Today’s rapid digital evolution, a multigenerational workforce, and shorter shelf life for knowledge have all placed more importance on upskilling and the need for staff to be continually learning new skills.
Research carried out by LinkedIn found that the main way for employees to be productive and achieve goals is for employers to provide them with opportunities for continuous learning.
But the advantages of effective L&D go even further and can deliver a myriad of company-wide benefits. Here are just some of them that you can reap:
Improved performance
An excellent place to start! Businesses that place an emphasis on learning and development can expect to see improved overall performance as staff learn integral skills and capabilities. They create an employee-centric process where learning is an ongoing event that the entire company is a part of – not just the HR department. If a continuous learning culture is implemented correctly, it can drive performance, boost employee engagement and develop the future leaders that every business needs, small or large.
Increased satisfaction and morale
There’s a wealth of research showing that involving staff in learning and development has a positive impact on their job satisfaction and morale. This appears to be true across all generations currently in the workforce. For Millennial employees, learning and development opportunities are the single most important factor in feeling job satisfaction (at 41%) — a figure which is reflected among their Generation X forerunners.
Improved productivity
Well trained, satisfied staff are likely to see an upswing in their individual productivity. And the impact on teams is also impressive. In the same survey, 90% of employers said that upskilling a single employee positively impacted the productivity of the whole team.
Improved staff retention
We have a workforce who care more than ever about learning and developing personally, and the lack of these opportunities can be a major contributing factor to staff turnover. Providing challenging, relevant and high-quality L&D within their role is an excellent way to retain staff, keeping that talent within your company and so reducing the financial and time costs of recruitment.
Enhanced reputation
In a competitive workplace, with unemployment at its lowest point in years, employees need to be able to attract, train and retain the best staff for their business. Building a reputation as an organisation that places the proper emphasis on Learning and Development will definitely help to boost your brand as an employer and so attract high-quality people.
Want to find out how your business can make the most of Learning and Development? We offer a range of bespoke, on-demand workshops and masterclasses that can be tailored to your team’s needs. Contact us to find out more.