When you’re leading a team, you should always be thinking about what’s in their best interests and how you can motivate, inspire, and engage them. And did you know that having an actively engaged team has a positive impact on overall business growth?
There is a direct link between investing in employees’ learning and development and positive business outcomes. What employees care about more than anything else these days are professional development opportunities to acquire new skills and a sense of purpose and connection to the work they’re doing. If companies can meet and satisfy these employee needs, then it’s more than likely companies will have high employee engagement and growth.
Promoting Professional Development Opportunities
When you’re able to foster a learning and development work environment, you’re more likely to attract and retain talent. Employees want opportunities to learn, grow, and challenge themselves, so it’s important to provide them with those opportunities. For example, you can:
Provide them with management and leadership training
Promote professional certifications in specific areas
Find or hold opportunities for technical skills training
Promote interpersonal and team-building skills training
Offer employer-subsidized degrees to help with tuition assistance
Employee training is a great way to encourage growth and promote increased productivity.
And by creating a culture of consistent employee learning and development, you’re helping to boost employee engagement and satisfaction, which leads employees to want to stay with the company long-term.
Connecting Employees to Purpose at Work
These days, employees want to feel a sense of purpose in their work. They want to know that they’re contributing to something that matters. As a leader, it’s your job to help them feel connected to the company and show them that they are making a difference.
You can help your teams and employees feel engaged with and a part of the company vision by:
Clearly communicating your company’s overarching purpose, mission, and vision
Connecting an employee’s daily work to the strategic goals of the company
If an employee feels like their work matters and directly contributes to the company in a meaningful way, they will want to stay and grow within the company, which is a good thing.
When employees feel purposeful at work, they also take pride in what they’re doing, which leads to higher engagement, productivity, and performance. And that ultimately helps the company.
Creating a Positive and Productive Employee Experience
If you want your company to succeed long-term, it’s essential to consider the whole employee experience, which includes attracting talent, retaining employees, and minimizing turnover.
When overall employee engagement is high, there is less likelihood of turnover and the need for recruitment. And when you promote a culture of employee learning and development and foster a sense of company purpose, you end up attracting and retaining some of the best employees. This not only helps you achieve business growth, but you’ll also have happy employees. And when employees are happy, they’re more likely to stay.
After all, it costs the company to lose employees. To recruit and onboard employees efficiently, you need to be clear on the type of training you’re going to be using to save costs. Hiring new employees can cost anywhere around $4,000, and the average time it takes to fill a position is around 50 days. That’s time and money you can save by keeping your employees happy instead. And that’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Do you need support creating a culture of learning and development that attracts and retains the best employees? Learn how we can help.
Your employees will thank you!