Taking care of employees is crucial for attracting and retaining top-tier talent. A progressive company culture, competitive salaries, and traditional benefits will always be a strong foundation for a...
Recruiting & Employee Retention
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4 min read
Let’s take a snapshot of the American labor market from March 2022: The number of unfilled job positions had just reached a record 11.5 million; 4.5 million employees quit their jobs; and demand for workers far outpaced supply, forcing many companies to raise wages and enhance benefits to entice talent. Though there are signs the job market is slowing very slightly, we are still very much in a candidate’s market.
With the labor situation showing no signs of cooling off, employee engagement is going to play a key role in helping organizations attract and retain top-notch employees. One way to boost engagement is to provide ample training and development opportunities within your company. Consider the following statistics here and throughout the post:
- 74% of employees feel they aren’t reaching their full potential at work due to a lack of development opportunities.
- 76% of millennials believe professional development opportunities are one of the most important aspects of company culture.
- 76% of employees say that a company would be more appealing if it offered additional skills training to its staff.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss why offering training and professional development opportunities to your employee base can help your organization recruit and retain top talent. We’ll also give you tips for offering executive leadership learning paths and digital training programs.
Employee Training and Development Programs Help Improve Retention Efforts
To have a successful team, you need to ensure they have the skills and knowledge that allow them to be more productive. A successful training and development program can also help employees feel greater job satisfaction and boost engagement, which means less turnover for the company.
With many organizations running lean while they search for hiring prospects, current employees are looking to grow their skills so they can contribute more and advance their careers. This also helps with retention efforts, which is important because over 70% of high-retention-risk employees reported they would leave their company in order to advance their careers.
Did you know that retention rates for companies that foster a strong learning culture rise by 30-50%? To create a learning culture in your organization that is taken seriously, formalize your training and development programs and consider rewarding employee participation. This will give your efforts clout and promote company-wide engagement.
Of course, your organization’s learning and development offerings should be touted during the recruiting process to attract prospective candidates, but remember to keep communicating with employees about these programs throughout their employment lifecycle in order to boost retention.
Communicating with Your Employees About Training and Development Opportunities
How you communicate before training is just as important as how you communicate during the training. Getting the buy-in of leadership and employees is key. Circle back with leadership and share how the training program is aligned with the business goals.
When communicating with employees, set expectations and provide an accurate description of the class and topics to be covered. Explain what they will gain from participating, tying it back to their feedback when possible. Moreover, let employees know that they can reach out to your training team if they have any questions or concerns about their professional development.
Training and Development to Retain Executive Leadership
Salary is a key component in executive-level recruiting, but retention activities such as bonuses, incentives, profit-sharing rewards, and professional development are essential in retaining executive-level employees.
Despite this, 59% of managers who oversee one to two employees report having no training at all, and 41% of managers who oversee three to five employees claim the same. Meanwhile, 60% of millennial employees expect leadership training, and 67% of Gen Z leaders want more development opportunities.
eLearning and Digital Training Solutions for Remote Workers
Over the years, the landscape of learning has dramatically evolved, and technology has given us the ability to learn anytime, anywhere from a computer or a mobile device. eLearning programs have allowed businesses to create meaningful, real-world learning processes for all types of learners to engage with digitally.
This is where swbcU comes in! swbcU is our all-in-one training platform that features a robust learning management system, an extensive eLearning catalog (professional, technical, and compliance courses), learning paths curated by training experts, and gamification and social components.
Investing in employee training and development is critical to any organization’s—and its employees’—success. It's often difficult to allocate the necessary time and resources to find a high-quality training program that’s flexible and meets all your business needs.
swbcU can help take your organization to the next level. Whether your business already has resources in place or you're just starting to build a culture of growth and looking for real solutions, your company can realize the benefits of a workforce that is continually honing their skill set through ongoing training.
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