Prove You Respect Your Employees & Their Investment in Your Company

Part 6 of the “What Employees Really Want for Christmas” series): the long-lasting benefits of professional development:

My employer expects me to invest in their organization, but do they invest in me? No.

They seem to think a paycheck is all I want and deserve.

How did you wish your employees happy holidays this year? Did you deliver gift packages?  Email bonus checks? Or did you give them presents that last longer–more of what they want and need in their jobs?

If you’d like your employees to invest in your organization, invest in them with professional development.

The facts: the paycheck isn’t enough

Good employees work for more than a monetary paycheck–they also seek a psychological paycheck. If you’d like to give your employees a genuine gift, ensure every employee you supervise thrives by giving them opportunities to enjoy their job and to learn and grow.

What happens if you don’t?

You lose employees.

The Better Buys analysis and review site reports that 92% of the 2,000 employees they surveyed stated that professional development is second only to compensation as the reason employees leave their jobs.

The Harris Poll reports that roughly 70% of the 1400 full-time employees surveyed stated they were “somewhat likely to leave their current company” to work for an organization with a larger focus on employee learning. Employees don’t want a dead-end job in an organization that doesn’t value its employees. One-third of respondents (34%) reported that they left a job in the past because the employer lacked employee development options.

What happens if you do?

LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report revealed that 94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development.

LinkedIn’s research further revealed that roughly a quarter of Gen Z and Gen Ys report that learning is the number one thing that makes them happy at work. More than one in four (27 percent) of Gen Z and Gen Y employees state that the number one reason they’d leave their jobs is because their employers didn’t provide opportunities to learn and grow.

Employers utilize employee development as tool to attract and retain employees and as a strategy to increase employee engagement and morale. Employee development fuels an organization productivity and productivity and allows for succession planning success.

Studies document that employees involved in active training and development opportunities are 37% more productive and that companies that invest in professional development show 24% higher profit margins.

Employer strategies

And it’s so easy. Employers can satisfy employee development expectations by using a variety of no-cost and low-cost strategies.

1. Establish and support form and informal orientation and onboarding processes to give new and reassigned employees the training and resources they need to succeed.
2. Outline careers paths within our organization and identify specific milestones for achievement so your employees can better visualize a future in your organization.
3. Take a personalized interest. Discuss your employees’ career aspirations and expectations with them and explore ways to provide what they want.
4. Provide virtual training and continuous learning opportunities such as video lunch and learn sessions using internal or external guest speakers (remember that employee career development delivers a strong return on investment for your organization) or YouTube or TedTalks based employee discussion groups.
5. Provide your employees the time and flexibility to attend virtual industry events.
6. Mentor employees, which benefits both the mentors and the mentored employees.
7. Cross-train employees and rotate employee roles (not only does the human brain thrive with new learning and variety, but temporary assignments in different departments often opens the door to improving departmental teamwork and the brief hiatus from their daily tasks challenges and reinvigorates employees).Train managers and supervisor to be great coaches. According to studies, organizations with a strong coaching culture see a 79% higher level of employee engagement, 71% faster leadership development, and a 70% increase in productivity.
8. Succession planning that shows high-potential employees you see them as evolving into your organization’s future leaders.
9. “Stretch” assignments that give employees the chance to learn while handling intriguing projects that provide them the skills and competencies to apply for higher-level positions.
10. Job enrichment activities which add depth, challenge and excitement to an employee’s current job through increased control and responsibility.

Give your employees reason to celebrate this holiday season. Make employee development a central part of your organizational culture. You’ll see immediate results in employee satisfaction and engagement and long-term benefits in productivity and profits.

If you enjoyed this post, you may find valuable “communication & connection”https://workplacecoachblog.com/2020/12/what-employees-really-want-for-christmas/(12/21); part 2 “flexibility” https://workplacecoachblog.com/2020/12/flexibility-what-employees-want-need-for-christmas-2020-part-2/, part 3 “empathy”https://workplacecoachblog.com/2020/12/what-employees-want-for-christmas-2020-someone-who-gets-it-part-3-of-a-series/(12/24); “recognition”https://workplacecoachblog.com/2020/12/a-christmas-new-years-surprise/ (12/28) and leadership https://workplacecoachblog.com/2020/12/lead-us-through-this-mess-covid-19-leadership-truths/ 12/30/20). And, as always, I love receiving your comments and your questions in https://workplacecoachblog.com/ask-a-coach/.

© 2020, Lynne Curry

Lynne Curry, Ph.D., SPHR, is the author of “Beating the Workplace Bully” (AMACOM, 2016, https://amzn.to/30V5JO6) and “Solutions”, https://amzn.to/2GYlnAN (both books are rated 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com). Send your questions to her at https://workplacecoachblog.com/ask-a-coach/ or follow her on twitter @lynnecurry10.  www.workplacecoachblog.com.