The Benefits of Having a Career Development Training Program

It’s official – the physical therapy profession is changing. 

As the competition broadens and demands diversify, it’s more crucial than ever to build a core of team members who work towards your common goal, and are happy to do so. According to a recent poll, 68% of workers claim that training and development is the most important company policy to them. 

We know that exceptional training must have five elements:

1. Valuable content
2. Repetition
3. Duplication
4. Application (or Practice/Role-Play)
5. Accountability

Most training or consulting programs lack one or more of these elements. Usually they’re centered around exceptional content, without ways to successfully apply the content to their role. This is why we built MEG Academy. We knew we had the world class content, but previously, when we would fly into an office to train a team, it lacked accountability and the repetition of a successful training program. This is why we say consulting doesn’t work – our program evolved to ensure the ongoing success of our clients and their teams. 

Not sure what the impact would be on your clinic? Well, consider these statistics: 

• 87% of millennials (also known as the largest generation in the workforce right now) claim that professional development and career growth are very important to them. 
• Companies that invest in employee training see (on average) a 24% higher profit margin than companies who don’t. 

So what are some benefits to your clinic that a career development training program could have? There are three major ones: 

Reduced Turnover

According to a 2018 workplace health survey, 70% of respondents were either actively looking for a new opportunity or thought about it sometimes/always/often. Another study by the Center for American Progress showed that the cost of replacing an employee can equal 6-9 months of the salary for that role. Not to mention the cost of lost production during the time the role isn’t filled. It can take new hires up to a full year to reach the productivity of an existing employee. 

Other factors to consider:

• Cost and man-hours to advertise, interview, and hire for the role
• Lost production during onboarding and training

Here’s where the benefits of a comprehensive training and onboarding program come in. When new hires come in, they are 42% more likely to stay at a company when they receive the proper training to do their job versus the 40% of employees with poor training who leave their job within the first year. 

Better Trained Employees Equals Better Customer Retention

The quality of service in your clinic can make all the difference between creating a loyal patient who refers family and friends, or a patient who doesn’t follow up after their initial call or evaluation. When your staff understand and are trained to offer exceptional customer service and patient care, patients are more likely to stick around, return the next time, and send their friends and families to your clinic. Not only that, but they’ll give you the testimonials that speak to their exceptional care.

More Productive Employees

When preparing for a role, or onboarding an employee, employees who receive 40 hours of training met their objectives and goals three times as often as those who received 30 hours or less. Employees when employees are set up for success in their role – by setting expectations and providing the onboarding and training to get them there – they are more engaged, and more empowered to be successful.

How do you set the expectations? Well, instead of an offer letter when they accept their role you give them a status sheet that lays out the expectations for them and for you. Their targets, what statistics they will be measured on, and the salary and benefits they get in return. When they start, give them a post and company onboarding checklist that outlines what information they’ll receive to set them up for success – what role plays they might need to demonstrate, etc… That way, if there are issues with productivity later on, you know that they were trained on this from day one and can reference the checklist and the status sheet. 

Finally, a recent LinkedIn report on workplace learning had some astounding findings about digital learning opportunities: 

• 58% of employees prefer opportunities to learn at their own pace, 
• 49% prefer to learn at the point of need. 

When it comes to professional development, virtual training and digital learning solutions allow companies to cater to varied learning styles. This shows that companies depend more on online learning solutions to not just deliver content, but also to measure success. This is why a way to hold staff accountable is so important and why we love our own virtual training platform MEG Academy that is well loved by hundreds of practice owners. 

Source: lightspeedvt.com

You can track the progress of your staff and see how they do. Virtual training means at their own pace, ensure their success by setting deadlines and hold them accountable by checking in and reviewing content

If you’re looking for ways to boost your team, enhance their skills and lower your staff turnover, consider adding a career development training plan to your clinic. Having a career development training system that is comprehensive, and holds your staff accountable through role-plays and assignments to ensure the material is fully understood will not only benefit your team, but will also have a lasting impact on your clinic’s bottom line.