With the shortage of workers today, it’s no wonder employers are worried about the future. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal referenced the importance of investing in current employees to keep them relevant to the organization of the future. 

The article, written by Lauren Weber, reports that employers often choose the high cost of turnover rather than retrain or reskill existing employees. The “buy not build” talent strategy, she says will only continue to become more difficult and more expensive. If you think, “As my people become obsolete, I’ll just hire new people,” you may quickly discover a bigger problem because the new people won’t actually be there. 

The article referenced all kinds of terms—reskilling, retraining and new-skilling—but all basically saying the same thing: preparing workers for other positions by teaching them hard and soft skills needed to be successful in the future. This practice also reinforces employees’ capacity to continue learning and growing. 

It’s no wonder employers are struggling. The world is changing so rapidly that it is nearly impossible to identify what current employees’ skills are, what the needs will be in the future, and where the gaps are before it all changes again. But employers have to start somewhere to spark change. Perhaps it starts with a mindset shift by realizing that current employees must be made a priority. 

Invest and reinvest in your employees starting now. Increase training and continuing education budgets, evolve your training programs and increase cross training opportunities between departments. These simple tactics solidify a foundation that can be built upon in the months and years ahead. 

As we look to the future of the club industry, how can we better equip our current line level employees to prepare them to be our future supervisors and department heads? How can clubs continue to teach, train and educate employees so future hiring always begin from within? What can club executives do to prioritize the investment in employees to the same degree as keeping the membership roster full? Certainly a club isn’t a club if there are no members, but how can a club be a successful private club without adequate, quality employees?

WSJ Article Referenced Above: https://www.wsj.com/articles/theanswertoyourcompanyshiringproblemmightberightunderyournose11555689542