Your employees want to be engaged. But far too few of them are. Gallup’s research shows only 35% of the American workforce consider themselves engaged. The rest are just calling it in. With that said, the research also shows that your workforce wants meaningful work. So, how can you, as the employer, look for ways to make work more engaging and satisfying. The answer is to promote the professional growth and development of your workforce in 2022.
How to Encourage Professional Development
Employees who grow in their jobs are more satisfied and productive. That’s good news for employers and their bottom-line numbers. It’s also good news for employee retention at a time when millions of American workers are quitting in record numbers. Employers that invest in their workforce will win in both of these areas. Companies that build the skills of their employees will also build their loyalty.
There are differences between training and professional development that should be noted, however. Training is a short-term fix to fill a skills gap. Professional development is a deliberate long-term effort to build a worker’s skills so they can move up the ladder in your organization.
The benefits of professional development include:
- Increasing employee knowledge while building a skilled internal labor pool.
- Improving employee satisfaction in their work while increasing their productivity.
- Reducing staff turnover and improving your company’s brand to external candidates.
How can you improve your efforts to build a professional development program in your organization?
- Start with orientation. Give employees the skills they need and a manager trained in how to create a positive environment for his or her team.
- Build a mentorship program to help employees form tighter bonds with their teams.
- Meet regularly with the employee to talk about their career path and what they want to learn.
- Create informal and formal learning opportunities to build individual and team skills.
- Offer educational benefits as a perk of employment.
- Do all this continuously to build professional development into your organizational culture.
- Leadership should keep an eye on evolving trends in the marketplace and address any skills gaps in their workforce.
- Build a culture that encourages active participation in these activities.
From a skills perspective, what are the areas for growth where your employees could benefit this year?
- Build creativity and innovation into your workforce. Create an environment where every idea is welcomed in the spirit of continuous improvement.
- Build communication skills between individuals, teams, and across departments. Use technology to help build collaboration.
- Empower your workforce to make decisions. Avoid micromanaging and create an autonomous environment to engage your workforce.
- Set up an intelligent, effective way to manage conflict. Train your workforce in proactive conflict resolution.
- Establish goal-setting and monitor these regularly for results.
- Train your workforce in time management skills, which will be a gift that will keep on giving to your business.
2022 could be the start of new things for your business. Stellar Staffing is standing by to help you grow. Call on us to find top candidates. We can help.
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