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There are a lot of industries out there doing it tough.  We all know business is about swings and roundabouts.  Sometimes you know it’s coming and at other times, it may be a big surprise.

Look at the Resources industry for example, major players like BHP and Rio Tinto are now shelving projects and laying off employees.

For the normal, every day person who is not in the resource industry, 5 minutes ago they were hearing there was a ‘boom’ and a ‘skills shortage’.  Some may have been rubbing their hands together and looking at how they could get a piece of the action.

In tough times, companies often have to go back to the drawing boards.  Work out how they can do things smarter, more profitably and looking to ensure an investment is made the results are as sustainable as possible.  You can’t just throw money at a problem when there’s no money to throw.

McKinsey Quarterly published “A better way to cut costs” back in October 2009 in response to the GFC.  With the benefit of hindsight, a very interesting article, I thought.

Another one “What worked in cost cutting-and what’s next” published in January 2010 is also thought-provoking.  They say we should learn from the past and my question is – have we?

Now, back to the present.  You want the remaining employees you have supportive of any changes you have made, and you want them to remain engaged. Morale is a challenge in itself.

If you have had to lay off staff, when the time comes to recruit again, and it will, your new employees need to be well educated in what they are doing (the quicker the better) and it can’t cost a fortune.

In their article “Getting more from your training programs” Mckinsey Quarterly talk about “To improve results from training programs, executives must focus on what happens in the workplace before and after employees go to class” click here to read more

So why am I talking about training and recruitment, when for a lot of industries, times are tough.  Yours may even be one of them.

Well, it’s because if you’re currently looking at your strategies, sustainable employee training may be something you are interested in.  

Using e-learning and instructional design, you can get your employees on the same page quickly and cost effectively; and if strategies or messages change so can the e-learning modules.  It’s just a matter of adjustment, you don’t have to go back to square one.

If you are interested in running your training programs more cost-effectively and having your employees working smarter, check out our company overview  – click here to watch.