7 Advantages of Investing in Employee Development
1. You Promote A Culture Of Lifelong Learning
Lifelong learning is the new way of life. It is extremely useful for IT professionals and non-IT professionals alike as new technologies are introduced every day, and you need continuous learning to be able to put these technologies to good use. By investing in employee training and development, you transform the culture of your organization into one that promotes continuous learning. You send a clear message to your employees that you expect them to learn, unlearn, and relearn new skills, and before you know it, your team turns into a group of lifelong learners ready to take on any challenge that comes their way.
2. It Helps You Stay Ahead Of The Competition
When your employees are continuously learning new skills, they are ready to switch to new methods, processes, and technologies at the drop of a hat. This gives you incredible agility and a massive competitive advantage over your competition. You can implement, scale, and start using new technologies much faster than any other competitor out there.
3. You Gain Your Employee’s Trust And Loyalty
By investing in employee training and development, you are increasing their market value. You are telling them that you trust them and that you rely on them to take the company forward. You are equipping them with the skills they need to excel at their jobs, and you are paying for the certifications that go on their resumes. By doing all of this, you are making a clear statement that you value your employees. In turn, you will gain your employees’ trust and loyalty. They will think twice before switching to a different organization and employee retention will be the last of your worries.
4. You Are Always Ready To Work With The Latest Technology
Microsoft released a new operation system? Need to switch to a different cloud vendor? May be you need to set up a hybrid cloud to make sure your data is protected and backed up? All of these are major projects that need to be implemented in various stages and usually take months to move to completion depending on the scope of the project, the size of the organization, and the resources available. When you invest in employee training, your workforce is always ready to take on any challenges that come their way. Your workforce readiness is always close to where you want it to be, so when you ask your IT staff to take up a major project, skill set gap is never an issue.
5. You Can Scale The Organization And Promote From Within
By taking a beginner level networking professional and turning them into a certified solutions architect, you save yourself the trouble of looking for suitable candidates to hire for senior roles. When it is time to scale up and hire a leader, you look towards the members of your team and promote from within.
Think of this scenario. Jacob and Amy are both CompTIA Network+ certified professionals starting out at network admins for two different organizations. The organization Amy works for invests in her training and every year encourages her to gain an advanced certification (such as CompTIA Server+, CompTIA Cloud+, and CompTIA Linux+), while Jacob’s organization does not do the same. Chances are, Jacob will realize he is lagging behind and will invest in his own training, at the same time being open to job offers from the highest bidder. Meanwhile, Amy will be confident about her growth at the organization and will stick around, giving the organization the opportunity to promote her and promote her to a senior role. Jacob will still get the relevant certs and both may grow at a similar pace, but the organization that did not invest in Jacob’s training lost the opportunity to retain a valuable resource. They will probably keep hiring network admin after network admin, and will have to bear the cost of recruiting a new person every year.
In short, invest in your employees, equip them with the right skill set, and promote them to senior roles.
6. It Increases Productivity
Training equals better skills. Better skills equal great productivity. The math checks out. Employees who are trained are more engaged at work and are more productive. Don’t just take our word for it, there are multiple studies out there that show a directly proportional relationship between employee training, engagement, and productivity.
7. By Investing In Training, You Actually Save Money
Why spend thousands of dollars in training your employees? Because there is an ROI on that investment. The ROI is in the form of all the factors we have discussed in this article so far. From increased productivity to a ready workforce and beyond, you reap the benefits of what you sow in terms of employee training and development.
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