Is It Better To Retrain Current Employees In Todays
Economy Or Hire New Talent?

In today’s economy with numerous people being out of work, there is a surplus of available talent. There are times when a company must reorganize the way in which they conduct business. When make the critical discussion to improve the betterment of the company, you have to decide on whether you will retrain the current talent you have or bring in new talent. There any many advantages and disadvantages for retraining your current talent that needs to be considered. Making the decision to retrain or hire from the outside requires extensive consideration. One of the advantages of retraining current employees is cost. There is a lower cost associated with retraining a current employee because most of the time, they are somewhat familiar with the policies and procedures of the company. They also understand the dynamics of the company and what they expect. Retraining current employees also cuts down on the hard cost associated with hiring someone from the outside. These costs may include doing background checks on potential candidates, signing up for healthcare benefits and setting up payroll. If a candidate is hired from another state and the company offers relocation services, there is that potential cost as well. The biggest disadvantage of retraining current employees is that sometimes they do not have the skill set that is needed to perform. In this case it would be faster, cheaper and more feasible to cut your losses and hire new people (Bartholomew, 1997). The disadvantage of bringing in new talent that is associated cost is once a new employee is trained to take on a new position; it could cause hostility in the current employees. If this happens, the company could lose tenured employees. Then a new cost is created to replace and train another new employee. The cost can be upwards of $12, 000 or more to train new talent (Davidson, 2001). When an organization is looking to bring change in the form of a fresh prospective, it may be beneficial to bring in a new candidate from the outside. When hiring a new candidate from the outside, that new candidate could bring new ideas with them that could better the company in many different ways because they are able to see things in a new light, there are pros and cons to this. A new candidate’s ideas maybe too relaxed or too stringent for the company to handle thus are creating a difficult working environment. When difficult work environments are created tenured employees may begin to feel resentful, which could result in high employee turnover. There is also the issue of loyalty. A tenured employee is loyal to his or her job and the company, but a new candidate may not feel that way. It is important to find the right qualities in a potential candidate (Mahal, 2012). Having a good attitude and enthusiasm are important traits to possess (Eggan, 2007). Having a strong work