Best Practices for Investing in Your Employees

The talent on your team largely determines whether your business thrives or fails. One of the most effective ways to attract high-quality talent is to invest in your employees’ career development. Investment in your team has many benefits, including higher retention rates and improved employee engagement. Here are some best practices for investing in your employees.

Continued Learning and Development

Investing in your team’s continued learning and development has many benefits. Yet, many companies hire talent then fail to provide them the tools they need to succeed in their role, such as technology, licenses and certifications, and other resources. When this happens, their team is more likely to feel unsupported and less engaged. Great leaders hire the best, enhance their opportunities for success, and remove barriers to their success. Continued learning is essential for long-term success because it ensures that your employees stay current on technology and trends, while allowing them to continuously expand their knowledge base and develop new skills.

Slow Time with Each Employee

Another way to invest in employee development is to spend time with each of your employees on a regular basis. Commit to meeting with several employees each week for ten minutes each. The key is to be curious and remember that your employees are your most important customers. Take the time to learn what matters to them. How do they define success? What new skills do they want to learn? You can even make the questions more personal. For example, you could ask about their experience, their long-term career-goals, or simply how their life is currently going. Your employees are people and want to be treated with care.

Invest in Remote Employees

It is also important to invest in remote employees and make sure they feel the same level of engagement as their in-office counterparts. Many leaders have an easier time connecting with and investing in on-site employees, so it’s vital to work through this and figure out a process to encourage engagement in remote workers. It’s great to meet with them directly for lunch or coffee. While this easier if the remote employees live nearby, it is still important to meet with remote team members who live farther away. Employees are more limited in their ability to travel than you, so you need to go them. That said, Zoom is an excellent employee engagement tool. Many remote workers go a long time where they only communicate via text or email. Even a five-minute video call can change their entire outlook.

Showing your employees that you care about them as people is critical if you want to attract and retain the best talent. Invest in your team members so they have the skills and knowledge to succeed in advanced roles, while treating them well enough they won’t want to leave.

ABOUT BRAINWORKS

BrainWorks is a prominent boutique executive search firm offering a 29-year track record of successfully sourcing and placing top talent. By harnessing proven strategies, collaborating with stakeholders and leveraging a diverse and talented candidate network, BrainWorks helps businesses find, attract, and ultimately hire talented professionals that create differentiated results. To learn more about how Brainworks can help you, contact us.