Employee Development Is Crucial for Today’s Companies
In the past, employers took employees “as they were”. That is, they had education, experience, or both, and that was enough to get their foot in the door. They might gain more experience on the job after being hired, but there wasn’t much focus on continuing education unless it was necessary to maintain compliance or licensing. Today, things are different. As noted by Entrepreneur, “In today’s economy, if your business isn’t learning, then you’re going to fall behind.” Employee development has become absolutely crucial for the success of today’s businesses.
Increasing Competition
The Internet ushered in a new age of competition for businesses large and small. It enabled small, local businesses to compete with international firms. It allowed businesses that would otherwise not be able to market in specific areas to build their market share and compete with other companies. Today, business is more competitive than ever before, and you need every single advantage possible. Investing in employee development gives you an edge.
Improving Employee Retention
One of the first benefits here is that by investing in employee development, you actually foster goodwill and improve retention. The costs alone involved with hiring a replacement employee are exorbitant, and even with an advanced LMS, the onboarding process can be time consuming. It’s far better to keep the staff you have and help them build their careers while encouraging them to stay with your business for the long term.
Fostering Loyalty
Loyal employees work harder, longer, and with better attitudes. Of course, employees need a reason to be loyal to their employer. It’s about more than just a paycheck. They need to feel that you are genuinely interested in helping them secure a good future, and that you value them as more than just another cog in the machine. Employee development does just that, so long as your management is doing it through genuine interest and not just because HR is forcing them to do so.
Adding to Your Leadership Pool
Let’s face it, finding good leaders can be incredibly hard to do, particularly if you’re forced to look outside your business to do so. With employee development, you’ll have the inside scoop on which employees have innate leadership potential, which ones can be groomed to be good leaders, and which employees will thrive best in a non-leadership role. This ensures that you can pull from your in-house team to fill open management or team leader spots. Of course, you’ll also find that promoting from within has a profound effect on morale and loyalty. It builds on itself, with all aspects giving you the ability to compete better in your industry.
Reducing Operational Costs
Hiring and training are incredibly expensive. It’s far less costly to develop the employees that you have. Not only will you find that it costs less in terms of hiring, but even the training process requires less time and money, particularly if you’re using an advanced LMS.
Of course, to enjoy these benefits, you’ll need to first identify the core skills gaps in your workforce and then implement the right training programs. You’ll also need to invest in an LMS if you don’t already have one, and then continually evaluate the progress being made.
In the end, employee development is absolutely critical to the success of your business. That applies whether you run a small, local business or a Fortune 500 company. By investing in your employees, building them up, and guiding them through their careers, you gain invaluable assets that foster your ability to compete while simultaneously reducing operating costs. It’s truly a win-win scenario, but you cannot do it without ongoing training and education for your staff.