According to CNBC, new emerging technologies are changing the nature of work and employment and it has become increasingly difficult for companies to recruit qualified talent in the job market. Therefore, American companies are trying to put more emphasis on employees’ retraining and they are making significant investment in this field.

Amazon is one of the more recent examples, which unveiled plans to spend $700 million to retrain a third of their workforce or 100,000 workers to help them move into more advanced jobs or find new careers by 2025.

<center>Katherine Taylor | Reuters</center>

Amazon’s retraining programs will include:

• Amazon Technical Academy (equipping non-technical employees with the skills to transition into software engineering careers);
• Associate2Tech (training fulfillment center associates to move into technical roles);
• Machine Learning University (offering employees with tech backgrounds the opportunity to upskill in machine learning skills);
• Amazon Career Choice (a pre-paid tuition program designed to train fulfillment center associates in high-demand occupations of their choice);
• Amazon Apprenticeship (a Department of Labor certified program that offers paid intensive classroom training and on-the-job apprenticeships with Amazon); and
• AWS Training and Certification (providing employees with courses to build practical AWS Cloud knowledge). Read more on CNBC.

The retraining programs are voluntary and most of the programs are free. Although participating employees will not be forced to stay in Amazon, some experts say this measure is beneficial to retain employees. As recruiting and training new employees is an expensive and time-consuming action, costs will decrease if the business can maintain stability and foster employee loyalty.

The planned program is the biggest corporate retraining initiative ever announced. Amazon will invest on average $1,200 per worker each year by 2025. The Association for Talent Development (ATD) reported that the average training cost on each worker in 2017 was $1,296 (from $1,273 in 2016), which indicates the importance of employee training and businesses are puting more emphasis on their training program in recent years.

How much would you willing to invest on your employee training?

<center> (Source: magzter.com) </center>

「ATIOM TAKE」: So why will Amazon announce this plan and what are the benefits of retraining the employees? Here we conclude some advantages of retraining for companies and employees to refer.

• Modernizing skills

Retraining program helps workers maintain and develop their professional skills that can help companies move forward. Specialized skills usually take employees a long time to obtain and it is hard to ensure if their skills are qualified to the companies’ requirements. Besides, as technology advances rapidly, employee’s skills need to be updated over time. Therefore, retraining programs can guarantee workers to master deeper and richer skills in their chosen job functions and ensure their skills can perfectly apply to the company’s needs.

• Increased employee loyalty

The employees will leave their job if they are dissatisfied with their position or they find there is no room for a promotion. Businesses can avoid this situation through retraining programs, improving employees’ satisfaction and renewing their sense of role responsibility. As a result, companies can increase their employee loyalty and reduce employee turnover.

• Lower costs and optimized profits

If an employee quits or loses their job, companies have to spend time and money on recruiting, interviewing and training new employees. Conducting retraining programs will not only maintain current employees but also lower the business's unnecessary expenses. Read more on Chron and NationalFunding.

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