What is one thing you can do now that will positively impact your company for many years to come? Invest in your employees!
I have said it before and will continue to say it again and again. Employees are the backbone of your business. Without employees, without a team working together towards a common goal, your business will crumble and collapse.
One crucial way to invest in your employees is through training and development. Helping employees maintain, perfect, and grow their skills, not only helps them to be more confident and therefore successful in their role, but also more satisfied and fulfilled within their position (hello lower employee turnover)!
The first step to investing in employee training and development is identifying what your company’s goals are, as well as your employees goals. Finding where these two intersect is the sweet spot. When employees feel their growth is supported, they will be more engaged, motivated, and productive.
So how can you invest? Here are a few options:
Require and pay for at least 1 professional development course each year for every employee
Encourage and enable employees to attend educational conferences and/or webinars by offering paid time off for these opportunities
Provide yearly educational stipends for each employee
However you choose to include employee training and development, the most important thing is that you include it and bring the employees in regarding the decision on how to include it. Depending on your company size, ideas surrounding employee training and development can be shared within a company-wide meeting, sent via email in a survey, determined by a designated committee with representatives who bring in the viewpoints of their department, etc.
Looking for more information on motivating your employees and fostering a company culture of engagement? Check out this blog post on how to motivate employees!
