October 2015
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Cross-Training Increases Productivity

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Organizations that compartmentalize their knowledge are at risk of decreased productivity if an employee decides to leave. However, cross-training employees (training a worker to handle more than one job) provides flexibility and resiliency in the face of turnover. Small and midsized companies are especially at risk, as often one employee will become solely responsible for certain job duties. If that employee decides to leave, suddenly no one in the organization knows how to perform a task, and that task is jettisoned, or the remaining employees are left scrambling to try to figure it out. This isn’t to say every employee should be able to do every job. Instead, managers should look for ideal areas of cross-training to ensure the highest return on their training investment. For example, a machine operator could also be trained on basic preventative maintenance and small repairs, so if a mechanic leaves, there is another person on staff who can ensure there are no gaps in productivity.

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