Statistics reveal that companies are placing an ever-increasing importance on providing professional development programs and initiatives that resonate with their workforce. Advocates understand that the widening scope and variety of initiatives can have an outsized impact on employee morale, performance, and engagement on an individual level. Thanks to an extremely tight labor market, companies who place a strong emphasis on professional development, training, and ongoing education for their workforce reap the benefits of attracting – and retaining – top talent in what is becoming an increasingly competitive marketplace. As such, it’s abundantly clear that investing in employee growth and development offers organizations a straightforward path to a mutually beneficial future.
Yet despite these conclusions, it appears the C-suite may still need further convincing. This article shares recent data and statistics that highlight the innate value of investing in a better future for your employees and how it can pay dividends at the corporate level. Executive leadership teams that fail to acknowledge the demand – and benefits – of creating meaningful training and professional development programs may eventually face a stark reality. Failure to acknowledge and consider the ramifications of discounting the value of workforce development and improvement initiatives is unwittingly putting the growth and success of their organization’s future at risk.
Stark Divisions on the Value of Training and Professional Development
According to a recent survey from edX, a leading provider of online learning and educational resource platforms, there’s still a wide disparity in how the c-suite and employees feel about training and professional development programs in their workforce. In a report titled “Navigating the Workplace in the Age of AI,” edX partnered with Workplace Intelligence to query 800 C-suite executives (500 of whom were CEOs) and 800 individual employees. Here are a couple of their most dramatic findings:
- 84 percent of employees look to employers to provide both training and continuing education
- More than half of the c-suite responders shared that these programs were a “waste of time”
But wait, there is more…
- 65 percent of C-suite executives believe their employees are already satisfied with what they offer
- Only 32 percent of employee respondents agreed
It is widely accepted that there is a difference in professional development, which benefits an employee’s future growth, and training, which is designed to improve and refine performance in an employee’s current role. These are the twin pillars from which most internal improvement programs spring. Professional development initiatives are vital to advancing careers by improving employee skill sets in technology, communication, leadership, and critical thinking. Training is used for the here and now to improve employee performance in their current roles. In a perfect world, organizations should place an equal emphasis on both.
Deciding What’s Right for Your Organization
Companies who have yet to experience the full value of training and professional development programs must decide what is right for their organization, and how it fits into their unique corporate culture. Often, the most successful initiatives are deployed when there is input and decision-making from both the boardroom and the trenches. How do you begin the brainstorming process to explore the right choices? Two distinct avenues of open communication have proven themselves to be effective: company-based discussions and employee surveys. For the latter, anonymity is typically recommended to ensure that all have an equal voice in recommending professional development and training programs – without fear of future repercussions.
A Trend to More Diverse and Creative Initiatives
Newsflash: professional development and training programs don’t have to follow the staid patterns and offerings of yesteryear. In fact, companies and organizations have become increasingly creative in crafting initiatives that not only resonate with employees and the C-suite alike but also greatly impact the level of participation. It’s becoming much more commonplace to consider development and programs that closely align with an individual organization’s core values and mission statements. Below are a few examples that highlight the increasing diversity of training and professional development options:
- Gamification – borne of the rise in mobile apps that reward users for levels of participation and engagement, there is a noticeable trend in developing competition-based initiatives that encourage company-wide participation. When gamification is applied to training programs, it can speed up the learning curve, motivate employees to achieve, and enhance wider participation in the process
- Cross-Training – when cross-training development and training programs are utilized, it fosters a deeper understanding of each employee’s individual roles within the company. This, in turn, leads to an increase in mutual respect among the workforce. But there’s a tangible benefit as well, as it also ensures that companies are adequately staffed to cover responsibilities beyond their own job description – the ultimate safety net
- Burnout Management – creating a healthy, productive, and happy environment should be at the top of every list for creating diverse training and professional development programs. One study recently revealed that 65% of employees suffered from burnout in 2023. And almost three-quarters of those respondents admitted it had an adverse effect on their performance
What’s at Stake
In today’s ultra-competitive world, companies and organizations should place an increasing emphasis on creating diverse and beneficial training and professional development programs. While developing and implementing these initiatives does require a dedicated budget, the return on investment often far exceeds the cost. Progress is measured in the increase in productivity, job satisfaction, employee retention, and the recruitment of top-notch talent. This brings us back to the edX survey. More than three-quarters of employees shared they would stay with a company in the long-term, provided they offer quality opportunities for further training and professional development. Almost half of those respondents shared that, in the absence of these quality initiatives, they would have no problem leaving their jobs for greener pastures.
C-suite executives responsible for leading the direction of their companies would do well to consider exactly what is at stake.
