great Training Retain More Employees

Effective training reduces workplace stress and turnover by teaching employees to do their jobs more capably. And that’s only the first reason why training improves retention. Another is that when employees see that a company is investing in them, they see a compelling reason to stay on. And when training is tied to career advancement and leadership development, retention improves even more.

Better Training Can Help You Build a Better Workforce in 2017 and Beyond . . .

The theme of our post today can be summed up this way . . .

Train to hire, train to retain

That is an HR initiative that we can all get behind in the new year.