When your team is engaged and content in their career, it positively affects company growth. Providing employees with opportunities to advance their career means they’re more likely to stay because they get something more than just a stable job. They get a career.

But the positive effects of helping your workforce level up aren’t restricted to the employees themselves. As an employer, you get to see how well individuals do with more responsibility. And if they excel in areas unknown to you at first, you get to capitalise on that knowledge.

If you’re still not convinced, here’s exactly why you should invest in the development of your workforce.

Why Level Up Your Team?

Funding the continued learning and mentoring of your team might feel like a big stretch. There’s money to think about, time already stretched thin to allocate, and you’ll have to figure out where to begin. But the rewards are well worth the effort.

• Highly Skilled Workforce

Providing opportunities for workers to gain knowledge as skilled makes them stronger employees. And specifically, stronger at work they do for you. So not only is this great for the employee because they get free education. But it’s also great for you as an employer.

You’ll end up with staff that could become leading faces in your sector. You get better workers without having to find anyone new. So you can keep the people you love.

• A Sense Of Achievement

Nothing feels better than learning something new. And being good at it. Employees will thank you for giving them that opportunity. And what does that all lead to? It leads to a happier workforce.

A happier workforce means that they work harder, feel better about coming to work, and sometimes even encourage longer hours.

• Employees That Stay

There’s nothing worse for a company than high staff turnover. If you have to get new people in before you’ve had a chance to get to know the last lot, you might want to look into why. It’s important because ex-employees talk. And a reputation for getting through staff quicker than ice melts in the Sahara isn’t a good look.

Investing time and money into developing your employees’ skills means they’re more likely to stick around.

• It Shows You Care

Supporting the ongoing personal development of your staff and their career shows that you care. It shows that you want to invest time into them.

Remember, though, providing good development opportunities isn’t just about talking the talk. You have to walk the walk too. So make sure the learning you provide gives them the scope to take advantage of real possibilities - whether that’s in their current position or supporting them to advance into more senior roles.

So, How Do You Support Your Employees Career Development?

By now, you should be pretty well convinced about the abundant benefits of supporting learning and achievement in your workforce. But you want to do it properly. So, how do you provide career development opportunities that go further than sending staff on a weekend away course?

• Be Invested

Take a personal interest in your employees’ career goals. Communicate with team members regularly and make sure they feel heard. Sometimes, even just having a boss you know is always happy to listen and provide support will make people feel valued. And when people feel valued, they work harder and show greater company loyalty.

• Focus On Learning

Hone in on what each team needs. If it’s your marketing department getting learning spruce up, provide the best marketing education opportunities. Your millennial workforce will be particularly glad for these learning chances. And don’t forget personal needs. Provide courses and opportunities for people to excel in personalised training possibilities.

• Mentoring

Having a formal mentoring programme is a smart business move. Mentorships are beneficial both for the company and for personal growth. Mentoring doesn’t just have to be the more experienced team members helping out newbies either.

Long-time employees can also benefit from the fresh perspectives that younger generations can provide. And if you can’t do it in-house, it can be outsourced using a reputable Mentoring Platform.

• Job Swap

If you can, setting up a job rotation scheme is a great way to provide learning and development in your workforce. Aim for employees to work in different but related departments or positions. It shakes up their daily routine and helps give them a better understanding of the business as a whole.

You’ll benefit from a team that’s more well-rounded and motivated to work hard for a company they now understand better.

• Get One-On-One

Make sure to provide annual or bi-annual one-on-one feedback sessions. It’s a chance to see how they’re doing and opens the door to conversation. Employees get an opportunity to ask for anything they feel is missing and can provide valuable feedback on your career development scheme. Remember, if you’re giving criticism, make it constructive, so your team doesn’t feel discouraged.

• Provide Opportunities

Provide real-time opportunities for your staff. Both in the form of pitching new ideas and climbing the workplace ladder. You can start by giving them chances to take on a little bit more responsibility. Maybe representing the company at a conference or opportunities to educate themselves on the newest tech for your sector. Or perhaps just running incentives and providing rewards to boost their confidence.

• Invite Speakers

It makes good sense to bring in reputable speakers. They’re great learning and networking opportunities for your workforce. They work particularly well if the speaker is from your industry and understands your company’s unique challenges.

• Support Their Work/Life Balance

When people get burnt out, they don’t work as well. That’s why it’s so important to support a healthy work/life balance in your staff. Encourage them to work smarter to maximise efficiency while still having time to pursue personal interests. Having a strong and kind approach to the well-being of your team educes their stress and increases staff morale.

Final Thoughts

It’s easy to see that engaging with employees’ careers and providing opportunities for their continued development reaps many rewards. Both for you, as a business, and for individual staff members.

No matter what type of organisation you run, it’s fundamentally important that you provide and prioritise your workforce’s learning. It lets staff know that you fully support them by encouraging personal development. And it also offers tangible opportunities for them.