4 Ways To Use Employee Development for Engagement & Retention
Training and development have a significant impact on employee retention as it increases confidence, performance, and satisfaction. Seeing a path of professional development encourages more interaction within the company and a drive to work towards goals. By investing in employee development and engagement, employee satisfaction increases, and in turn, retention follows. So, how do you utilize employee development for engagement and retention?
1. Highlight your employee development program in your recruitment package
By having a structured employee development program, the benefits can begin in the recruitment stage. When candidates know the company has a program in place to help them explore their goals and growth within the organization, it will attract and retain growth-minded, goal-oriented individuals, and set you apart from the employment competition.
2. Train for potential promotions
Internal recruitment remains an effective strategy that works in tandem with workforce development. Having a clear pathway and opportunities to train, develop, and upskill towards a specific higher position supports workforce engagement and retention. However, consider that some employees may only be driven by development opportunities within their current position, while others might want to strive for more. Setting each pathway as an optional track is an effective way to cover all options.
3. Invest in continuing education
There are opportunities for low-cost development and training that requires more investment. Consider the cost of employee development based on your industry and your number of employees to determine how much your organization can support ongoing education.
If you have the budget, employee development and engagement could include financially supporting employees to get initial or advanced certifications or degrees that may or may not be necessary for their current and future positions. The budget could include a tuition reimbursement, conference attendance and travel, or training and testing fees. Or on the lower-cost end, you could include in-house or on-the-job training programs like mentorships and apprenticeships.
Another creative avenue to support employee development and engagement is to invite employees to participate in company collaboration and feedback, offer lunch and learns, or build your own training tutorials. By hosting programs that encourage collaboration with team members, you also have the potential to build team engagement, camaraderie, and a positive culture.
4. Access tools to promote an inclusive program
A program driven by leadership supports the inclusion of all employees’ development. This concept allows all employees opportunities to explore their goals so that no one is overlooked. A structured platform accompanied by management buy-in will streamline this process to support the goals, engagement, and retention of all employees in a customized fashion.
Cangrade’s Workforce Development software delivers personalized development pathways, coursework, and coaching tips to encourage employee development, engagement, and retention.
Workforce development with the goal of retention and engagement is a great way to pave a path for an employee’s future success and to have them stick around to turn their goals into achievements. The use of these strategies and tools can support your efforts to build a program that works for your company and culture.
Looking for more ways to increase your retention? Find out how Cangrade’s new Retention Forecast can help you predict candidate success and retention, so you can start reducing attrition before you even hire.