6 Ways HR Can Encourage Employee Development?
Employee development is extremely essential for an organisation to assure its success within the competitive business industry today. From the very first moments an employee enters into the organisation, employees are found to be developing their skills, knowledge and personal attitudes. Moreover, it becomes extremely critical for Human Resources (HR) departments to effectively monitor and encourage a positive and strong employee development process to get the best results for your organisational employees.
HR departments will effectively utilise a variety of tools, procedures and tricks to effectively prompt fast-tracked employee development. When employee development is achieved a variety of benefits such as increased employee satisfaction levels, increased employee performance and an increased level of employee creativity to name a few benefits may be attained. Correspondingly, provided within this blog are 6 ways HR can encourage employee development.
Offer Training and Development Programs
The most critical and essential way for HR to effectively encourage employee development is through offering employees with training and development programs. Specifically, both training programs and development programs will ensure that employees throughout an organisation are provided with the tools to effectively gain new skills, discover new knowledge and tricks to complete daily operations increasingly successfully.
HR departments may assess what specific training or development program an employee could need and then drive them to effectively complete the program through open communication covering the specific benefits that the program will provide to the employee. Furthermore, when employees are offered training and development programs, HR should ensure that the program is up to date, not overly difficult and aims to empower employees.
Utilise HRIS
To effectively encourage employee development HR managers may effectively utilise a Human Resource Information System (HRIS). A HRIS may be used through effectively assessing the attempts, progress and completion rates of employees training and development programs. Specifically, a HRIS system will provide HR managers with a powerful learning management system that provides an extremely in-depth and analytical dashboard that may be utilised to make strategic decisions.
The strategic decisions that HR managers may make involve specific decisions to enhance the data positively to increase the development of employees within the organisation. When HR managers notice employees are failing to complete certain programs, or are unsatisfied with the program, HR managers may take corrective action to ensure that employees will develop effectively.
Support Mentoring and Coaching
HR can effectively encourage employee development through showing an extensive support for mentoring and coaching throughout the organisation. Specifically, when a business allows employees to have mentors and coaches, the organisations’ employees can effectively diversify their skill set, knowledge and attitudes efficiently. This is due to mentors and coaches having a large amount of experience to share with developing employees.
Likewise, mentors and coaches offer support to employees in need, effectively teaching them how to overcome issues they are struggling with and further finding new perspectives to overcome any obstacle found. Furthermore, when at work a mentor and coach will assure the professional development of employees as they can share resources and knowledge to grow and further maximise individual performance in the most effective way possible.
Help Improve Employee Soft Skills
An effective way that HR can effectually encourage employee development is through helping employees improve soft skills. Soft skills include skills such as being able to communicate clearly, listen to others, resolve conflicts, work well in teams and further to manage time effectively to name a few. Specifically, when HR managers help in improving employees’ soft skills, employees become increasingly engaged in the work they are completing.
Correspondingly, this will then have a positive effect on the employee, whereby the employee will actively utilise their soft skills personally and professionally. In turn, an employee will then exhibit soft skills to work more strongly within an organisation, showing a genuine satisfaction with their job and further working more strongly with others, which can likely develop a greater amount of employees’ knowledge, skills and workplace activity understanding.
Encourage Cross-Departmental Teamwork
To effectively encourage employee development HR managers could encourage cross-departmental teamwork throughout the organisation. When employees within the organisation are encouraged to work well with others from other departments new skills, attitudes and personal development opportunities may effectively arise. When departments work together new perspectives to tasks and activities may be highlighted.
For example, if marketing teams and direct sales teams worked closely with one another, a significant improvement of lead generation, prospective closure and further communication may be attained. Moreover, HR managers have the power to encourage departments to work well together. This is seen through HR highlighting the benefits of working with certain other departments through open communication.
Incentivise Development
A powerful way that HR managers could effectively encourage employee development is through incentivising employee development. Specifically, employees may be encouraged to complete training programs, development programs or work to develop their skills and self-compared to previous periods through HR managers offering rewards.
HR managers may outline a specific requirement, steps or even process in which employees will work towards achieving and completing tasks to have a corresponding development on themselves to attain offered rewards. Likewise, incentives aim to drive motivation levels and further increase the overall satisfaction of employees working within the organisation. Therefore, HR can effectively assure employee development by offering incentives to employees.
