Training is just one stage of ensuring your employees are happy and working to the best of their ability. Continuous ongoing development is essential to ensure that they feel valued

The areas that you need to ensure are monitored and development programmes put in place are:

• Training courses
• Sickness and attendance
• Staff Reviews & Appraisals

We have established that continuous training is important; however, the process has to be managed. By having both pre-training and post-training interviews you can ensure that your employee is benefiting from the training you are offering. The purpose of a pre training interview is to set the expectations of the employee. You should be covering things like location, required dress, content, timings, what they need to take with them etc; this will alleviate some of the anxieties that can stop your employee getting the best out of the session. Once they have completed the training a post training interview will be able to tell you how they found the session compare to the expectations set and also evaluate the success of the training and identify any further requirements.

Many companies have various ways of keeping sickness in check. Some offer attendance bonus and some penalise for unauthorized time off. Whichever your method, letting your employee know that this is being monitored is a good natural deterrent. This can be achieved by conducting "return to work interviews". This not only makes your employees aware that you are monitoring them but it also gives you a chance to ensure they are fit to return to work, cutting down the opportunity for them to use the same illness again.

Finally staff appraisals and reviews are essential to monitor the development and progression of employees' careers.

We come across so many candidates who list one of the reasons for leaving there current position because they have never had a review or appraisal and they feel under valued and that their careers are not going anywhere.

These should be conducted on a regular basis. The candidate should be informed in writing when the appraisal will be taking place and this time and date should be adhered to. It is useful to use a standard template document for all staff appraisals. We can help you to put one of these together and also sit down with your department heads to explain how to get the best out of an appraisal situation and also explain the value of regular staff reviews for both parties. Many companies find it invaluable when it comes to discussing pay reviews.