Employee Development is One of the Most Important Things You Can Do For Your Workforce

Nikos Adriotis of efront, a management systems provider, recently wrote about the value of workforce development. Perhaps value isn't the proper way to look at it. In today's tight labor market, it would likely be more appropriate to look at workforce develop as critical to the success of your business. The numbers don't lie.

 

As many as 71% of Millennials expect to leave their jobs in the next two years because they’re unhappy with how their leadership skills are being developed.

59% of Millennials, 44% of Gen Xers and 41% of baby boomers say opportunities to learn and grow are extremely important to them when applying for a job.

And 87% of Millennials rate “professional or career growth and development opportunities” as important to them in a job (69% of non-Millennials agree).

 

Benefits of Workforce Development

Now, a workforce development strategy is good for so many reasons. There’s a bunch of reasons why companies should invest in getting it right.

 

• It’s great for employers because it keeps employees challenged and engaged in their work. And if they’re challenged and engaged, then they’re also more likely to be productive and to stick around for longer.
• Of course, this means that employers benefit from a positive return on investment in their employees, and are saved the cost of high staff turnover.
• Employees benefit because they’re able to achieve their personal and career goals, which usually makes them happier (as employees, and as people).
• The continuous development also means that employees feel empowered with the understanding and competencies necessary to deal with change and challenges in their work. This makes them more resilient and less anxious, and also equips the business with a more agile workforce.

 

So ideally, a good workforce development strategy combines the personal and growth goals of the employee, with the strategic business objectives of the employer, in a perfect win-win situation!

 

Create Connections Between Personal and Strategic Destinations

Developing your workforce can take time, energy, and financial investment. So while there will be benefits for employees, it’s also important to focus on developing those skills, attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors that will impact business outcomes.

 

Frequent and open communication with employees will reveal those personal and career development goals that align with the business’ strategic goals. Finding the commonalities means finding a mutual goal, and a supportive relationship between employer and employee for achieving it.

And don’t forget to ask for real-time feedback from your workforce. There’s no one better to tell you if your development strategy is working, and how you could improve it.

 

Let The Learner Do The Driving

The final, and arguably most important workforce development strategy is to put the learner at the center of development. Let them choose what to learn, where to learn, and how to learn it.

 

By incorporating eLearning tools, informal learning approaches, and microlearning, employees should be able to drive their own learning in a way that’s tailored to their development needs and goals. This way, employees spend time only on those development areas that are most relevant to their roles, and that they haven’t yet nailed.

 

This, of course, is an undeniably better approach than a mandatory, mass application training workshop that forces employees to waste time learning a skill that they already have, or don’t need.

 

To encourage employees to drive their own development, make sure to incorporate bite-sized chunks of learning that are easily accessible, into their daily work. This way, you’re giving them all the resources they’ll need to engage in developmental activities, at a pace that suits them.

 

Abraham Lincoln once said, “I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards”.

 

Our staffing professionals at ASN are extremely knowledgeable in most workforce development strategies and would be pleased to discuss your workforce development goals and help you put together a plan for the development of your workforce.

 

If you like to learn more about workforce development, the Providence Business News is hosting the PBN SUMMIT WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT on Feb. 14, 8 - 10:30 am at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick. You can register below.