If you want a skilled workforce, you’ll be faced with a difficult decision: Should you build from scratch by training entry-level hires, or should you invest more money bringing in an experienced tradesperson?
There is no easy answer to this question because the better choice will depend on factors like your desire to control costs, your employees’ safety exposure, how soon you require optimal productivity, and the duration that you would like your employees to work with your company.
Training Entry-Level Hires
Training entry-level, untapped talent can provide your company with the opportunity to pay lower wages while having more control over how skills are learned and developed. Because entry-level hires do not come with ingrained habits, you will find it easier to align them with your company’s process, safety standards and quality expectations.
Most businesses will provide formal training programs to establish that foundation for new hires. In welding, for instance, a combination of programs will teach various core processes and prepare employees for their recognized certifications. They can help prepare for a career in combination welding.
Such programs also allow employers to establish how long it will take for a new hire to be able to perform safely on the job after completing the training program, what certifications should be attainable by a newly installed employee in a defined period, and what skills should be taught first as part of the long-term career path for the employee.
The established definitions regarding these parameters will make it easier for the employer to establish onboarding timeframes and established step raises for employees.
Time is the main downside of hiring inexperienced or entry-level workers, as it takes longer for them to reach maximum productivity. It also poses a safety risk if the training process is not properly structured. New employees benefit from the guidance of an experienced mentor because it improves the learning and retention process. In addition, new employees feel that they are making progress as they work with the mentor and do not have to struggle with figuring things out without assistance.
Buying Experience
Using skilled trades people provides a much shorter ramp-up time to get the new employee up to maximum productivity. These employees usually already know about safety procedures, can read blueprints or plans, and can work with minimum supervision. If you are in a time-sensitive situation or need to do a more complicated project, purchasing skilled labor can be the safest way to go.
The trade-off is in terms of cost and flexibility. Skilled workers command a higher wage than inexperienced ones and sometimes the difference is significant. In addition, when you hire a new employee with experience, they may not adapt as well to your processes as an inexperienced employee
Retention may not be very predictable with skilled workers because most of them look for opportunities where they are offered more compensation.
Evaluating the Real Expense
Training appears to be less expensive than hiring someone who has experience. In reality, the total cost depends on how your organization operates. Training entails a financial commitment for supervision, documentation, and safety monitoring. Without these, any wage savings incurred by training may be offset by the cost of correcting mistakes and redoing work.
On the other hand, while hiring an experienced person results in increased payroll immediately, it may also prevent you from experiencing excessive delays, and making costly mistakes if the work you perform is high-risk or highly specialized.
One helpful way of thinking about this issue is in terms of capacity. If your company has sufficient capacity to absorb any type of lost production time due to a learning curve without compromising delivery timelines or jeopardizing safety, then training often results in an overall savings. However, if you do not have the capacity to support slow ramp-ups or mistakes, then hiring someone who has experience may be more advantageous from a short-term perspective.
Protecting Margins When Training Employees
Training is only effective when there is a clear understanding of what is expected from those being trained. A skill matrix provides a mechanism to identify exactly the skills that each employee must possess before being eligible to receive a pay increase.
Mentor relationships establish both a mentor’s accountability and a mentee’s accountability. Using milestone-based pay will maintain motivation and protect your bottom line. These systems combined will turn training from being a gamble into a predictable investment.
Determining the Best Solution
Where short-term results and lower-risk options are required, hiring experienced candidates is generally the better choice. However, if you plan on building up your workforce over a longer period of time with the ability to provide structured onboarding processes and train new employees to your standards, hiring entry-level candidates can lead to higher retention rates, lower lifetime costs and more alignment with your company’s standards.
Most businesses that excel use a combination of experienced and entry-level employees. They use experienced employees to maintain stability in their operations, and grow entry-level employees as their future workforce.
