“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave, is not training them and having them stay.”

 — Henry Ford

Portable sanitation is not as complicated as brain surgery or astrophysics. I can easily understand that it might seem like enough to show employees how to do their jobs and then just turn them loose to work. There is something to be said for keeping things simple.

Yet, as a business owner, you want to do everything you reasonably can to make money, right? Well, training your employees is one of the things that will help you accomplish that goal.

A few years back, the Association for Talent Development completed a comprehensive study to help firms value their investment in the education and training of employees. The Association for Talent Development found that companies offering comprehensive training programs get 218% higher income per employee than companies without formalized training. These firms also see a 24% higher profit margin than those who don’t invest in training.

You may be thinking: We’ve got that covered — we train everyone when we hire them and do periodic check-ins from time to time.

You’re not alone. According to a study by the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce, 97% of employers make some investment in formal or informal on-the-job training at the beginning of employment. The more important data from that study is what it showed about training after the initial period. Particularly relevant to portable sanitation is this finding:

Increases in workforce education are far more effective at improving productivity than increases in the value of equipment. A 10% increase in both produced a productivity gain of 8.6% for education versus a mere 3.4% increase for upgraded equipment.

In other words, your people will make you more money if they know what they are doing and are confident in doing it. Having great equipment is a bonus. Buying a new truck may be exciting and necessary. Your service technician may be thrilled to drive it. But don’t skimp on your training budget to get the truck; it will do you the most good if its driver is well trained and sure of how to represent you well.

LOOK TO THE PSAI

The PSAI is committed to helping you train your employees. For the past several years, we have been updating our education program. We’ve added courses, modernized older ones and revamped our certification process. Your brand-new employees can be certified as apprentices and the more seasoned ones as portable sanitation professionals. Everyone can learn about topics as diverse as transportation and logistics, special events and job sites through our live webinar courses. Through them, your team can receive training from an experienced professional without losing much time from routes. If you need continuing education in your state, these courses probably qualify.

Prefer face-to-face training? We understand. Attending our events is the easiest way. We might also be able to come to you. Give us a call, and let’s see if we will be in your area soon or if we can tailor something specifically to your company’s needs. We’re prepared to work with firms all over English-speaking North America to bring portable sanitation-specific courses and certification to a location near you. As long as the numbers work for everyone involved, we’ll be there.

So let the PSAI help you. You’ll be glad you did!