With economic recovery still some way off, print companies continue to be squeezed by demanding clients, increased costs, and the steady march of the internet.

It is therefore unsurprising that many of those print firms are reluctant to invest in staff training. In fact, the training budget is always one of the first to go in a downturn.

Yet, in the long run, failing to develop staff will not save your company money. It will simply result in unskilled and unmotivated workers, who lose you customers, take longer to deliver to the customers you do have and who will eventually move on to a company that is prepared to invest in them. You will then have to spend time recruiting to replace them.

As Kathy Woodward, BPIF chief executive designate and head of training, says: "Two-thirds of employees said they worked harder as a result of learning new skills. This means businesses that invest an extra £50 per week on training increase profits almost twice as fast as those that fail to raise training budgets."

Little of this will be new to print firm managers. We all know we should be developing our staff. The simple fact is that there is no money with which to do it. Here then, are seven ideas you can implement right now to enhance your employees’ skills for next to no money.
 
1 Consider bartering
If you have something to trade with a skills provider – some print work, for example – bartering may be just the thing. Michelle McArthur, co-owner of Jigsaw@work, a Yorkshire-based learning and development consultancy, offers this advice: "Investing in the right training provider means that your team will become more motivated to excel in these challenging times.

"Bartering is becoming a more prevalent way of doing business. Skillfair (www.skillfair.co.uk) promotes bartering as a way of doing business and provides a place for organisations to meet and barter their services in return for something they want, such as training."
 
2 Internal training
Patrick White is the executive chairman of training firm HRM Global. He recently introduced a system of training to a group of Prontaprint shops that enabled them to make significant improvements in staff skill levels with no financial outlay.

He explains: "Most organisations leave one of their greatest resources untapped – they fail to encourage their staff to share their skills and knowledge with each other."

He continues: "So at Prontaprint, every supervisor had to train someone for at least 10 minutes a day. It could be 50 minutes a week in one session, or spread out over five days. It could be on how to create macros in a spreadsheet, the health-and-safety implications of a new ink, or how to price up a particular type of job. The point is that everyone has something worth passing on to others."

By making this one simple change, Prontaprint achieved a total of 40 hours of training per year, per supervisor. That would have cost a lot, had the companies had to hire external experts.

It produced other benefits as well: "It meant that if someone was ill or on holiday, or left suddenly, someone else could cover for them," says White. "It also encouraged a good team spirit, which is essential to the successful running of any print firm."
 
3 Use technology
Heather Armstrong, human resources officer at 100-year-old print firm Howitts, in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, is faced with the challenge of how to keep developing the company’s 440 staff on a restricted budget.

A key issue is that the workforce is split between three sites: Sutton-in-Ashfield, London and Kent.

"The cost of bringing staff to the training expert was prohibitive," explains Armstrong. "So, the experts had to spend a lot of time and company money travelling between the sites."

That’s before Armstrong came up with the idea of using videocasts. "These are very cost effective," she explains. "We record the expert delivering a lecture, and then put it online. Any employee can look at it whenever they want.

"We’ve also set up skills academies at each site. These are kiosks containing information on training, and computers where staff can access resources like videocasts. When there isn’t a huge budget for training, it’s important to do things like this to keep everyone focused on the subject."
 
4 Attend free events
Be continually on the look-out for free events that you can send staff to for additional training. For example, professional organisations such as the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management hold regular free seminars, which non-members can also attend.

Then there are business and trade exhibitions, which almost always include free workshops and seminars alongside the main programme.
 
5 Free information sources
McArthur at Jigsaw@work suggests making the most of free information sources.

"LinkedIn and similar social media sites offer fantastic educational forums," she points out. "Also, it amazes me that printers don’t make more use of libraries and information centres. These are a brilliant source of business information and data, and offer free or very cheap training on basic literacy and IT skills."

6 External experts
For most companies, the majority of their training is delivered by an external company.

Whether it is training in the latest finishing technique, in the intricacies of an accounting package or simply in the fundamentals of customer service, there are plenty of training providers out there all willing to come into your premises or welcome you on to their open courses.

The problem is that they charge a lot of money. So, consider instead who could be willing to share their expertise without charging for it.

Valerie Todd, chair of the Investors in People advisory board at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, says: "Investing in the development of your people isn’t an optional luxury; it’s a must.

"One good way is to ask clients to come in and talk to your people about best practice within their own organisations.
"This can be a great way to motivate and inspire your people, while giving them the tools to be real assets to the business."

You should also ask the same of your suppliers, who have a vested interest in maintaining good relations with you. Why pay money to send your staff to learn about a new finishing technique, when one of your suppliers probably employs someone who is already an expert, and who would be delighted to come in and help you? They strengthen their relationship with a client; you get free training.

In the same way, look at your neighbours and other local businesses.

There might be an accountancy software company over the road or a firm that has won an award for customer service. Would they welcome an introduction to your company? Or could you set up a system where you train each other on areas of expertise?
 
7 Volunteering
Finally, take a look at the benefits you can gain by encouraging your staff to volunteer outside of work. Aside from the sense of well-being they will gain and the chance you will have to show clients the contribution your company makes to charity, your staff will also gain important skills and knowledge. For example they could volunteer for St John Ambulance and become first aid experts.

Or they could become a Special Constable or join the Territorial Army, where they will benefit from government investment of many millions of pounds and develop skills of problem solving, negotiating, decision-making, team working, communication and coping under pressure – all important skills that will help your business survive and thrive in the years
to come.

CASE STUDY: COMMUNISIS
Communisis is a 1,300-person marketing organisation, and its print division in Leeds employs 470 people and produces coupons, statements and other direct mail pieces for the likes of Barclays, Tesco, BT and the NHS.

Its size has not insulated it from the effects of the economic downturn, however, and HR manager Daniela Walsh reports that training budgets have been restricted for the past three years.

"Learning and development don’t have to cost loads in order to work," she says. "We’ve been sharing knowledge and skills from in-house experts within the business, as well as looking at how technology can help, and accessing the government funding that is still available."

Most notably this has led to the company becoming involved in NVQs and apprenticeships.

"We’ve developed very strong partnerships with Leeds College of Technology and Leeds University to create bespoke NVQ apprenticeship programmes," explains Rosie Smyth, human resources adviser. These are mainly production oriented, but increasingly in softer skills too.

She adds: "We also do a lot of interdepartmental training, secondments and job shadowing to share skills and knowledge around the organisation. We have a library, and quite often once someone has been on a training course they’ll add a book or a handout to it. We’re about to organise it, so it’s easier for people to access the information they need."
Lastly, Walsh says: "We have taken advantage of free e-learning on sites such as Vision to Learn, and the VTC training site, which has thousands of videos teaching people IT skills. It’s all basic training, but makes a major difference to our company and doesn’t cost us anything."