An introduction to e-learning: why invest in employee career development? (part two)
Last week we introduced the concept of e-learning and the benefit it brings to businesses. Equally as important as using e-learning to enhance employee knowledge of a specific subject area or skill set, is the opportunity to develop your people with digital tools that will support their career development.
The benefits of employee career development
Investing in the careers of your employees will bring about numerous benefits, including:
Talent attraction and retention: the global war on talent is happening now. Employers are fighting over the best candidates in the market and continuously upping their game to recruit and train the people that will support and lead organisational growth.
By investing in the career development of your employees you are setting standards for your current and future staff. People talk — and they will move to a company that is ready to invest in employee career development, especially if they feel unfulfilled in their career journey. And, investing in your employees sets you apart as an employer of choice in your sector.
In-house creation of future leaders: if succession planning is not yet at the top of your agenda, then now is the time to start thinking about your new generation of leaders. Invest in employee career development to home-grow your next executive team. By hand-picking and training the people that you want to lead the company in the next five to ten years, you’re setting those people — and your business — on the road to success.
Uncover potential talent: one of the many benefits of investing in your employees is the discovery of in-house talent that you didn’t know existed. By starting conversations with your teams and monitoring the progress of their training and development, it’s likely that you’ll uncover hidden talents within your own business. This is a double-win for companies who struggle to recruit the ‘right’ people with the right skill set.
Significant long-term cost reduction: it’s no secret that talent attraction, recruitment, training, and retention is an expensive business. According to ACAS, the cost of replacing an employee can top £30,000 when you take into account agency fees, management time, advertising and training costs.
Executive coaching and leadership development
Employee career development should not be restricted to your lower and middle management teams. Executive teams need just as much time and attention, if not more so than everyone else. Career development of your executives will highlight and validate their core strengths, help them understand their motivators, explore their own perceptions and those of their teams, and help them build better and stronger businesses.
