While a lot of people seem content with their 9 to 5 job, there are those who dream of growing professionally throughout their career. As an employer, you have a lot to gain by investing time and resources in these ambitious individuals. Sure, there’s only so much you can do for them in this regard but by giving them a platform for growth and development, you’ll set them on a path where they can help themselves. Here are five tips to help you do so.
1. Create a development plan. The first thing you need to do when you decide to hire new employees is to create and establish a development plan. Early on, sometimes even as early as the day you’ve hired them, you may be able to imagine that person in a particular position in your company. Most employees start at an entry-level job, yet, some people you can just see in HR, junior management or amongst your creatives. By grooming them for these positions, you’ll secure a much safer future for your brand. This especially goes when it comes to recognizing future leaders.
2. Pair people with mentors. Once you have this figured out, it will be pretty easy to find someone with enough skill and experience in this position and instruct them to help this prospect out a bit. Pairing up people with mentors is something that doesn’t have to be anything formal or official. For instance, you can just instruct a senior employee to pay a tad closer attention to one new colleague and help them out with certain tasks. Experience transfer is a process that happens spontaneously, even without direct tutoring. On the other hand, you could also start a mentoring program and do this in a more formal manner.
3. Encourage people to grow. The next thing you need to do is encourage the growth of your staff by supporting your employees every step of the way and even providing them with some assistance. Sure, you might not be able to finance an entirety of their educational path but you could at least provide them with some RTO materials or help them out in other ways. Encouragement also comes in other ways and you can support a self-improving employee by giving them a raise or a promotion. Providing this form of incentive can be a determining factor in their future willingness to continue down on this path.
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4. Networking is an immense help. Another thing you can do to help your employees grow and develop is to get them in touch with people who might play a huge role in their future career. Sure, networking is something that everyone in the business world is supposed to do on their own, however, you, as an employer have a certain aura of authority and respect around you. It’s not the same thing if you introduce your latest recruit with a niche-expert and if they make this introduction on their own. Your employee is bound to feel a certain dose of gratitude (even though you’re not doing it to earn credit with them), which, in time, might grow into loyalty.
5. Challenge them every day. At the end of the day, all the knowledge in the world means nothing if your employees can’t find the time or place to apply it. Moreover, theoretical knowledge isn’t known to keep people motivated for too long, which is why you need to give your employees an opportunity to test what they’ve learned. The easiest way to do so is to challenge them every single day. Also, the easiest way to lose their interest is to let the job become boring, repetitive and predictable. Create a scenario in which they have to use their abilities, skills and talents every single day and you’re bound to help them grow.
In conclusion
At the end of the day, there’s one thing that each employer fears. This is the scenario where you invest in someone’s training and help them become a formidable name in the industry, only for them to be poached by a competitor. Sure, it’s impossible to avoid this with 100% reliability, yet the above-listed tips also help boost employee loyalty, which directly contributes to talent retention. In other words, by showing your employees that their career is important to you, you’re bound to earn some of this loyalty back.
