Is Employee Retention And Outsourcing Really Worth The Investment?
Many organizations avoid employee retention and outsourcing because of misconceptions. They think it’s going to cost a small fortune or that they’ll have to give up all their control. In reality, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. The trick is to find the right outsourcing partner for the task: a trained professional who has all the necessary experience and industry expertise. They should also know how to reuse your assets to cut costs and streamline content development. Though qualifying vendors takes time, it’s well worth the effort especially when you can reap the following 7 rewards.
1. Reduce Development Time
One of the standout reasons to invest in employee retention and outsourcing is to speed up the process. An eLearning content provider that specializes in retaining talents understands all the steps involved, from needs analysis to launching successful incentives schemes. There’s no learning curve. As such, they’re able to deliver content in a fraction of the time without compromising quality. They also have scheduling, planning, and organization down pat; or, at least, they should if you’re hiring them for your employee retention program.
2. Improve L&D Team Productivity
An outsourcing partner gives your L&D team more time to take care of their usual job duties. They can focus on other aspects of employee development such as analyzing reports, creating course content, and collecting staffer feedback. Therefore, they’re less stressed and more productive in the workplace. That said, they should still have the opportunity to collaborate with the eLearning content provider and offer input. In other words, they should not be shut out of the process simply because you chose to outsource.
3. Benefit From A Third-Party Perspective
Experienced employee retention service providers can look at your strategy from an outsider’s perspective. They’re able to step back and identify all the pain points, then help you devise a plan of action. For instance, your program is too generic, and the rewards don’t align with employee motivations or personal drives. The outsourcing partner can tell you what’s missing and how to connect with your staffers before it’s too late. Just make sure that you include a TNA in your request for proposals. This way, vendors can include assessments and diagnostics in their cost estimates.
4. Avoid Costly Employee Retention Mistakes
There are plenty of risks involved when developing an employee retention plan, from going over budget to launch delays. You might even alienate certain members of your staff if you don’t assess their needs and expectations beforehand. However, eLearning content providers have insider know-how. They’re aware of the common mistakes and how to avoid them. In turn, your organization is able to maximize ROI and retain top talents, minus all the design headaches. For example, the content provider knows that certain incentive schemes work better than others, at least for your use case. They know this because they’ve seen countless programs that have failed, then they had to step in to improve employee retention and get the plan back on track. Or maybe they’ve made mistakes in the past and learned from them.
5. Lower Payroll Expenses
Outsourcing employee retention helps you lower payroll expenses, since eLearning content providers handle tasks that would normally be allocated to your L&D or HR team. It can even reduce online training seat time, which also has an impact on your payroll budget. This is due to the fact that outsourcing partners know how to tap into staffer motivation and create meaningful online training resources. For example, they develop targeted resources to retain top talent and facilitate personal growth. They know which takeaways to include and how to deliver the info. As a result, employees get all the knowledge they need in ten minutes, versus sitting through an hour-long course.
6. Repurpose Existing Resources
The great thing about employee retention programs is that you probably already have most (if not all) the content on hand. The catch is that you may need to update or expand resources based on your current needs. Service providers can help you stretch available resources to make them relevant and engaging. For instance, repurpose webinars to launch a JIT support library, or convert Flash to HTML5 to modernize your online training program. First and foremost, employees expect fresh content that centers on personal challenges and job duties. The right outsourcing partner uses their creativity and design skills to surpass their expectations. In the process, you retain top performers instead of training their replacements.
7. Widen Your Profit Margin
All of these benefits contribute to your bottom line, which is interesting, given that so many organizations assume it’s the opposite and they immediately rule out content providers. They think that hiring an eLearning company is too expensive or that their team can handle everything in-house. Or that it gives them limited control over spending and creative input. In reality, outsourcing allows you to lower payroll costs, identify pain points, and streamline your strategy. You also get high-quality content to reduce employee turnover, which translates into lower new hire recruiting and onboarding expenses. Simply put, employee retention and outsourcing broaden your profit margin.
Conclusion
Now the question is, how do you know which eLearning content provider will help you improve employee retention? A reliable online directory with ratings and reviews is a great place to start your search. This gives you the opportunity to assess their solutions list and specialization areas. You can also check out the service provider’s online portfolio to evaluate their past work and insider expertise. Then submit RFPs to your top choices for personalized estimates and project specs.
How do you retain top talent and reduce new hire training costs? Download our eBook Achieving High Employee Retention: Is Outsourcing The Best Solution For Your Business? for secrets to find the best outsourcing solution.
