7 Ways to Support Employee Growth and Professional Development
One of the most immediate challenges that organizations face today is retaining employees that form an invaluable part of their human capital. According to a research report, over 63.3% of organizations agree that retaining employees is a lot difficult than hiring them.
It is of paramount importance to frame strategies that promote the growth and success of your employees. A Mercer survey points that over 66% of employees around the age of 16-24 consider leaving their job for a better one in India. This includes those already performing to the set benchmark and those falling below the expected benchmark for performance.
According to a research report, over 76% of employees are looking for career growth opportunities, and it is one of the critical factors that contribute to employee retention. It is also a critical parameter that new hires consider for selecting an organization that they would work for. Therefore, organizations need to make sure that they put prima facie importance to learning and development that makes way for employee growth.
For this, they need to shift their employee growth paradigms and strategize one step ahead of the curve to decrease their employee attrition and create an environment that generates productive outcomes.
Let us look into some of the growth ideas for employees that you can adopt for successful employee retention and organizational development:
1. Keep your employees’ happiness in check
While devising a comprehensive plan for employee growth, your first and foremost priority should be to keep your employees happy and drive and direct them to stay motivated to perform consistently in the long run. One way you can do this is by creating a culture that supports them through a myriad of rewards and recognition that keep them motivated and encourage them to stay loyal to their organization.
According to an SHRM report, organizations that have spent more than 1% of payroll on employee recognition have witnessed over 85% positive impact on employee growth and engagement. Rewards and recognition are also economical alternatives to raises wherein you have to preplan budgets and make tough financial decisions. They are personal and tailored to increase employee happiness, but they also help increase their loyalty towards your organization.
2. Timely feedback matters
Feedbacks play a crucial role in helping the employee understand how well he is doing and the specific areas of improvement that he needs to focus on. According to a survey conducted by Zinger and Folkman, over 92% of employees prefer timely feedback as the most important aspect of their job satisfaction.
Feedbacks, if structured well, contribute towards employee growth. For attending to this, organizations need to step up their human resources development planning initiatives and include periodical feedbacks such that employees can get a comprehensive insight on their weaknesses and strengths.
These feedbacks must be conducted throughout the year on weekly, annually, monthly, and quarterly basis such that annual reviews are more meaningful. The next step would be for the organizations to develop a training module that caters to attending those skills, aptitude, and performance.
3. Integrate technology with learning initiatives of your organization
Technology has the capability to bring scalable change within the organization. Use technology to structure a Learning Management System that can play as the critical contributor to employee growth. LMS is basically a system encompassing applications that help you design employee development programs. It can act as a bank with sufficient resources that caters to all the employee upskilling needs.
It is a powerful alternative to manual training modules that demand a huge chunk of the organization’s time. With an LMS software, you can create, automate, manage and track all the development programs that contribute to employee growth.
4. Mentoring and Coaching
An alternative internal method to boost your employee growth is by directing them on their career development through effective mentoring and coaching programs. A research report by the International Society for Performance stated that coaching programs have over 221% return on Investment given the range of employee growth areas that they cater to.
Coaching and mentoring should not just be limited to development of programs but also imbibing it into the culture of the organization through a series of practices that support coaching and training. If there is an area that an employee need working on, he shouldn’t be hesitant to notify it to their reporting managers about them such that there is little hindrance to employee growth. Coaching culture offers about 51% higher revenue and about 61% improvement in employee skills.
5. Encourage Participation in training, coaching and mentoring programs
Lack of participation in training programs is one of the immediate challenges that organizations are trying to solve. The nature of training programs can be daunting to employees sometimes because of their lengthy and exhaustive nature.
Tailor training programs post employee feedback and training needs analysis such that they are motivated to attend programs that are designed to upskill them and fill their knowledge gaps. A study conducted by ClearCompany stated that over 68% of employees agree that their training and development is one of the most important policies for an organization.
6. Mentor them in devising a career path
Helping employees draft their career path can be a huge step towards building a strong relationship of commitment with them. This way you not only tell them that you care about their skills and knowledge but also long-term goals that they are trying to accomplish.
According to Corbett Inc. About 76% of employees choose to remain loyal to their organization if their organization supports them with their career goals.
7. Support, Support & Support
Continual encouragement and support be it in terms of career development by either supporting them join an online career advancement course or support through flexi timing or employee assistance programs or provide them with cross functional roles might just be the thing that you need to do for harboring successful employee growth outcomes.
At VM Consultants, we help you navigate through different employee growth aspects that help you implement comprehensive human capital development strategies for your organization. Parner with us for making the most out of your human resources.