Stretching Your Training Dollar During An Economic Downturn
By Cameron Nicolson AAE, Director, Safety Management Systems, The Calgary Airport Authority
Investing in employee training is just as important during a downturn as it is in good economic times. In fact, training during the current downturn may be a bargain, and a well trained staff could be your greatest asset when good economic times return. There are several ways to stretch your training dollar during an economic downturn and the investment in staff during this time can pay off by improving employee satisfaction.
This year the Calgary Airport Authority has partnered with IAAE Canada to host an Accreditation Academy course in Calgary rather than having our staff travel elsewhere. This has reduced our overall per-individual training cost for this course. By hosting the course we have also reduced the price point, enabling more staff to attend, and thereby stretching our training dollar and increasing its reach. Our training objectives take into account a significant number of staff retirements in the next 5-10 years; upgrading the skills of our staff makes us better able to prepare for these retirements using internal candidates. We still propose to send staff to off-site training courses and conventions so that they stay up-to-date, but instead of cutting the training we look for economies in travel or accommodation. By reducing employee training we risk becoming out of touch and disconnected from the airport community, and that is a risk we cannot take.
Training is a cost effective way of demonstrating commitment to your employees. During a downturn employees are looking for stability and reassurance, and investing in an employee by offering training demonstrates that the employer is looking at the employee’s long term skills and development. This reinforces the employer’s commitment to their staff. Also, because alternative employment prospects are lacking during poor economic times, employees are more willing to learn new skills. Reinforcing employee loyalty during the hard times will pay off during the good times.
We have had to make cuts in our training budget in Calgary this year but we have looked for ways to deliver the same high quality of training by economies of scale. This is a challenge that I feel will pay off now and again when the economy recovers.
