Businesses need to invest in their employees. Whether these are long or short term investments, developing staff is critical for business success.
According to the Forbes article “How to make long term investments in your staff”, attracting and retaining talent leads to employee loyalty. With loyalty comes happy employees, and therefore happy customers.
But how do businesses invest well in employee skills development? Here are a few ways companies can invest in their staff and their organisation.
Define your company values
A company might have a list of values in their mission statement. But how many employees live and breathe these values every day? To invest in employee skills development, the company ethos need to be defined. Once the ethos has been identified and organisational values defined, then employee development plans can be built that align with not only the company goals, but these values too
According to a US Chamber of Commerce article, employee development is not just about training. It’s also about changing mindsets. With a more holistic approach to skills development, you can build a supportive organisational culture, increase engagement and retention while improving organisational knowledge.
Build employee development plans
A company has strategic goals it works towards to fullfil its mission. It is important to create strategic alignment to these goals throughout the organisation in departments and at levels of seniority. When an organisation has clear goals and has evaluated the skills that employees need to develop to help grow your business, managers can start to collaboratively build employee development plans. As each employee is different,these plans won’t all look the same. Tailor development plans build towards specific career paths, as well as what roles each employee will perform in the business.
These plans are also not just a theoretical list of courses to complete. They need to involve a holistic approach to continuing education. As well as completing courses and getting certificates, professional skills development needs to incorporate various on-the-job experiences, regular feedback as well as opportunities to develop interpersonal relationships.
Businesses need to create opportunities for regular growth and training. For example, human resource managers can put together playlists of online courses that employees can complete. This aligns with the global shift toward a more hybrid work model, which provides flexible learning options.
Offer mentorship opportunities
In a hybrid workplace, it’s important to create access to educational resources, especially online. However, mentorship and building relationships are also very important for employee development. A culture of mentorship means that employees can develop in diverse areas. Mentors can also guide employees to where they can further develop both hard and soft skills.
While independent learning and the flexibility to pursue upksilling opportunities outside of work are important, it’s also essential to foster a culture of collaboration and growth. This becomes the space for newfound knowledge and skills to be put into practice, mistakes to be made and learning to continue With the aim to create a more well-rounded workforce, this will allow employees to reach short and long term goals.
Encourage internal mobility
In a hybrid work model, it’s critical to allow employees to have flexible schedules, which in turn creates the freedom to prioritise a healthy work/life balance. This can include internal mobility, where staff are not confined to one role indefinitely. Doing so allows for the opportunity to learn a variety of skills by working and collaborating across multiple departments.
Listen to feedback
As with any kind of strategic endeavour, investing in employee skills development is a work in progress. What works for one company may not work for another. Different employees might require more rigid or flexible development plans, according to their personality, skillset and career goals.
Overall, however, taking the steps to implement an employee skills development plan is the first step to investing in talent, which can grow and evolve over time.
Invest in employee skills development with SACAP Global
If you’re looking to invest in developing your workforce, look no further than SACAP Global’s range of online short courses, which can easily form part of a comprehensive skills development plan. Our range of specialised short courses focus on areas such as Applied Psychology, Business Management, Communication, Coaching and People Management.
As part of tailored development plans, our short courses can equip employees with essential soft skills. Thus enabling them to be excellent managers, communicators and leaders.
In a rapidly evolving world, investing in soft skills development can also help strengthen interpersonal relationships, which are key to both career success and growing a business. Our short courses are hosted on OpenLearning, a social learning environment that allows you to upskill in your own time. Comment, like and engage with peers, as you build in-demand practical skills within an online learning community.
Browse our list of online short courses and contact us with any queries you might have when it comes to how to incorporate online learning into your employee skills development plan.