Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM OCTOBER 2015 46 E mployees are known to be the best brand ambassadors of their company. While it's common knowledge that a workforce directly contributes to the performance and productivity of its organization, recent research questions the extent of employee development efforts in today's corporate milieu. According to the American Society for Training and Development, 41% of employees at companies with inadequate training programs plan to leave within a year, versus 12% of employees at companies who provide excellent training and professional development programs. Also, as per Spherion Staffing Services' 2015 Emerging Workforce Study, 36% of employees worry about falling behind in acquiring necessary new skills and 33% believe their current job skills fall short of where they should be. The biggest takeaway from this is that investing in your employees is indeed paramount to the growth of your company. And that's one big reason why NKBA University (U), the professional development and learning arm of the National Kitchen & Bath Association, has taken an innovative new approach to its corporate learning program, focusing on growing your company's talent investment. As per Gallup's 2013 report, The State of the American Workplace, only 52% of employees are actively engaged during their onboarding process. It was also found that less than one-third (31.5%) of U.S. workers were engaged in their jobs in 2014. With ongoing learning and development programs being crucial to employee engagement and retention, NKBA U's corporate learning program is one way organizations can maximize their investment in their employees. With NKBA U, corporate members can choose from an extensive array of affordable online training programs that help appreciate employees' value while helping employees appreciate in value to the company. Companies can now curate a range of classes for their teams in sales & marketing, business management, design & inspiration, focus on the customer, and more. A report from Bersin by Deloitte indicates,10 years ago, training was held in classrooms and took one to five days. Today, training is wherever and whenever and consists of less than 1-hour (sometimes as little as 2-3 minutes) in higher frequency. This model has greater benefit for continuous learning and retention. NKBA U's on-demand training model is right on track, providing a quick means to training your workforce at a pace and time that's most suitable to your needs and goals. The Sales and Marketing courses from NKBA U can help your employees build relationships and offer solutions that meet customer needs, analyze and prioritize sales activities to increase market share, and grow current accounts and develop new customers. ASTD indicates that on-demand learning yields 50% higher net sales per employee. NKBA U's convenient virtual video training enables continuous training, with sales professionals now being able to pull up lessons on the go. According to a CEI Survey, 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience, but only 1% of customers feel that vendors consistently meet their expectations. Especially in an industry where customer contact and relationships matter significantly, NKBA University's Focus On the Customer learning path offers highly relevant course materials to employees who will receive training on delivering exceptional customer service, and building internal and external mechanisms to continuously improve the customer experience. NKBA University also offers a solid selection of Design & Inspiration courses that helps designers plan safe and effective kitchens and bathrooms and utilize key industry information and planning guidelines based on historical review, current industry environment, future trends, consumer lifestyles, research, building codes and current industry practices. In addition, companies can now train their workforce in Business Management skills that are highly crucial to their productivity. These course offerings can empower employees in achieving positive business results by managing resources and controlling risk by aligning finance, organizational structure and marketing initiatives to business goals. Make it a great year by investing in your company's talent today! To purchase or learn more about our Corporate Learning program, visit NKBA.org/U or contact: Terry Tolbert, Manager - National Accounts 704-806-5110 | Ttolbert@NKBA.org OR Suzie Wheeler, Account Manager 908-813-3457S | wheeler@NKBA.org WHY INVESTING IN YOUR EMPLOYEES COULD BE YOUR BEST DECISION THIS YEAR A S S O C I A T I O N N E W S RO

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