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We all want to feel like we're going places in our careers. The same is true of your workers -- and if they get the sense that they’re treading water at your organization, there's bad times for your company ahead.
An employee development plan is a necessary part of human resource planning, and really it's hard to do an effective job of strategically managing human resources without one.
Even if you mostly deal with contract employees or temporary workers, there's value in an individual development plan. No matter what your relationship is with your workforce, you can always improve it through finding ways to benefit and develop your employees.
An employee development plan or performance improvement plan is a process through which an employee can grow within an organization, chiefly in two ways: by charting out pay increases and additional benefits during their employment in the company, and by providing opportunities for professional growth through training and development of skills for new roles and responsibilities.
Such a plan is vital to long-term workforce planning because it ensures you’re developing people to fill important, advanced positions within your company rather than having to hire people from outside.
The benefits of a development plan are wide-ranging, but generally they fall into three main areas.
Employee retention is key for one very good reason from a business perspective: money. An employee development plan can save companies a lot by ensuring that your workers stay put.
One report found that the average U.S. employer spends $4,000 and takes 24 days to hire a new worker. That's a lot of money and lost productivity whenever an employee leaves, not to mention the fact that a brand new employee typically is not going to be anywhere near as productive as a veteran.
By retaining your employees, you can reduce your turnover rate and avoid the expensive disruptions that come when a worker takes a more lucrative opportunity.
Beyond just keeping workers within your organization, an employee development plan can also make them more motivated and improve their skills, which benefits them and you.
You can use a plan to identify real benefits and growth opportunities that will increase the motivation of your employees. And by teaching them new skills and providing opportunities for advancement, you grow strong, talented workers in your company that will serve you for years to come.
Yes, people usually buy from you because they want your product or service. But your company's image matters a lot, particularly when there are competitors they could also do business with.
If you've developed a reputation for a great working environment and happy, helpful employees, that will cause customers to trust your brand more -- and trust is a key element in sales.
But just how do you even get started with an employee growth plan? It’s a fairly straightforward process, but it will take a lot of introspection and evaluation on your part. Here are some employee development plan ideas to help you out.
The first thing you need to do as an organization is to set some goals, which will help guide how you craft an employee development plan in order to achieve those goals. This might be a good time to bring in an HR business partner to figure out what your overall strategy should be.
Essentially, you want to be sure that you don't just pull a development plan out of a hat and hope that it fits your organization. You want to carefully craft one that includes what is best for both the organization and the employee.
Tips for setting goals
Here’s a couple of ways that you can ensure that you are setting the right goals for long-term success:
It's a bad idea to attempt to create a development plan for employees without talking to employees first. Consider a company-wide survey on the things that matter to them.
Most likely, that's more pay. But they probably value other things like more vacation time, more training, and opportunities for advancement. By getting specifics from them, you start to get a clearer picture of what your eventual employee development plan should look like.
Tips for talking to workers
Here are a couple of tips for starting that conversation with your workers in a way that will be productive for everyone:
The phrase "dead-end job" is a killer for a company's retention rates, and you absolutely don't want that label. In order to avoid that, you'll need to map out clear and achievable career paths for your employees.
They need to see exactly what it will take to go from entry-level employee to a high-ranking executive. This will fuel their motivation to go above and beyond, and will make it easier to find qualified workers for high-level roles without having to look outside the company.
Tips for mapping out career paths
This step should be taken with care, and there are three things you should keep in mind while mapping it out:
In addition to career paths, you'll also need to determine what kind of pay increases and benefits you will offer down the road. While this is often tied to promotions, you should have a separate plan that ensures that, even without promotion, your employees are being rewarded for longevity at your company.
Tips for figuring out pay and benefits
Don’t discount this step, which for many employees may be the most important of all. Observe these two tips in particular;
Once you have the employee development plan in place, you can't stop there. You should be evaluating the plan on a regular basis. Talk to your managers about how the employees are progressing.
Talk to the employees about whether the rewards are enticing enough or if the path is too difficult. Examine workforce analytics to determine if you're experiencing an increase in productivity as a result of the plan.
Tips for evaluating
You’ll need to sharpen the saw from time to time, so don’t make the mistake of setting the wheels in motion and not bothering to check back. More than likely, you’ll need to make tweaks. So keep these three things in mind:
The longer you go without an employee development plan, the more you risk seeing valuable employees walk out the door for better opportunities.
Now is the time to start carving out time in your schedule to talk to some of your managers and employees about an overall goal for your workforce that incorporates the needs of both employees and the company.
The sooner you start those conversations, the sooner you can get a plan in place that will take your company to the next level.
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