5 Reasons to Consider Development Programs for your Employees

Employees play a key role in driving the success of your organization. When they thrive, so does the overall business.

• But how can you support employees to help them excel in their roles and responsibilities?
• How can you ensure that they are constantly developing their skills along with the evolving business expectations and requirements of clients?

With strategically chosen training and development, you can continuously improve your teams’ performance, amplify their contributions to business goals, lift their engagement and support them in offering more value to the organization. 
To understand the importance of training and development programs, let’s talk about the benefits they offer to enrich employee skill sets and enhance your business's success. 

What are training and development programs?

As a manager, you must remember: your organization will only be as good as your employees. This is why training and development programs are crucial – they enable your staff to pursue continuous learning, nurture their career growth and be more competent in delivering the highest standards of service to your customers.

There are two main types:

Workforce training

Workforce training focuses on equipping employees with specific job-related information, skills and competencies that can help them perform their tasks more effectively and efficiently.

Examples of workforce training include training in data analysis to boost technical skills for staff, strategic planning for team leaders and supervisors, as well as product training for the sales department.

Employee development

Employee development, on the other hand, consists of training sessions, coaching and leadership mentoring that support employees in their long-term career growth and advancement.

Employee development involves conducting workshops that improve employees’ problem-solving, time management and communication skills. Employee development may also pertain to cross-training programs that expose staff to other areas of the business and prepare them to perform other roles when the need arises.

Why should business managers invest in training and development programs for their teams?

Training and development programs are not only opportunities for your employees to up-skill and improve their expertise. Due to the flow-on effect, they also provide benefits for your business’ growth and success in the long run.

In fact, here are 5 reasons why you should invest in training and development programs for your teams.

1. Training and development programs help lower turnover rates. Employees are looking for companies that care about their professional development. They tend to work harder and stay loyal if employers and managers are supportive of their advancement.
   
   Research shows that businesses with strong learning cultures have improved their retention rate by up to 50%. It’s also easier for you to attract top talent if you have a reputation that prioritizes training and development.
   
   
2. Training and development programs enable you to identify and nurture future leaders.
   With training and development programs, you can assess your employees’ strengths and weaknesses. This allows you to examine who from your teams have the potential to become future managers or supervisors, opening up more opportunities for internal hiring or promotions.
   
   By nurturing future leaders, you’ll also be able to utilize the competencies, experience and internal knowledge they’ve gained throughout the years.
   
   
3. Training and development programs improve organizational culture.
   41% of employees link their organization’s career advancement opportunities to their job satisfaction. This comes as no surprise since training and development programs enable them to participate in activities outside their usual daily tasks and become more engaged with their fellow employees.
   
   But aside from building a culture where employees are happy and satisfied, training and development programs help in nurturing an environment where everyone is well-motivated and fully supported to become better – both for themselves and for the business.
   
   
4. Training and development programs enhance productivity levels.
   59% of employees believe that undergoing training and development programs are important to improve job performance. After all, they will be gaining the knowledge, skills and expertise they need to become more competent at what they do.
   
   Training and development programs can also empower your staff to accomplish their work with less supervision. This, then, will lead your employees to become more productive while also allowing management to focus on more value-adding activities for the business.
   
   
5. Training and development programs result in cost savings for the business.
   Studies show that companies with training and development programs have a 24% higher profit margin. This can be attributed to reduced turnover, higher productivity and fewer errors committed by employees.
   
   Through training and development programs, your teams can also deliver quality services and products which then bring in more revenue and repeat customers.

How to invest in the right training and development programs

Just like any other initiative, it’s crucial that workforce training and employee development programs are carefully planned and continuously improved to get the best outcomes.

So, to help you implement training and development programs that work to your business and employees’ advantage, here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Stay abreast of the latest industry trends, technologies and developments. This will help you design training and development programs that are aligned with what your employees need to excel – today and in the future.
  
  
• Get the opinions of your employees and understand the kinds of training they want. Take note: training and development programs should be employee-centered. It’s important, then, to tailor your training according to their needs, interests and goals.
  
  
• Always ask for feedback! In the same way that you’re developing employees, you must also be consistent in making your training and development programs better. The quality of your training will either be detrimental or value-adding for your employees.

Fortunately, there are innovative platforms like VibeCatch that make it easier for you to prepare surveys and polls for employees.  

VibeCatch empowers you to actively listen  

In the digital age, data is king, and regularly measuring your employee engagement and well-being levels equips you with valuable insights that can enhance your work environment for everyone.    

At VibeCatch, we offer the ideal way to proactively listen and communicate with your team so you can foster healthy relationships and reduce the turnover of your best employees.   

Built on science, our platform collects frequent and anonymous feedback from employees and delivers an automatic and clear breakdown of the results to help you make smarter decisions for your people.