Employee development is a deliberate strategy targeted at improving an employee’s skills over an extended period of time in line with career growth, as well as increased responsibility and employer expectations. This is a holistic approach at upskilling and building the capacity of an employee to match increased responsibilities vis-a-vis his/her career path per time.
The fact remains that learning and development opportunities help boost employee engagement and productivity. Often, these programs are administered or managed by internal or external human resources departments.
A well-trained, dynamic and highly motivated employee is crucial to an organisation, and the best way to raise employees to such standards is to invest in their on-going development. SMEs and employers generally often push back against the potential high cost of employee training, but any HR professional and or strategic business owner realises that employee development is not a cost, rather it is an investment designed to retain highly skilled professionals to boost your business’ performance.
Such employees not only offer financial benefits to the organisation in terms of profitability and performance improvements, but they will also help with employee morale and retention in any organisation.
Staff development is actually one of the best investments that a business can make. When employees gain more skills, they tend to immediately apply them to their role which means the company benefits from their development and increased productivity.
Employee training is not only linked to improved business results but is also a very powerful factor in shaping employee attitudes. It creates motivation for increased positive discretionary behavior and a satisfaction with career development paths that ultimately leads to increased job satisfaction.
An employee is more vested in the success of a business that he/she considers to care about his/her professional growth. It really does pose a bit of a chicken and an egg situation if you think about it – does a business owner develop an employee right away hoping the employee will add value and risk the potential of the employee’s exit? Or does the business owner wait until the employee has distinguished him/herself without necessary investing in that development, before the business owner decides to reward the initiative? It is a bit of a quagmire, but there are several strategies to address this.
What remains undoubtful is the fact that a trained employee increases productivity, and the training itself often breeds business champions and elicits loyalty.
For enquiries on support to build your Employee Development Plan and provide for appropriate curricula and training recommendations, please send us an email at academy@cr8careers.com or smeblock@cr8careers.com
