Beat the recession with FENSA Training

Government claims training improves chances of surviving recession

As the economic climate continues to worsen, it is an established process for most employers to cut back on the training that they deliver to their employees. With recruitment on hold and the necessity to reduce outgoings a priority, the vast majority of companies look to cutting training budgets as their first port of call. An online poll conducted in the Summer of 2008 suggested that 44% of companies expected to cut their training budgets over the next 12 months whilst a British Chambers of Commerce survey in the third quarter of 2008 found that intentions to invest in training amongst manufacturing firms fell to its lowest level since 2003.

Investing in skills

Despite this, the overwhelming message from skills policy makers, business executives and HR experts are that this is a misguided approach to dealing with the challenges of an economic downturn and can indeed be counter-productive to the survival of a business struggling during a recession. Top business leaders have declared that 'now is precisely the time to keep investing in the skills and talents of our people. It is the people we employ who will get us through'.

Nowhere is this more relevant than the Glazing sector. During a recession, it is traditionally the home improvement industry that is hit first and hit hardest. Nonetheless, companies are urged not to dig their heels in during difficult times and instead, are advised to invest what they can in staff training in order to increase the robustness of their business against adverse economic conditions. Recently trained staff are of great value during such periods as they will be capable of increased flexibility/multi-tasking, will be more motivated thanks to the investment in their own skills and ultimately, more prepared to cope with increased challenges and/or workloads.

Building for the future

As part of a speech to the Conference of British Industries, John Denham, the Government’s Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary was quoted as saying: ‘Businesses must resist the temptation to slash training to cut costs. Why? Because businesses that don’t invest in talent are two-and-a-half times more likely to fail, whereas those that carry on training will recover more quickly’. Mr Denham points to the recession in the early 90s as evidence for this, confirming that those companies who invested in training were strengthened and were better placed during the subsequent upturn.

With this in mind, FENSA recommends installers consider investment in staff training as one way of helping to safeguard against the effects of the downturn. FENSA Director of Registered Businesses Jon Vanstone said: 'It's true that times are tougher at the moment but we would urge our Registered Businesses to take a more long-term approach to these problems. By training yourselves and your staff, you can add value to the services you offer, improve the way you run your company and ultimately equip yourselves to emerge stronger from less favourable economic conditions.'

'At FENSA, we are in a position to offer relevant training developed by experienced experts from within the industry. This training reflects decades of industry experience and is targeted at areas in which we know our registered businesses can sometimes struggle. We are offering this training at significantly discounted prices to FENSA businesses in an effort to encourage as many individuals as possible to undertake training and improve their companies’.