As Human Resource (HR) experts or Learning & Development (L&D) specialists, staff members are among the most valuable “resources” which we interact with.
Most of us make daily decisions about who to interview, who to hire, and how to evaluate and rate them. Concentrating on ways of improving these resources is an essential part of our jobs.
Whereas it can seem like a relatively simple and direct problem to resolve – only provide people some coaching! – actuality is markedly different!
How we cultivate the firm’s human assets – whether they are good or better than competing companies’ – might indeed decide the organization’s competitive advantage.
What does it mean when we say employee development?
Employee development refers to boosting staff members’ current knowledge and skills and creating newer ones to assist the organizational objectives.
The following exciting details are part of this description:
- Employee development isn’t just about making L&D plans for organizations.
- It’s more than just making training for employees mandatory.
- It extends further than meeting with workers once a year to discuss their flaws and point out where they need to improve.
- When executed correctly, although employee development necessitates investment (time, dedication, and funding) from the corporation, those investments would more than pay off in the longer term.
For example, more often than not, letting go of a worker with low abilities or establishing those skill sets to the company norms will require money.
However, when such efforts result in employee retention in the long-term, it’s a win-win scenario for all involved – an outcome of a comprehensive employee development strategy.
What has employee empowerment done in the above case?
It has saved money and time by not having to hire a substitute for an employee who is leaving.
Empowering employees has retained a great deal of “sunk capital” previously spent on that staff member regarding their professional expertise and experience.
The approach enables HR and L&D professionals to expand an organization’s existing culture, already embedded within that employee
Overall, helping an employee evolve results in getting your human resources up and running per organizational norms much more effectively than onboarding training of newly recruited employees.
Why and how is employee development important?
A well-thought-out plan for developing employees is vital on many levels. Then when well implemented, it can accumulate massive advantages for all concerned parties, including staff members, HR professionals, and the company.
Some of these advantages are:
1. Getting better at what you do
For a company to stay competitive in its niche, it needs to keep doing better than the competition. Employee development could assist the business in meeting and even beating its performance goals.
Per a report from Valamis, marketing managers’ training and development investments affect how well they do their jobs. The percentage of revenue reached went up by 19.6%, and the rate of wins went up by 5.3%.
The same report, which concentrated on the effect of employee development on performance, depicted how the development of sales managers resulted in the improvement of performance metrics like quota achievement, revenue attainment, and win rates.
Again, in some instances, spending only around $500 yielded a 46.1 percent -win rate improvement, whereas a $5,000 investment resulted in more wins of 51.4 percent for the firm.
2. Handling unplanned events better
Change can be said to be the only thing that’s constant in the modern business era. And that transformation poses challenges (for the working population), and if properly handled, it also introduces new possibilities.
So, the employees must be adept at dealing quickly and effectively with constantly changing situations.
Over 66% of company leaders say that if their firms do not wholly embrace digitization in the future, they will not have a competitive edge, as per Brian Kropp, vice president of the HR practices at Gartner. Source.
People who are good at adapting are great at coming up with solutions, while people with less-developed abilities would just accept the way things are.
Another of the advantages of getting a well-structured employee development strategy is that it can empower staff to handle the unforeseen actively.
3. An organization’s learning culture can help bring in new workers and make them more loyal
HR professionals will say that it is never enough just to put adverts about job vacancies. It is also crucial for prospective employees to incline to apply to such openings.
If this isn’t there, companies won’t be able to hire the best and brightest people to help them stay competitive.
Helping grow employees’ skills, including through techniques such as personalized development projects, produces a powerfully attractive work environment.
As per research, such organizations, which have a seasoned culture of learning, are three times more inclined to use that fact as a recruiting tool. And the first positive step is to start a strong employee development program. Read more: Corporate learning
4. Saving money by keeping people on the job
It is critical to invest in in-house employee skills development programs to guarantee that the working population will do what they need to to “stay above water.” But developing employees can also save a lot of money in the long run.
As per a report by Global Talent Monitor regarding activities in the workforce, an absence of future professional progression is a critical driver of employee turnover — illustrated by 40% of employees quitting employees who had cited this as a dissatisfying element in their jobs. Gartner
AT&T found that only 50 percent of its worldwide, 250,000-strong working population had the appropriate skills to bring the company to the next level.
Because of this, the company’s leaders started a $1 billion retraining (or “reskilling”) program. So, how did this in-house program help employees improve their skills and save the company money? Math!
The team calculated that the average cost to replace an employee lacking the necessary skills was about 21 percent of that worker’s wages.
And as the base pay of an employee increases, the replacement cost also multiplies them – making reskilling a more cost-effective alternative.
It’s critical for employees who are in senior positions to drive engagement among employees, as well as retrain their workers instead of hiring recruits frequently.
5. Helping employees who could be good leaders become great ones
If a group wants to grow, stay alive, and do well in the long run, it must train new leaders.
Regrettably, leadership qualities rarely come from attending Ivy League establishments or heading to weekend leadership workshop sessions – although it helps.
Organizations with solid leadership demonstrate a +37 percent rise in revenue per employee and +9 percent in gross profit margin, as per research by Deloitte.
With solid coaching, you can improve how engaged and motivated your employees are. To succeed, it is vital to have a fully committed workforce and be involved with the organization at every level.
6. Boosting employee engagement
Boosting employee engagement to maintain motivation levels toward the firm’s vision is a combination of multiple factors. This includes a great working environment, staff recognition and acknowledgment, regular communication, and expert-led training.
Research findings by Dale Carnegie data suggest that a motivated workforce can result in outstanding efficiency gains – as high as 202 percent. In fact, 85% of leaders think getting employees to work together is a top imperative.
Gartner says that employee satisfaction is low worldwide and has been for at least the last 20 years. The report discovered that only 32 percent of employees globally report high levels of intent to stay. And only 14 percent report high levels of discretionary effort daily.
A comprehensive employee engagement program can balance all vital staff motivational aspects, including learning and talent development. This amplifies the advantages of a wholly engaged working populace within the firm. Read more: corporate training platform
7. This gives companies the freedom to grow, try new things, and compete better in their niche
Firms need to become genuine leading companies in their market segment. Hence, companies must be agile, adaptable, and cooperative to the needs of their customers and partners.
One advantage that rigorous employee development projects offer to organizations is possessing a well-balanced working population. It is the ability to drive innovation and contend for emerging opportunities.
Such programs create skill sets. They give a longer-term competitive edge by ingraining new abilities that are considered essential.
Wrapping it up
So, in conclusion, any organization must have a well-trained, active, and highly motivated workforce. And the correct method to get employees to this level is to keep investing in their growth.
Such staff members give financial benefits to the organization in terms of profit growth and performance effectiveness. They also assist with staff morale and retainment.
