Back to blog 08/19/2020

Cross-Training as a Management Strategy to Maximize Team Efficiency

Contributed by Mark Gilbreth, Regional Sales Executive

A workforce with various levels of experience and versatile skills is not only capable of efficiently fulfilling the current requirements, but is also equipped with the strength to overcome unexpected challenges and demands. One of the most successful ways businesses build a diverse and dynamic workforce is through cross training their employees.

Cross training is training an employee on a variety of roles alongside the job requirements they were hired to execute. It enables employees to acquire skills and knowledge to perform tasks beyond the usual framework and guidelines of their job description. Cross-training employees has a wide range of benefits for businesses including improved ROI, better employee morale, enhanced operational capacity, employee productivity, employee retention and team efficiency.

Cross training is an effective tool to promote collaboration between employees. As a result, the employees work with greater flexibility and are able to get a holistic view of customer expectations. Similarly, cross-training provides a greater number of opportunities for growth. When the workforce has increased levels of competence and responsibilities, each employee is able to deliver multiple functions to meet a wider range of customer requirements seamlessly.

When companies work with service providers who engage their staff in cross-training programs, they are able to enjoy uninterrupted services despite unforeseen absenteeism or turnover. Given that the business environment has recently experienced tough times during the pandemic, every company is currently experiencing a recovery phase that has made it more crucial than ever before to ensure business and operational continuity. Cross training employees enables an outsourced partner to accommodate sick leaves, vacations, and other absences without having their customer experience any service disruption or delay. Unprecedented changes caused by turnover and absenteeism are tackled effectively with highly trained and motivated employees, thus improving the team efficiencies over time.

As a partner for all types of integrated facility maintenance services, Diversified Maintenance implements a robust cross-training program with a customer-centric strategy to provide constructive, agile, scalable, and flexible solutions. To learn more about the high standards of expanded roles our team members are trained for, send me a note at: Mark Gilbreth- mgilbreth@DiversifiedM.com