Over the past ten years, there has been a revolution of thought regarding employee training and education. While simple effective training has always been a necessary part of an employee’s career development, recent advances in psychology, the social sciences, and technology have streamlined and evolved the process. The cost of employee training is no longer seen as a necessary burden for employers and now seems more like a fruitful investment in talent and growth.
This article comes from the office of a respected workers’ compensation lawyer who advises employers and companies to invest in their workers.
Paradigm Shifts in the Workplace
Part of this paradigm shift is a direct result of the changing attitudes of both employees and employers. Once personalized training might have been seen as an unnecessary or at least over-emphasized expense, today employers are more likely to view it as a crucial investment in their own company's success. In-kind, the investments that companies make in their employees lead to greater employee satisfaction and help to develop their careers.
Research has proven the reciprocal relationship between employee satisfaction and employer investments into their learning and development time and again. But how – specifically – can investments into employee learning and development drive a positive work environment and help the entire business succeed? What are the tangible benefits of investing in your employees?
Tangible Benefits of Learning and Development
Here are some well-backed benefits of learning and development:
L & D Reinforces the Leadership Pipeline
As a company grows, it will need to expand its successful formulas and procedures across new teams of employees. Key leadership roles will need to be filled, and a company will need to ensure its values and principles grow alongside its expansion. Develop your employees into future leaders of the company. This gives them a personal stake in your company’s success.
How to Bolster the Leadership Pipeline
Soft Skills, such as critical thinking and communication, are essential skills that leaders need to administer their teams effectively. Expose employees to situations that require the implementation of soft skills through team-building exercises and out-of-the-box assignments. By doing so, you are developing adaptable employees that can rise to any occasion.
L & D Improves Employee Satisfaction and Retention
An impressive 94% of employees surveyed reported that they would stay at a company longer if that company invested in their career development. If employees feel that they can accomplish their personal goals within the framework of your organization, then they are more likely to remain loyal to your organization and want to grow within it.
Specific Ways to Invest in Employee Development
Employers should either offer skill development courses / hands-on training or pay a third party to provide those skill development courses. Additionally, employers can offer promotional and pay incentives for employees who complete skills development courses.
L & D Prepares Employees for Large Scale Growth and Change
There is an old adage – “Prior planning prevents poor performance.” When teams are prepared for change, they perform better. Change is unavoidable in life and – by extension – at the office. Even growth and success present new and unprecedented challenges.
Growth and Change: Some Ideas
Learning and development can prepare employees for the challenges of scaling up, relocating, going remote, or adapting to technological changes in an industry. As a company, you should cultivate experiences that encourage employees to try different work strategies and experiment with new procedures and processes. This well-roundedness will prove useful when your company experiences the many changes that lie ahead of it.
The Unseen Benefits of the Digital Office
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global disruptor. In some ways, our reaction to the pandemic has led to the type of pan-industry disruption that would make even the most unruly Silicon Valley Tech Barrons blush. Life – work life included – cannot return to the pre-pandemic status quo.
Readers are undoubtedly aware that remote work is now widespread and standard. The physical office is a vestigial organ of the pre-pandemic system for some industries. Companies can save tens of thousands of dollars annually avoiding high rent inexpensive areas by stripping down their physical locations and encouraging a more diffuse, decentralized work environment.
Reinvest money saved by de-emphasizing the physical office into employee learning and development. Savvy business owners will see that their employees' growth and development will be the best investment for their increased capital.
About the Author
Jenn Walker is a freelance writer, blogger, dog-enthusiast, and avid beachgoer operating out of Southern New Jersey. She writes on behalf of Stan Gregory, a workers comp lawyer in Cherry Hill.
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