“The unemployment rate is dropping, and finding and retaining good people has become a really big deal to us,” says Samuel Brooks, VP of Technology and Innovation at KMG Prestige. With over 900 employees needed at hundreds of sites, it’s quite a challenge. The company suggests an investment opportunity that also serves as a solution: employee learning programs. One way the company is boosting both the value and loyalty of its work force is by giving them the skills they need to take on new responsibilities and increase their chance for success. Brooks says that where training was approached more casually in the past, it is now considered a strategic asset. “A first-class program of ongoing learning pays off in three important ways,” Brooks explains. “First and most obviously, it helps you avoid having to hire new talent from outside the company by expanding the skills of the people you already have – people who already know your way of doing things. Secondly, it gets the new people you do hire up to speed in all areas very efficiently. Finally, and this is often overlooked, employees these days really want to increase their skills, and even consider training a benefit rather than a nuisance.” Brooks explains that it’s not uncommon for prospective hires today to actually ask about the training they’ll get on the job. He says this is true not only for those who want to plot their way up the career ladder, but also for those who hold themselves to a high standard and simply want the confidence and rewards that come with performing well at the jobs they’re applying for. “But isn’t affordable different?” KMG Prestige has a heavy presence in the affordable sector. And Brooks says there’s a misperception that a learning program is less critical in affordable than, say, in conventional, where for example staff need to understand marketing and chasing leases in a way that does...

“The unemployment rate is dropping, and finding and retaining good people has become a really big deal to us,” says Samuel Brooks, VP of Technology and Innovation at KMG Prestige. With over 900 employees needed at hundreds of sites, it’s quite a challenge. The company suggests an investment opportunity that also serves as a solution: employee learning programs. One way the company is boosting both the value and loyalty of its work force is by giving them the skills they need to take on new responsibilities and increase their chance for success. Brooks says that where training was approached more casually in the past, it is now considered a strategic asset. “A first-class program of ongoing learning pays off in three important ways,” Brooks explains. “First and most obviously, it helps you avoid having to hire new talent from outside the company by expanding the skills of the people you already have – people who already know your way of doing things. Secondly, it gets the new people you do hire up to speed in all areas very efficiently. Finally, and this is often overlooked, employees these days really want to increase their skills, and even consider training a benefit rather than a nuisance.” Brooks explains that it’s not uncommon for prospective hires today to actually ask about the training they’ll get on the job. He says this is true not only for those who want to plot their way up the career ladder, but also for those who hold themselves to a high standard and simply want the confidence and rewards that come with performing well at the jobs they’re applying for. “But isn’t affordable different?” KMG Prestige has a heavy presence in the affordable sector. And Brooks says there’s a misperception that a learning program is less critical in affordable than, say, in conventional, where for example staff need to understand marketing and chasing leases in a way that does...