Is Employee Development Really A Good Investment?

"What if you train your people and they leave? Worse is not training them, and they stay." 

There you have Henry Ford's opinion on employee development. And, of course, we agree with him. A business will only go as far as the workers can carry it, and the average business starts with a handful of people. 

In time, it’ll grow to a point where these people can’t handle every aspect of the business. Here, you may start to outsource customer services. Eventually, the business will grow to become a company requiring many capable employees.

If your company is at that point, there are a few things you need to consider. First, you need to ensure you have dedicated HR solutions in place. Software like that provided by HRCloud, offers a range of solutions that are designed to meet your business needs and streamline your HR processes. 

The second is that you need to have skilled employees working for you to keep your business on track. But more importantly, you must invest in their development. Why? We'll get into it shortly. 

But first, let's have a look at what employee development entails.

What is Employee Development?

Nowadays, employee development is a buzzword in work discussions. People use it in almost all workplace culture and corporate compliance conversations. And as you may have guessed, it simply means training your employees to be better at their jobs and be able to take on new responsibilities.

Employee development has several facets, and your approach to it will depend primarily on your business processes. Most times, employee training will involve imparting technical skills to the group. But it may also include other aspects such as workplace safety or CRM competencies. 

However, a comprehensive training regime will also promote managerial competencies alongside core disciplines. For instance, contact center employees can learn the fundamentals of leadership alongside how to monitor a call. 

Nevertheless, note that you can't force growth on an employee. For the employee development program to be effective, it must be a collaborative effort by employers and workers. The employer must be willing and the employee ready. With adequate planning you can avoid 11% of your resources being wasted.

Is the ROI on Employee Development Worth It?

A comprehensive employee development regime will take time. But of course, the investment will more than pay off in the long run. Let's examine some of the dividends you'll enjoy when your company’s employee perk includes personal and skill development.

Improved Employee Performance

Only an employee who doesn't care about growing your business or doing better in their career won't be interested in improving. However, these kinds of people are few and often have specific reasons for such attitudes. Often, employees are eager to improve, especially if it means they'll have a chance to qualify for better positions.

Then again, 74% of workers are willing to learn new skills to remain employable. Innovative trends mean the industries are ever-changing, and the players must constantly improve. As such, to stay employable is to grow consistently. So, most employees know they have to develop to retain their jobs. Therefore, you can count on them to do better in their careers when you train them. A good performance management software can also help boost employee productivity and morale.

Additionally, a carefully structured employee development strategy won't just give the workers tools for their jobs; it'll also cultivate continuous learning habits. It'll push them towards consistent personal growth without losing focus on their primary assignments.

But the best part is that training also helps to increase employees' confidence in their abilities. Plus, they'll have more motivation to work and be grateful to you for assisting them in growing. These three factors will encourage them to stay and repay you by using their skills for the company. 

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Better Employee Response to Disruptions

Nowadays, industry trends are widely unpredictable as disruptions are becoming more commonplace. So, it's now more crucial than ever for companies to be ready for the unexpected. And, of course, your readiness will show in how you respond as situations arise.

The same applies to all your employees. Your company's readiness for disruptions will show in how your employees stand up to the task when necessary. 

Putting your employees through comprehensive developmental programs will prepare them to respond like professionals whenever necessary. Additionally, disruptions often bring challenges that can become opportunities depending on how you react to them.

Proper training programs will help you create adaptable employees adept at managing spontaneous situations. And eventually, you'll have a group of workers who won't only stand up to challenges, but are also engaged enough to find and maximize the opportunities in them. 

Attract Top Talents

Naturally, most people will love to work in an organization with several bright minds and capable employees. That's why excellent companies often attract the top talents in the industry. Most prospects will love to work in a naturally engaged workforce that's also constantly developing. 

Additionally, many will love to take on new roles that'll afford them opportunities to gain new skills and experiences. As a result, such high-value prospects will be willing to work with you, provided you can help them obtain such competencies.

Conference Board’s latest survey says 96% of respondents deem work-related development as important, and 58% will leave a company without any employee development plans. The data proves potential employees will be happier to work for you if they know you'll provide growth opportunities for them.

In that case, you can attract top talents, especially among millennials, by offering development opportunities as part of the employee perks. It shows your company cares about and actively invests in its employees' growth.

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Nurture Future Leaders

Organizations must have competent employee leaders to operate at an acceptable efficiency level. Of course, your organization probably already has capable leaders, but you should also be planning for the long term. 

Ten years from now, some of the current leaders won't be with the company anymore. When that happens, the employees you've nurtured with managerial skills will come in handy.

Investing in a comprehensive employee development program helps you impart the necessary leadership and managerial capabilities to your staff. This way, your call center employees can take charge when necessary and not only transfer calls or listen to complaints all day.  

But of course, there's the risk that the workers may leave after you invest in them. To that, we'll refer back to the quote at the top of the article. It's better to train them, and they leave, than not to teach them though they stay. 

Why? Because if you don't train them and they stay, your company won't grow as it should. Then, you may eventually have to lay them off because they're not competent. 

Then again, aside from the management staff and key decision makers, most employee groups have a few members that the rest look up to. Such individuals often have a remarkable influence on general work attitudes. Putting your employees through development programs will help create more workers with positive work attitudes that others can look up to. 

Therefore, when you invest in an employee development program to nurture future organization leaders, you'll create a pool of competent and loyal de facto leaders for the company. They'll know their responsibilities towards the organization's goals and won't slack off on duty.

Enables More Flexibility For Innovation and Expansion

Companies need to be nimble and innovative to stay ahead in their industry. But of course, the employees make up the support system enabling everything a company achieves. So, for a company to be flexible, the workforce needs to inculcate the necessary values.

Therefore, having a well-trained, flexible workforce that can adapt to changing situations is a significant advantage to an organization. Such a group of employees will be able to manage changes and make the most of them.

You can impart an innovative mentality to your employees with suitable developmental courses. A comprehensive program will develop their existing skills and equip them with competencies to adapt to changes. 

Moreover, well-trained employees tend to be more invested in achieving the organization's objectives. Having a group of employees with this work attitude creates a highly engaged workforce, a crucial workplace culture for success. 

Lastly, employee development creates a receptive space for innovative expansions. For instance, say you have plans to implement mainframe modernization and integration plans. You’ll have no reservations about this when knowing that your employees can now handle such systems after their training. 

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You Trust Your Workforce More

Investing in employee development gives more incentive to believe in your workforce's ability. Because you were involved in their growth, you know the skills they have acquired and can vouch for them. That way, you can trust them to take on tasks they previously might not have been able to. 

For example, you'll be able to confidently apply automated test scripts to your process after having trained your employees in how it works. 

Employee Development Opens You Up to More

Employee development liberates you to be more futuristic in your processes. The quality of your employees' contributions will also improve. 

Take a contact center. Proper employee training means it would bother you less if the customer service rep had a call recorded. You trust them to do an excellent job with the clients because you have provided the developmental tools to do the job. 

Overall, your company will grow, the employees will be more satisfied with their jobs, and everybody will be happier with their roles.

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Author Bio:

Tanhaz Kamaly is a Partnership Executive at Dialpad, a modern cloud-hosted business communications platform that turns conversations into the best opportunities, both for businesses and clients with features like Dialpad's call waiting setting. He is well-versed and passionate about helping companies work in constantly evolving contexts, anywhere, anytime. Tanhaz has also written for other domains such as Track-POD and Cybersecurity Insiders. Check out his LinkedIn profile.