If Your Employees Aren't Learning, You're at Risk of Losing Them
One key factor in the recent barrage of resignations? Lack of training and skill development.
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As workers continue to leave their jobs amid the Great Resignation, you have to ask yourself: Could I be doing more to keep them? In a word, yes.
Naturally, hiking wages is one incentive for retaining workers, but it's hardly the only incentive. Besides reasonable pay, some workers want to feel like they're growing within their jobs. That their current situation will turn into improved future career prospects.
What's more, nearly two-thirds of employees say they would leave their jobs due to lack of growth and training opportunities, according to an August 2021 survey of 1,000 American workers released last week by Amdocs, a business-to-business digital software company.
Strong training and upskilling programs are a major draw for job applicants -- 90 percent of survey respondents consider them an important feature in prospective employers. That number jumps to 97 percent for employees in the tech industry.
Not only do these criteria help attract and retain top-tier talent, they're also beneficial to businesses that run them. According to the Association for Talent Development, a membership organization for workspace learning professionals, companies that offer to train employees generate 218 percent higher income per worker and have a 24 percent higher profit margin, compared to businesses that don't engage in similar programs.
To efficiently upskill or cross-train employees, businesses should personalize learning objectives and opportunities to each worker. Employees should apply their new knowledge through stretch assignments or career progression within their company, Chris McCarthy, CEO of skill development platform Degreed, previously told Inc.
According to Amdocs's survey, 56 percent of workers want to see their employers offer more training and career development programs in 2022. Smart businesses should consider this kind of employee investment the key to developing -- and maintaining -- a highly motivated workforce.
This article, written by Rebecca Deczynski, appeared first on Inc.
