Why is supporting employee career growth important?
Supporting your employees’ professional advancement helps their careers and brings many benefits to your business:
- Increase employee happiness and well-being
- Improve employee engagement
- Better your employee retention and reduce turnover
- Attract top talent.
- Support diversity, equity and inclusion efforts
Understand employee aspirations
Do you know where your employees hope to be in 5 years? Or 10 years?
To best support staff, it’s valuable for company leaders to understand their employees’ long-term and short-term career goals. This will allow you to assess team members better and develop effective plans for reaching their goals while still meeting the company’s priorities.
Establish mentorship programs
A mentorship program can help new employees settle in and connect with seasoned employees. More experienced team members are familiar with the company’s culture and expectations. This allows mentors to give great advice and guidance to their mentees. Staff looking to transfer into a new role can also benefit from participating in mentorship programs. When learning by example, employees will better understand their obligations and how to perform at their best.
If you were wondering, yes, these programs benefit the mentors just as much as the mentees. Participating as a mentor allows for growing soft skills such as leadership, communication and emotional intelligence.
Create a culture of learning
Employee career advancement can be better supported by fostering a culture of learning. When everyone on the team understands, learning and development are encouraged, and celebrated employees will begin to thrive.
Encourage your employees to participate in skill-building activities and share their knowledge with their colleagues. Partake in training opportunities to model these values, whether online or in person.
Offer real-time feedback
Performance management should be treated as an ongoing process. Instead of waiting for your annual reviews, give feedback in real-time. Offer regular one-on-ones with your staff to discuss creating career plans and steps toward their goals. Offering feedback helps employees recognize their areas of weakness and adjust their career plans accordingly.
To give adequate feedback, you should be open to receiving it as well. No matter where you stand on the work totem pole, there can always be room to grow. Employees will be more accepting of feedback when they see their managers taking it graciously.
Support work-life balance
Career advancement takes hard work, but that doesn’t mean you must commit to regular overtime. Encourage employees to set boundaries between work and their personal life.
According to a 2022 report by Indeed, employees’ happiness at work affects their home life. If your team is satisfied with their work and home life, they will be less stressed and more motivated to perform.
Fund educational courses
Formal education can get pricey. But you might have to pay up if your team wants to better themselves. Implement educational funding programs to encourage staff to complete degrees or specialized licenses. Whether you cover a portion or pay 100% of the fees relieving your team of the financial burden will make them more inclined to pursue further education.
Provide recognition and rewards
Give your employees something to strive for. Career advancement is a marathon, not a sprint. It can take time for employees to develop their talent. A rewards program will keep your team motivated and feel appreciated for their efforts on their growth journey.
Offer advancement opportunities
Don’t just give your staff the tools to advance when you also have the power to provide opportunities. Doing so will allow employees to apply their growing skills and reach their career goals. Whether it’s a promotion or a lateral move with a change in responsibilities, your employees will flourish if they are satisfied with their work.
Providing these opportunities plays into your retention plans. If employees still have room to grow with your company, they’re less likely to look for other opportunities.
IT Recruitment Agency in Toronto | About Live Assets | IT Staffing Solutions
Live Assets is a boutique IT Staffing/Recruiting firm specializing exclusively in building IT teams of excellence for the Information Technology sector.
We are a small, but productive team that works closely together and has had a 96% success rate for the past number of years!
We have a diverse number of clients and industries and focus on both full-time and contract I.T. opportunities.
You can find out more about our company on LinkedIn – Twitter – Facebook –Youtube – Glassdooor