Why is it important?
When an organization focuses on employee development, the organization is positioning itself for greater growth and collaboration. Employee’s will learn about the company, the industry, the market, and challenges that need to be overcome. Without this employee knowledge, the employees will just be order takers, collaboration breaks down, and the company will fail to stay competitive. The more informed the organizations employees are, the more informed the organization is to stay competitive.
So, what areas of employee development need to be focused on? Many companies just focus on one area such as onboarding or management. The truth is that employee development is a cross-functional journey. Starting with a solid onboarding process then individual development, cross-functional team development, product development, and finally leadership development (coaching/management).
Better Onboarding Process
Having a solid onboarding process will give a profound experience to new hires joining your company. Is the process well thought through? Are employees excited about the company? Are the new employees receiving information that will help them with their job? Are they networking and connected? Do they feel the company is organized? Is leadership involved?
There are several components that go into a solid and robust organization onboarding program. Now onboarding programs are virtual, hybrid, and/or in-person. How is your organizational onboarding program meeting the needs of your new employees? Does the organization have an onboarding program for the company and a separate onboarding program for each department?
The benefit of having a robust onboarding process will allow new employees to feel excited and welcomed to your company and reduce new employee frustration and ultimately the new employee departing the organization in the first year.
Better Productivity
When employees have access to learning libraries and knowledge management systems, each employee can perform at maximum effort. Each employee is knowledgeable and willing to go the extra mile. The competitive advantage of the organization is robust. Every employee knows what to do efficiently and can better articulate new ideas. The organization must be willing to listen. The organization must transition from a delegated ecosystem to a collaborative ecosystem.
As a result, employees, products, and services become highly adaptable to changes in the market and industry. Changes can be made faster with better precision and accuracy.
Better Employee Engagement
When each employee feels like they have a purpose, and they all believe in the same mission and ultimately better collaboration takes place across departments.
Better Employee Retention
When each employee feels like they have a purpose, the organization values them, and they are learning, the organization will have a better chance of keeping the employee engaged and reduces the chances of the employee leaving the organization.
Increase in Profits
Employees that are knowledgeable can deliver better results while attracting new customers. Time and processes are not wasted which means operational cost are lower. More goods or services can be delivered as multiple people have the knowledge to decide instead of just one or two individuals. The reduction of passing emails for information is reduced. A 2018 Association for Talend Development study indicated that an employee development can gain an organization 218% return per each employee.
The profits are earned two ways. The first is high sales and revenue due to a knowledgeable staff and the second is reduced operational cost.