Knowledge and skills are vital resources for the growth of your business, so it’s important that you equip your employees with the right tools and expose them to valuable learning opportunities. Give your hire a new employee welcome kit to boost productivity and ensure success in the company
Investing in the success of your employees shouldn’t be overlooked. If you want to make the most out of your workforce, follow these tips for boosting their professional growth for the long run.
1. Get new hires involved
Let’s start off with how you onboard new employees to your business. Whether you’re in the tech industry or the healthcare sector, you need a refined process that integrates new recruits smoothly into the workplace culture.
During the onboarding process, you need to hit the ground running while new hires maintain a strong desire to learn. For instance, on their first day, you can tell them what they are going to achieve while orienting them about the organization’s most cherished values. You should also take this time to orient them on essential security practices.
Then again, you shouldn’t be spending too much time on lectures. Give your new recruits a taste of what it’s like to be in the field. Show them around the facility and introduce them to long-time employees and what they do on a daily basis.
One thing’s for sure, an employee’s professional growth depends on how their first day goes along. Take time to set a clear to-do list that specifies what a new employee is supposed to achieve on the very first week of onboarding.
2. Advocate for open communication
Communication is the key to a cohesive workforce. It goes hand in hand with the need to collaborate with colleagues and supervisors. Take communication out of the equation, then it’s impossible to achieve collective goals.
It pays to develop a culture of communication at the workplace. Employees depend on each other to navigate around complex problems and gain valuable experience. An environment that allows for constructive feedback is also crucial for coming up with better employee engagement initiatives.
Consider sending out surveys and maintaining an open-door policy that will encourage employees to ask for advice or bring up problems or issues that hinder their growth. Ask them what needs to be done to improve productivity and boost their potential for advanced roles in the organization.
The key here is to listen to what your employees need and ask them about their long-term aspirations. From there, you can come up with the right approach to helping them on the path to their own individual goals.
3. Recognize employee contributions
Nothing can encourage an employee to contribute more than getting recognized for the efforts they put in. Then again, recognition goes beyond patting them on the back and telling them that they did a good job. There’s a lot more to express your gratitude, so be creative and look for ideas that high-performing employees will appreciate.
Apart from a salary raise, consider giving non-cash incentives such as vouchers and luxury corporate gifts. You can also organize a potluck or hold quarterly get-togethers where you award employees who have contributed immensely to the growth of your company.
Another way you can reward employees is to gamify the work experience. Let each department set its own monthly targets and track its progress. For every milestone they reach, you award a certain prize.
Acknowledging the hard work your employees have done goes a long way in pushing your employees to unlock their hidden potentials and accelerate their professional growth. Employee recognition programs are also a great way to loosen up the workplace and let your employees know that they are bringing value to your organization.
4. Make work-life balance a part of the culture
Corporations have noted the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Apart from reducing the incidence of burnout and work stress, developing a healthy work environment helps employees focus their time and efforts towards activities that engage their creativity and the unique skills they possess.
Improving work-life balance doesn’t take much research. All you need is to understand your employees’ needs in relation to the amount of work they have to deal with. The most obvious way is to encourage employees to take occasional breaks.
It also matters to look at the tasks they deal with and give them a reasonable timeframe for completing them. Giving employees too much to accomplish for a short amount of time will only diminish the learning experience they can gain from handling specific tasks. That way, you prevent your employees from taking their work home just to finish before the deadline.
By improving work-life balance, you provide employees with enough space for personal development. This will inspire your employees to focus on learning new skill sets as they complete one task after another.
5. Provide continuous training
Work alone will not supply your employees with the skills and knowledge they need to become competitive in their special areas. Over time, you will find employees who are cut out to become effective leaders. At this point, you will need to provide them with an avenue for expanding their horizons.
This will involve the need for continuous training. Technology is changing rapidly, and it’s important that you give everyone an opportunity to prove themselves worthy of high-paying positions. Through constant upskilling, you supply employees with new skills they can leverage for future growth.
In-house seminars, training programs, and business coaching provide valuable experience. However, when it comes to promoting employees to higher-level positions, encourage them to take up professional enrichment through continuing education opportunities. Apart from certificate courses, you might want to sponsor the MBA education of certain employees. According to MBA Discovery, getting an MBA — either online or in-person — hones an employee’s strategic thinking skills, capacity for risk management, and leadership insights.
If you find an employee who shows immense potential, check to see if you can support their further education.
Investing in your employees’ professional and personal success is a huge step in the right direction for your company. Developing an inspired and highly skilled workforce will also translate to long-term success for your business.