At the start of the year, I wrote a blog about what many were dubbing the ‘Great Resignation’ as nearly three-quarters of us were considering looking for new employment during 2022.
It makes sense when you think about it… the global pandemic completely changed how we viewed our lives, priorities, and aspirations. As we emerged from the other side, we realised a flexible working life WAS possible, and it got us questioning where our skills and experiences could be best utilised.
As a result of this shift in thinking, retaining staff is a huge issue right now! Remote working widens the talent pool, and companies offering hybrid working options become more attractive to job seekers who may have felt excluded from the typical 9 to 5 of yesteryear.
This is great for companies and individuals alike, but it isn’t great for the all-important bottom line. Staff turnover can be one of the highest costs to a business. There are obvious costs such as advertising, recruitment, and HR costs, but also subtle costs such as reduced morale and productivity amongst existing employees.
In this blog I’d like to explore how your company can boost retention through personal development and explain the services I offer to support you on your journey to strengthen your skills in this area.
How personal development affects your business
Solid personal development should be an ongoing process of identifying areas for improvement and seeking opportunities to strengthen hard and soft skills at all levels of the organisation, including those at the very top!
For example, a hiring manager is the ‘face’ of a company during the recruitment process. To ensure you secure the best talent out there, their active listening, communication, and leadership skills are crucial for making a lasting, good impression. If these skills are lacking, there is the potential to scare away candidates who could be a fantastic fit to drive your business forward.
A great way to achieve this is to listen to what your employees are saying and what they want. More and more learning and development professionals are using employee engagement surveys to assess the impact of skill-building programmes.
According to LinkedIn’s 2022 Workplace Learning Report, employees’ top three motivations to learn are all connected to careers. They’re motivated to learn:
#1 If it helps them stay up to date in their field
#2 If it is personalised specifically for their interests and career goals
#3 If it helps them to get another job internally, be promoted or get closer to reaching their career goals.
Being able to advertise your robust development offer will assist you in attracting the crème de la crème! Over 80% of us would choose a new organisation over our current one if it offered greater training and development.
How to boost retention through development
1. Hit the ground running
Often, we wait for a new employee to ‘settle in’ and ‘find their feet’ before commencing their development journey. But connecting them to your learning programme early on can improve their initial experiences of your company and allow them to see how they can grow and progress through your organisation.
2. Make learning a habit
Good habits help us to achieve our goals and positively impact those around us.
There are some fantastic ideas out there to encourage teams to integrate learning into their working week. For example, you could create a company policy to block out one hour per week to take an online class or learn more about an area of your organisation.
Whilst many may choose to take an online class which directly links to their role, some may prefer to focus on an area which benefits their personal lives. All learning can contribute to the overall well-being and productivity of your co-workers.
3. Create a coaching culture
Historically, coaching was seen as a tool for senior management and high performers, but coaching can benefit all levels and is highly correlated to business performance.
Regular one-to-ones are an excellent opportunity to put learning and development at the top of the business agenda. Use these meetings to identify ways for employees to flourish by connecting them with worthwhile projects or learning opportunities in other areas of the business.
How WE can work together
As a career and personal development coach, I offer a broad range of services such as onboarding, work-life balance, stress management, productivity, leadership and career development coaching.
If you’d like help to recruit the right people to join your organisation or to ensure that individuals and/or teams work more effectively together then I can also support you using profiling tools such as DISC and Strengthscope.
Please contact me to book a phone consultation if you’d like to find out more about how I can help your company and you can also connect with me on LinkedIn here.
