Why Employee Investment is Key to Sustainable Business?

As a business owner if there is one thing you cannot cut off from your budget it is employee development. More often than not this is one aspect that most businesses tend to overlook or bypass while making their business plans. Nevertheless, investment in employee development is crucial for the growth and success of every business, irrespective of its nature or size.

Here are a few key benefits of employee development that you need to keep in mind if you need an answer to your question, why invest in employees’ development:

1. It improves employee retention
2. It gives you promotable employees
3. It ensures longevity
4. More engagement and better productivity
5. It affects measurable results

1. It improves employee retention

The process of recruiting and training one individual takes about 200% of the annual salary of a skilled employee. When you are spending so much of money on hiring and training one employee, you will want to do everything you can to retain that employee.

Source: dropspace.io

This is how investment in employee development can contribute to employee retention:

• Employees see it as a part of their hiring package. It is one of the things they tend to weigh in the “pros” column when it comes to finding a job.
• It helps build loyalty among the employees. They feel important and taken care of, when you invest in their training and development. This feeling makes them loyal.
• It improves your reputation as an employer of choice. This will be good not only for the hiring process but for your sales too.
• By providing training and development, you will be bringing in only employees who are focused on improving themselves. They will do their best to make sure you achieve your goals.

2. It gives you promotable employees

When hiring managers and upper-level employees your focus will be on looking for someone who is familiar with your customers and your day-to-day business. What better way can you think of other than hiring from within.

That said not every employee may be ready for such promotions. But an effective employee development program can prepare them in the right way.

Apart from helping you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your employees, this will also enable you to create a pool of promotable employees, thereby increasing your options.

While helping your employees grow, it will also save a lot of your time and money, giving you managers whom you can always trust.

With better performing employees who perform well and stick around longer, you will be spending less and less on hiring and investing more and more of your time, money and efforts on sustaining your business.

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3. It ensures longevity

With employee development as one of your main goals, you will always be looking into the future. You focus more on making leaders of your employees. You will start giving your customers what they need from your employees. Your employees will become more capable of adapting to the industry changes.

Planning is one thing that will happen automatically once you start providing employee development programs as they force you to think ahead.

You will have to come up with new training programs every year, making sure your business culture evolves as per the industry requirements.

You will be in a better position to decide on whom to hire, whom to retain, and whom to promote. It helps you carve a proper road map for your business, making you stay on your toes, at all times.

4. More engagement and better productivity

If there is one thing that will kill the productivity of your employees it is boredom. It will make them adopt sloppy work habits, take on negative attitudes, and lead them towards damaging their relationships with other employees as well as your customers.

The only way to avoid this would be through employee development. It keeps them engaged with their work, preventing any kind of boredom from setting in.

Source: tlnt.com

More and more companies are now coming up with interesting training programs and employee development events that are challenging and fun.

Aligning these programs with resilience coaching and change has helped them achieve long term success in their business.

Here are a few things you can do to engage your employees and eliminate the dreaded boredom from their daily lives:

• Use surveys and questionnaires to gauge your employees’ opinions and feelings
• If there is any issue make sure it is visibly addressed. Show them that you not only listen but also implement their opinions to bring about the necessary change.
• Provide your employees with a platform where they can share and showcase their best work. Include peer-to-peer learning as a part of your program to strengthen the links between your employees.
• Facilitate channels for your employees to raise their issues and provide their feedback
• Provide different ways for your employees to engage with your programs. This way you will be catering to their individual learning styles and preferences.
• Form small groups of your employees and employ effective group learning strategies. Focus on making everyone feel heard, valued and trusted.

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5. It affects measurable results

Many companies have policies of providing for their employees’ vacations. They send their employees on trips which they may not have experienced in their lives.

Source: insperity.com

In return to their efforts they get employees’ satisfaction. Such companies manage to outperform their peers by more than 3.8% per year when considering the long-run stock returns.

Although they may have to cut down on their grand scheme of things for their companies, they end up creating a lot of value for their people.

Listening to customer needs and expectations is something every business does. Nevertheless, it is also important to listen to your employee needs.

Find out if they need some time off.

Check if they are looking for better wellness programs.

See what you can do to increase their productivity.

It is not about squeezing them out after they have enjoyed that shiny new benefit; it is about valuing your employees and making them happier. It does cost some of your money; but investment in employee development is always an investment that will be worthwhile in the long run. It is a way to ensure everyone wins.