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Employers can reap great commercial rewards through investing in employee development. By investing in the learning and growth of your staff members, you are likely to increase productivity, worker engagement and retention. Additionally, employee development can build a workforce loyal to your business. Thus, while it is not a legal requirement, your company should consider using it. This article will explain some of the advantages of investing in employee development in England.
What is Employee Development?
Employee learning and development is where you encourage your staff to develop professionally. You may create opportunities for your employees to improve their skills and develop new ones. For example, you can provide various development opportunities that staff can elect to partake in. Alternatively, you may be a hands-on employer who spends time with individual employees to discuss their training and development needs. Additionally, this can ensure your staff feel their opinions are considered.
Employee development may include:
- training courses;
- activities that focus on team building;
- development activities;
- online learning;
- workshops; and
- seminars.
Increased Productivity
It makes sense to invest in employee development as this means that your staff are more confident in their job roles and can perform better. Consequently, this will lead to greater business productivity and is therefore commercially beneficial. Also, where staff are productive and competent, it is less likely you will need to deal with issues such as poor performance. Accordingly, as the employer, you will reduce the time-consuming responsibility of consistent performance monitoring.
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Engaged Workers
It is essential to ensure that the work your staff completes also challenges them and provides avenues for professional development. Investing in employee development means that your staff are more likely to engage in their work and feel motivated rather than drift away from it as the job becomes monotonous. Thus, without investing in staff development, your employees can become bored. Additionally, increased engagement will reduce the number of disgruntled workers with grievances.
Healthy Work Environment
As an employer, you have a duty to ensure your staff’s health, safety and well-being at work. Accordingly, you can promote a healthy work environment by investing in employee development. As staff engage their minds, it will likely aid their overall well-being and mental health.
Internal Knowledge and Internal Promotion
By investing in employee development and providing your staff with training, you are helping them learn and therefore arming them with knowledge. Applying this to all of your staff means you should have a bank of knowledge within your business.
Furthermore, when staff learn, they gain skills, allowing them to seek promotions. This avoids employee stagnation in your business and allows you to promote from within the business. Moreover, internal promotions avoid outsourcing costs and ensure individuals in your management and senior positions are those you already trust. Notably, you must ensure that as an employer you do not discriminate and ensure promotions are lawful and fair.
Employee Retention
Investing in employee development can increase employee retention. Investing in their development will make your employees feel you value and appreciate them. Accordingly, this will generate a loyal workforce. Additionally, employee retention saves you the time and costs of recruiting and training new employees.
Employer Reputation
A final advantage to investing in employee development is your reputation as an employer. A good employer invests in staff development, thereby making you an attractive employer to potential new candidates. It may also make your business more appealing to customers.
Key Takeaways
While not a legal requirement, investing in your staff’s development makes sound business sense and is good practice as an employer. There are many advantages to investing in employee development, such as improving staff retention, increasing productivity and equipping your team and hence your business with more knowledge. Investing in employee development also helps you comply with your legal obligations as an employer. For example, in terms of employee well-being. When investing in employee development, you should also be aware of your legal responsibilities as an employer, such as not discriminating when promoting.
If you need help understanding investing in employee development in England, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Employee development is where you encourage your staff to develop their skills and knowledge. For example, you may provide opportunities such as training and seminars.
There is no legal requirement as an employer to invest in your employee development, but it is good practice and can help with some of your legal requirements, such as health, safety and wellbeing.
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