I heard that some managers view training as a catch-22. If they can't get it for good employees, those employees will leave. If they do provide training, the employees will want more money, or they'll leave anyway. I can appreciate that point of view, but it's a poor one, in my opinion.
Most people don't want to leave their jobs. Most people don't want to go through the hassle of starting elsewhere. And most people aren't likely to make drastic changes in salary by changing jobs. Sure, a few will make more, but most won't. Managing a group by catering to the needs of one person doesn't work well. The same thing happens when you manage an entire group because of the fear that one person might leave.
As a manager, your job is to get the most productivity that you can from your group. Training is an investment that helps you achieve that aim. Some employees might feel they are worth more money once they are trained, but is that bad? If they are more productive, more skilled, aren't they worth more money? After all, a better trained employee should get more work done, or at least make less mistakes. If they do that, they should be producing more money for the company, so I would think that they would then be more valuable to your department.
No one is likely to work for you forever. Get used to that, and look to maximize the results from people while they work for you, and that should include some investment in a person's career. If they don't benefit from training, then perhaps you shouldn't continue to invest in them, but give them that chance. If they do benefit, and you have tangible results productivity has increased, use that to justify paying them more money.
Manage your people well and they will do a good job for you. And that can only be good for your career as well.
Steve Jones
The Voice of the DBA Podcasts
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