Employee engagement is closely linked to the efforts their employer makes in training, learning, and development. There are an infinite number of ways to grow any business — Employee Development is a key process for an organization; and, Employee Development tools a key technology in this process. While most employers believe they do enough for Employee Development, employees find themselves disconnected from the process altogether. According to the latest national survey results from Instructure, conducted by The Harris Poll, there is a significant disconnect between how companies think they are doing when it comes to developing their workforce and the reality of employee needs.
In fact, 70% of US employees say they are at least somewhat likely to leave their current company and accept an offer with a new company that is known for investing in employee development, according to the study.
What is Employee Development?
Employee Development is defined as a process where an employer provides support to the employee through various training programs to enhance skills and acquire new knowledge and skills required to excel at the workplace. Hyper-growth companies and start-ups often find employees leaving en masse due to lack of enough skill training, development and personal growth. Employee Development enables any organization to balance the Operations with the tallest resources driving them.
Every organization has a specific need for effective employee development in workplaces. Traditionally, there has been a disconnect in the Employee Development advocates across industries even as employers struggle to retain top talent and unlock the potential of each employee. With the focus shifting to lean-sized teams and adoption of automation technology to outsource complex tasks to machines, the role of Employee Development can’t be ignored anymore.
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Employee Development Tools are Empowering People to Swim in Choppy Waters
The latest report finds that employees are hugely career-focused and lack opportunities within their current company force them to jump ships. More than one-third (34%) of the employees left jobs to satisfy their craving for better career opportunities. Second only to compensation (46%), lack of employee development initiatives force employees to leave.
Here’s why you should focus on Employee Development Tools
Employer vs. Employee Perspective
- Meeting Needs?: Employees give an F grade to their employers for employee development. While 98% of employers say they offer career development tools, only 26% of employees rate their employers’ tools as delivering development very well.
- People Feel Alone on their Career Journey: Three in four people (77%) reported that they feel like they are on their own to determine their career development.
- Many Tools, No Solutions: Today’s talent management tools are not making the cut, creating an opportunity for a new category of employee development tools. Even though 98% of employers say they offer career development tools already, when asked what they want to invest in, career development tools were the top choice of employers (27%) – nearly twice as likely to be chosen as any other option. Even with an abundance of tools, employers recognize that something is missing as they struggle with retention rates.
Mitch Benson, SVP of product at Instructure, said, “Today’s workforce has options, and people are clear about the fact that they want to work for companies that will invest in their careers. In addition to today’s announced research findings, our own research with more than 600 in-depth interviews across 200 roles shows a need for a more employee-centric solution. With Bridge, companies find a true strategic solution to increase employee growth, engagement, and performance.”
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“We are now in a stage where most companies have too much technology, and not enough time,” said Josh Bersin, a global industry analyst.
Josh added, “A major part of today’s employee experience is simplifying the technology experience and designing HR programs that happen ‘in the flow of work.’ With its new Bridge offering, Instructure has been able to put employee development at the center of the employee experience. I believe Bridge is the type of platform people will use daily, from tracking performance to facilitating one-on-ones, to mapping career progression and enabling skills growth.”
How to Boost Employee Development for Employers, Managers and the People?
There are numerous Employee Development tools and programs available in the marketplace for employers. They help to drive employee engagement daily, helping Managers to align priorities, company objectives and employees skills with a Development Map. The Bridge Employee Development Platform is one of them. It offers s unique employee-centric solution to help companies identify and deliver all the learning and experiences critical for employee growth and development.
- For the employee: Bridge supports productive onboarding, regular performance feedback, and coaching, and setting long-term career vision and plans.
- For the manager: Bridge helps managers understand their employees’ career drivers, provides a central place to track goals, tasks, and enables regular coaching conversations.
- For the employer: Bridge helps increase employee retention, fulfillment, and alignment to business performance.
Bridge Career is an employee-centric career development tool that helps individuals align their roles with their long-term career vision. It supports skill development, increased fulfillment, and
“Continuous dialogue between a manager and employee is the best method to ensure goal alignment, learning, performance feedback, and recognition,” said Robert Buckley, SVP of HR at RainFocus.
Robert added, “We make this easy by using the Bridge Employee Development Platform. It sets a precedent for superior design and usability and enables our people leaders to focus on individualized feedback, learning, and career growth.”