What is one professional development benefit you’ve seen companies offer to aid in their employee development efforts?
To help you with your employee development efforts, we asked CEOs and HR leaders this question for their best insights. From investing in online tools and courses to allowing in-house stints with different departments, there are several insights that may help you determine the best professional development benefits to offer your employees.
Here are nine tips to aid in your employee development efforts:
- Invest in Online Tools and Courses
- Invite Speakers for Motivational Talks
- Offer Therapy
- Implement Mentoring Programs
- Invest in Their Public Speaking Skills
- Provide Remote Telecommuting Opportunities
- Offer Tuition Reimbursement For Continuing Education
- Budget and Reimburse for External Coaching
- Allow In-House Stints With Different Departments
Invest in Online Tools and Courses
Transforming employees into future leaders will need a lot more than just guidance and support. You have to equip them with the best learning tools and opportunities to put their knowledge into practice. Only once they have the right training and resources to rely on can they live up to (and exceed) your expectations. Investing in online workshops, courses, and industry events is one such way of seeing this idea to fruition. The best way to go about it is putting in the research to compare various modes of learning and identifying which one suits the unique needs of individual employees.
Riley Beam, Douglas R. Beam, P.A.
Invite Speakers For Motivational Talks
We need the energy to grow in every area of our lives, also in careers. Providing educational benefits, such as courses and books, won’t succeed if employees lose the motivation to use them. Therefore, companies invite speakers to give motivational talks. It aids employee development by improving motivation.
Maciek Kubiak, PhotoAiD
Offer Therapy
While some may not consider it professional development in the traditional sense, offering employees counseling or therapy opportunities can help them grow as individuals. This will lead to healthier employees, and in turn, a healthier workplace. In addition, your employees will know that they are championed and cared for by their employer, and are much more likely to have a genuine loyalty to their workplace.
Tony Chan, CloudForecast
Implement Mentoring Programs
The pressures of a changing workforce combined with the Great Resignation, have led companies to implement succession plans for professional development, and the mentoring programs included are one of the most effective of these benefits. Every business has transition, and training current employees by assigning them to be mentored by coworkers, creates a unique on the job training environment that is not only informative, but also allows for a more relaxed environment in which to ask questions and engage.
Mentoring programs, in addition to furthering the development of the employee, offer the business a way to create new career opportunities, enhance the company culture, improve employee engagement and morale, and better retention rates. Mentoring programs signal the seriousness of a business’s commitment to their employees’ professional development, as well as an effort to maintain the company’s health.
Woody Sears, Hearhere
Invest in Their Public Speaking Skills
I once knew of a business that volunteered to pay the dues for employees to attend Toastmasters International. It’s a private club that affords people the opportunity to hone their public speaking skills in a nonjudgmental environment. Every future leader needs to be able to communicate clearly and concisely, and Toastmaster’s is a great career development resource. If you want to create a business that is full of happy employees, invest in them. The impact it has on your business will become obvious as morale grows.
Rachel Blank, Allara
Provide Remote Telecommuting Opportunities
With new startup companies disrupting the traditional business model and the option to telecommute and learn from anywhere, companies are competitively searching for the best talent out there. Candidates are looking for more career development and opportunity to express their ideas. Remote telecommuting, especially development programs, allows employees to have better work-life balance while focusing on individual development. Employees are looking for engagement and new challenges with flexible workplace policies. If companies don’t transition into the new societal environment employees are asking for, they are at risk of losing top talent.
Corey Ashton Walters, Here
Offer Tuition Reimbursement For Continuing Education
Some companies offer benefits to help employees continue their education. This is worthwhile both for employees and for companies; employees gain more knowledge in their field and they can use this knowledge to contribute more to the company. Furthermore, employees who receive these benefits appreciate it because school tuition is often expensive.
Matt Miller, Embroker
Budget and Reimburse for External Coaching
Every employee has a unique professional development need that can’t always be addressed through a one-size-fits-all training or workshop. This is what individual coaching can help address. Progressive companies and leaders recognize this. They’re making it accessible for employees to tap into a network of external coaching resources. Working with an external coach also provides a level of psychological safety that many employees feel is lacking when they receive any form of professional development that is offered internally by other company employees.
Leang Chung, Pelora Stack
Allow In-House Stints With Different Departments
One professional development benefit that only requires careful planning and coordination is offering employees the opportunity to work with various departments within the organization. For employees, the most significant advantage is that they now have the opportunity to develop their skills in an environment and process that is familiar and does not require major upheavals and adjustments to their day. For companies, the first advantage is that this benefit does not cost them too much in terms of resources. The second is that the program may help managers discover a loyal worker who proves even more productive in a different department.
Eva Taylor, WP Buffs
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