Employee Development – why unlocking potential in your workforce is so important

With the economy still experiencing the impact of the pandemic, what are you doing to retain a skilled workforce and attract new employees to your business? Alongside improved communication, increased flexibility around work-life balance and remote working, employee development could also become a potential deal-breaker.

Afterall, there’s nothing more important to a business than its people.

And retaining those employees is often easier than going through the whole rigmarole of replacing them.

So, here I am outlining why employee development will benefit your business, how it can be introduced, and how the Education and Training Academy can create and implement an effective employee development plan for your staff.  

‘The Great Resignation’ as it has become known, is revealing a plethora of reasons for employees to simply quit their jobs.  

One reason for this level of dissatisfaction and disengagement in the workplace is that staff no longer feel valued or heard.  

An effective employee development scheme says a lot to the staff about the business itself, as well as the commitment of the leadership and management team.

So where do you start with planning your employee development? And how can you introduce relevant employee development to your workforce?

Employee development is a joint responsibility

Factoring in dedicated time slots for employee development might not be highest on the list of priorities during a busy working day. And for some, let’s acknowledge the fact they simply want to come to work, get their job done, and then clock off to go home.

For others though, this is a rather short-sighted view.

Because effective employee development not only enhances skills and expertise to benefit their current role. But can also provide greater future career prospects. Whether that be within the company where they work now, or outside of that business.

So, in the ideal world, employees would be encouraged and want to take ownership of their own personal and professional development.

Line managers, though, might be in the best place to highlight where their teams are lacking in relevant skills or knowledge to carry out their existing roles. Or indeed they may be best placed within another business area. Discussing this with the staff member is the ideal opportunity to offer further employee development.

Who knows? That member of staff might have been too embarrassed to ask for help. And this approach is exactly what they needed to prevent them from leaving, or it could highlight a greater need for training and development across the entire team.

But genuine engagement in employee development must come down from the top, as well as each level up in the company hierarchy.  

What are the benefits of employee development?

• Two of the top reasons cited for employees leaving their jobs are lack of opportunities for advancement and feeling disrespected in the workplace. Employee development can enable both of these issues to be addressed.
• Improves the ‘people’ culture within a business – from developing your managers into coaches or mentors, to encourage and support their teams, really getting to understand what their direct line reports want, need, and can do. To improving cross-skilling throughout the business. It’s a win-win!  
• It’s a great tool for talent spotting! Whether you introduce group development programmes, or encourage individuals to find what suits them, you never know what skills and talents are lurking beneath the surface.
• Attracting new employees into your business. A company that recognises the importance of taking care of its staff and affording employees the chance to continue progressing in their careers is so important. Particularly for younger employees who could turn out to be your most loyal and engaged. You could retain them for many years to come. And it could be the clincher between choosing your business and going elsewhere.
• It could also be what encourages longer serving staff to stay. They’ll shift from feeling stuck, not knowing what else their role or their life can offer to feeling supported. Employee development might not suit everyone, but you could be offering your more mature team members a whole new lease of life in a coaching role, for instance. Otherwise, you could introduce courses to help prepare them for retirement, so they leave your business feeling cared for and respected.
• Remember though, that employee development is about personal development, as well as professional development. Yes, we know not everyone wants to turn up to what seems like a completely random course (we’ve all been there at some point!) But we soon turn them around after a few hours with one of the team here at the Education and Training Academy!
• Although implementing employee learning and development may seem costly. Over time, you will notice the benefits and in fact, save the business in the longer term through engaged staff retention.
• And the final point links to employee development leading to higher levels of engagement and motivation, which in turn leads to greater productivity. What more could you ask for?

You simply need to find someone to help introduce an effective learning and development plan to your business.

How the Education and Training Academy can help with your employee development

From delivery of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) across your business. To creating and implementing a bespoke employee training and development plan. Here at the Education and Training Academy, we are experts in providing what your business needs.

Individual and personalised development, or group courses, can be designed in alignment with your company’s vision, mission, and values.    

If you are looking to take your most promising employees to coach, mentor, leadership, or assessor level, we have a range of qualifications that are easily accessed and can be completed in dedicated employee development time at their desk, or else within our classroom environment.

We cater to anything from the Level 3 Award in Education and Training, Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training or the Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training, the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement, and Level 4 Award in Internal Quality Assurance. Train the Trainer courses, to delivery of statutory learning and skills in the workplace. Or engaging and highly rewarding bespoke corporate training days.

Our courses are created not only with your company’s needs in mind. But we also use course feedback to assist in the design and implementation process.

We know it is important to provide training that can be taken back to the floor, used day to day, not simply to tick a professional or statutory training requirement box.

It has to mean something to the attendees and students.

So, if you want to reassure your workforce you are heavily invested in them as individuals, as well as your employees, and employee development is important to you, why not let the professionals do it for you?

We can work with you from scratch or connect with your L & D specialists to review your current programmes. Either way, let’s create the very best, most effective employee development plan for your business. Call us today and get the ball rolling.