How and Why Employee Development Increases Retention
By Wayne Nemeroff
 Building a winning development culture and fostering employee retention does not come from simply giving speeches, reading the latest book on management or attending an inspirational seminar. Developing an involved, effective, highly committed employee requires planning, commitment, and a variety of interventions and strategies that:
-Build continued confidence for employee challenges
-Improve skills in managing people
-Help employees become more aware of their impact on others
-Increase the motivation and ability to set and achieve organizational and personal goals
-Stimulate continuing skill development and career growth through self-directed and organization sponsored training
-Unleash the synergy of a collaborative team effort
It is not surprising that according to a survey conducted by the American Management Association (AMA), employee development issues were of top importance for employees and helped to improve retention. Eric Rolfe Greenberg, AMA’s Director of Management Studies says, “Investing in employeesÕ future is more important than immediate compensation. Programs that improve work skills and future career development are seen as particularly effective.”
The survey found the top employee development techniques used by organizations and the proportion of businesses using them as their retention strategy:
Employee Development Issues Used in Companies (%)
External conferences/seminars 78.1
Tuition reimbursement 67.3
Managerial training 66.8
Company support for degree 62.2
Interpersonal skills training 56.8
Technical training 54.5
Employability training 35.2
Other surveys around the globe have also indicated unambiguously how and why employee development increases retention. Some of them are as follows:
According to a study conducted by American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), a leading organization of workplace learning & performance professionals, top level organizations trained about 86% of their employees while typical companies trained just 74% of their people.
Findings from the EQW National Employer Survey show that a 10% increase in employee development resulted in about 8.6% gain in productivity on an average. At the same time, a 10% addition in equipment value increased productivity only by 3.4%.
As is evident, in this day and age, employee development has become one of the most desired employee benefits. Especially among younger candidates, opportunities for personal growth and professional development tend to have a very high importance. Fortunately, the good news is that it is easy to determine the development needs of individuals by using employee assessments. Assessment tools can help you pinpoint the developmental needs of each and every employee, and also provide a road map of what kind of training and development would be beneficial for the person, and useful for the organization overall.
It is quite evident that employee development not only leads to better productivity, but organizations that focus on employee development create a enduring impression on their people and earn their loyalty. And, loyal employees are very committed to their organization. These employees tend to stay with their organization not only in good times, but in challenging business times as well.
About the Author
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| Wayne Nemeroff, Psymax Solutions, LLC
25550 Chagrin Blvd. Suite 100
Beachwood, OH 44122
216-896-9991
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