Employee Development: 8 Benefits for Your Business

If you want an engaged, high-quality workforce committed to your business's success, one of the best things you can do is invest in employee development. Discover exactly what employee development is and explore eight specific benefits of developing your employees.

What is employee development?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the verb "develop" means "to grow or change into a more advanced, larger, or stronger form" [1]. Employee development is similar in that it involves employers investing in employees to make them more motivated, skilled, and knowledgeable. In other words, it fosters employee growth and allows them to realise their potential fully.

Employee development can also improve employee morale and strengthen work relationships. What's more, when you show employees that they matter by investing in their growth, they respond with greater loyalty and better performance. It's a win-win.

8 specific benefits of employee development

From cultivating an environment that attracts top talent and retains its employees to narrowing skills gaps and increasing performance, employee development offers diverse advantages. To get a better sense of how employee development can help your business, check out the following eight benefits:

1. Better talent pipeline

Employees are attracted to companies that encourage them (and pay them) to grow professionally. When companies care about employees, word gets around. So, if you invest in employee development, chances are you'll get a talent pool that contains plenty of qualified and motivated individuals. 

Employee development also empowers employees to grow and advance within the company by preparing them to take on new roles and responsibilities as they become available. In turn, it can help an organisation fill leadership or specialised roles more quickly and efficiently.

2. Empowered employees

When employees gain knowledge and skills, they feel more empowered. According to the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, empowered employees tend to be more creative, engaged, confident, and autonomous (or willing to make decisions). These decisions tend to be more thoughtful and lead to better outcomes for the business [2].

3. Reduced skill gaps

Regular assessment can help identify areas where your workforce may need additional training and support. When you engage in employer-sponsored education and training, you can target these skill gaps to ensure your workforce is at its peak with high-demand skills. 

4. Increased worker satisfaction

Many workers look at job training opportunities as gifts, so it’s unsurprising that job training results in greater worker satisfaction. In addition, it's pleasing to employees when they learn new knowledge and skills, making them feel more competent at their jobs. 

5. Improved job performance

Employee development can help employees acquire skills that they can use to perform their jobs more effectively. Depending on the position and place of work, it's possible to boost job performance with technical and workplace skills. A few focus areas to consider include:

• Time management

• Organisational skills

• Communication and collaboration

• Business-specific software

• Writing and presentation skills

6. Higher employee retention 

Your people are often your company's greatest asset, so keeping them is essential. Employees are more committed to companies that invest in employee training programmes than companies that don't. This commitment means employees are less likely to leave when companies provide training. 

Retaining top talent will save you money on costly external recruiting efforts, such as outside recruiters, job postings, candidate screenings, reference and background checks, and employee orientations.

7. Enhanced collaboration

When employees participate in educational or training programmes together, they forge bonds. Teams that bond often communicate and collaborate better, which can help your business thrive. Employee development in a team setting also establishes a shared understanding of your company's goals and priorities, increases trust between colleagues, and can lead to a more diverse range of perspectives and ideas.

8. Boost in profits

When choosing how to run your business, it's always good to consider your bottom line. 

Employers who engage in employee development have significantly higher sales and profits than employers who don't. It is particularly true if employee development is strengths-based, meaning an employer focuses on enhancing an employee's strengths rather than weaknesses when creating development programmes.

How to invest in employee development

Knowing the different ways you can invest in employee development helps ensure your team is as strong and knowledgeable as possible. The following list offers a few ideas for you to use as a starting point. 

Make use of employee development plans.

An employee development plan is a tool that companies can use alongside employee evaluations. After the employer and employee discuss professional strengths and weaknesses, they develop a blueprint for filling in knowledge and skill gaps with specific learning and training opportunities.

Utilise online and in-person training.

Employees enjoy virtual training because they can complete it from home and interact with people from all over the country or the world. Employers can save money with virtual training because they don't have to pay for hotels, airfare, and meals. 

In-person employee training offers a few other benefits. First, employees can interact face-to-face and ask questions, often resulting in better communication and greater clarity. Second, when several employees attend in-person training, they learn simultaneously. It can be helpful when employees need to be on the same page, like when launching a new project, product, or service.

Engage in employee mentorship.

Mentoring benefits the mentee (person being mentored), the mentor, and the organisation. The mentee gains knowledge from a trusted organisation member, which can boost competency and confidence. The mentor gets satisfaction from sharing knowledge with a mentee and contributing to the organisation's success. Your organisation benefits from more knowledgeable and connected employees. 

Different types of mentoring include shadowing, which involves following and observing one mentor for a specific period, or rotating from department to department for overall learning.

Next steps

Employee development is essential for ensuring your staff builds skills and remains competitive. It can help businesses avoid a skills gap, increase satisfaction, and improve productivity. 

Continue learning about employee development and how you can implement it for yourself or your company with the range of courses and resources listed on Coursera. For example, you could check out HRCI’s Learning and Development course as part of a wider HRCI Human Resource Associate Professional Certificate as a starting point.