NFIB

Investments in Employee Seminars Pay Off!
03/ 28/ 2002


Many small to mid-size businesses never think to offer employee training, but it can be one of the best and least-expensive investments you can make. In today's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses discusses some of the seminars currently available.

"Seminars are a great way for small businesses to train their employees at very low cost," says Michael B. Hays, Executive Vice President of Fred Pryor Seminars. "It is also an excellent way to reward employees. There is no substitute for spending time upgrading skills and interacting with others who have the desire to advance in their careers."

Offering employee training serves a number of valuable functions. First, it shows that a company values an employee and is willing to invest a little time and money in them. Second, training pays dividends in that it helps an employee develop specific, valuable skills. Employees at smaller companies often wear many hats, and helping them broaden their abilities has proven beneficial to many companies.

Seminars may involve an employee's attendance for a full or half day, usually during the work week. The seminar companies set up central locations, with employees from many different companies attending.

The best values in seminars are offered by the large national and international seminar companies. You can find them on the Internet by typing in Seminars, Business Seminars, Employee Seminars, Employee Training, etc. The companies have schedules, informing you in advance which seminars will be available in certain cities. A company simply signs up its employees through the Web site or a toll-free number. Some of the larger seminar companies are:

* pryor.com (wide selection of seminars, both on-location and online. The site is a little slow.)

* www.seminarmaster.com (ditto)

* globalknowledge.com (wide selection of technical subjects only)

Fees for half-day or full-day seminars run anywhere from $19 to $100 or more for each employee attending. Fees vary slightly from one company to the next, and from one seminar topic to another. Often discounts are available when a company sends a number of employees to the same seminar.

Longer seminars are of course an option. These may take anywhere from 2-5 days, with flexible hours. Usually these will be held in-house at your place of business, with the seminar leaders arriving and setting up in your conference room, lunch room, etc.

Seminar topics include, among hundreds of others:

Computer and Internet

Time Management

Personal Finances and Investing

Stress Reduction

Marketing

Graphic Design/Multimedia

Human Resource Development
International Business

Sales Training

Phone Techniques

Employee Relations

Women in Management

Writing and Communications

Online Seminars are available in many fields. These can enable employees to gain knowledge without leaving their desks, saving travel time. Discounts are usually available for group seminars. Contact the seminar company for details.

Some of the seminars that are offered by a large seminar company don't relate directly to a person's work skills. These may include financial planning, personal budgeting, handling credit problems, debt consolidation, personal etiquette, etc. But a company may want to consider reimbursing employees when they take these seminars and others because such training can help make employees more valuable overall to the company.

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