Investing in Your Employees: The Benefits of Professional Development Programs
Investing in your employees’ professional development is key to sustaining your business’s growth and success. While companies invest time and effort into hiring qualified staff, often the emphasis on caring for their employees’ professional development ends after they are hired. This is where training and development comes in, which fosters employee engagement, leading to a more efficient, competitive, and engaged workforce. In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of a robust professional development program for employees and how it can help your business achieve its strategic goals.
Retention is a major challenge for employers, but offering career development initiatives can help employees establish a sense of value within the company, fostering loyalty and resulting in increased staff retention. In fact, businesses with a strong professional development program have a 59% lower staff turnover rate.
Furthermore, training and development has become so centralized within businesses that it is often used as a competitive advantage when hiring.
Targeting employees with skills for future leadership is vital in establishing a business for growth and evolution. Leadership talent can be acquired through new hires, or HR professionals can select current employees as managerial candidates. Having professional development programs ensures an organization is focused on future business goals by preparing promotable talent.
Leaders who feel empowered within the workplace will be more effective at influencing employees and gaining their trust. Consequently, those employees will feel a greater sense of autonomy, value, and confidence within their work. Regular training and development initiatives can prevent workplace idleness and in turn help businesses establish regular re-evaluation of their employees, skills and processes. Forbes measured empowerment and employee engagement in data from over 7,000 employees and found that employees who felt a low level of empowerment were rated with engagement in the low rankings of the 24th percentile, compared to those who felt a high level of empowerment and were in the 79th percentile.
Finding ways to bolster the consistent engagement of employees can diminish boredom in the workplace, which left unchecked can create feelings of dissatisfaction and negative working habits. Regular training and development initiatives can prevent workplace idleness and in turn help businesses establish regular re-evaluation of their employees, skills, and processes. Furthermore, it will influence company culture by instilling an emphasis on planning and can prompt company analysis and planning as it requires employers to review existing talent and evaluate growth and development opportunities internally, rather than via recruitment.
Providing opportunities for employees to explore new topics, refine their skills, and expand their knowledge can help your team members bond with each other. During these training and development sessions, they will tackle new challenges together. They can also lean on one another for various learning opportunities by collaborating with colleagues who have specific areas of expertise. Research has shown that peer collaboration is actually their preferred method of learning. Learning from each other’s strengths not only leads to a more well-rounded workforce but those bonds can also improve retention and engagement.
Takeaway
In summary, a company’s success heavily relies on the professional development of its employees. A robust training and development program is a vital investment that can bring numerous benefits to the table. By offering ample opportunities for learning and growth, businesses can attract and retain top talent, boost job satisfaction and morale, enhance productivity, and ultimately increase profitability.
Additionally, investing in professional development programs signals to employees that the company values their growth and development, creating a positive company culture. This culture fosters an environment that encourages employees to take on new challenges and responsibilities, leading to greater employee engagement and job satisfaction.
If you’re interested in taking your human resources career to the next level, consider Ottawa University’s online Master of Arts in Human Resources. This graduate degree program is specifically designed to equip graduates with the skills and knowledge needed to lead HR teams in developing and executing policies that promote employee responsibility, production, satisfaction, and retention, as well as engaging employees through consistent training and development programs.
Overall, implementing a comprehensive professional development program and investing in the growth of your employees can significantly benefit your business and its bottom line. Take the first step in building a culture of continuous learning and development by investing in your employees’ futures.
