Almost every employee today expects that organizations care about their career advancement goals and will enable them by providing enough opportunities and training to pursue such a trajectory. Doing so shows a commitment from your organization to the employee’s goals and can thus inspire a renewed motivation in their commitment to yours. With the traditional career development ladder rapidly disappearing and the one company person principle fading away, it is ever trickier for organizations to retain employees who are likely to jump ship every 2-3 years.
A significant cause for employees leaving their jobs has been dissatisfaction with career development opportunities, and it becomes increasingly difficult for managers to cope with a changing team and maintain steady progress. Even during the pandemic, it is necessary to continue providing such opportunities as neglecting this can result in employees leaving as soon as the economy restabilizes. To tackle such problems, here are a few ways you can support their career advancement.
Support Continuous Learning
Job training and skilling is a crucial aspect of career development and encouraging employees to participate in relevant courses can go a long way. Many employees feel that a skills gap exists and consider training an important aspect of employment. To facilitate that opportunity would then greatly improve their job satisfaction. Such training is also not very difficult for organizations to provide.
At CtrlS and Cloud4C, we don’t just facilitate training for new hires to learn job related skills, but also help them develop soft skills and enable them to gel into the company culture of collaboration and team spirit.
Help Them See Their Fit
While employees might often enter into a shell of their own work or just the contributions of their team, it is important to let them know how they fit in the larger company vision. Helping them see that can allow them to understand the value they bring to the company much better, and with that, envision a future for themselves at your organization. Connecting their daily actions with updates on larger company goals can drive them to continue making a difference.
Constantly Engage With Them
We believe in providing continuous companionship and support to our employees, especially in their initial days with us through our buddy system. Not only does this help them get up to speed on the job, but also the workplace environment.
Knowing one’s weaknesses and mistakes can go a long way in personal and professional development. However, if feedback and support is provided too seldom, an organization cannot expect its employees to rise above their struggles on a consistent basis and perform as well as they could.
Enable Inter-Departmental Collaboration
An employee has rarely ever worked in isolation. They are almost always a part of a team, and that has been increasing continuously with team. Nowadays, even various departments don’t work in isolation, which makes it useful for employees to work with each other and pick up some skills. Not only will this help broaden your employees’ growth trajectories, but it will also break inter-departmental communication barriers that can be a hurdle in the efficient functioning of your organization.
Foster a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Over time, and especially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, work-life balance has become a topic of great scrutiny. As more people work from home, they wish to conserve their energies for a positive home environment as well, which has become increasingly difficult to navigate with a blurring of lines between the home and the workplace. Nevertheless, many have been prompted to increasingly emphasize on their personal lives too, and for the foreseeable future.
At CtrlS and Cloud4C, we encourage employees to monitor their total weekly work hours, allocate it efficiently and prioritize their tasks well, while not overburdening themselves. This, compiled with other activities they partake in, enables them to be happy and stress free, thus also improving their productivity.
A Symbiotic Relationship
It is important to recognize that giving importance to your employees’ career development can increase their motivation to prioritize your company’s goals as well. As they pick up new skills, and fit in better in the workplace, they become increasingly productive and collectively achieve more as a team with their co-workers. Additionally, happier employees are less likely to leave, thus simplifying the task of managers to hold the ship steady and ensure that the company’s goals are achieved. This mutual fulfilment of goals truly ensure that you and your employees grow together.
