As a business owner, you may want to consider embracing the benefits of career planning for your employees. Career planning for employees is one of the keys to building productivity, teamwork, and trust in your organization. Unfortunately, while many employers know that creating space for employee development contributes to their company’s growth, many fail to devote adequate time and resources to this vital activity.
As an employer or business owner who wants happy, valued, and performing employees, you should consider your employees when creating your business plan or strategy. Imagine working with or building a team of employees with a growth mindset and a positive attitude— that’s one of the best things an entrepreneur can ask for!
Employee career planning offers several benefits, some of which we will explore in this post. But first, let us find out what career planning is all about.
Outline: Career Planning for Employees | Benefits of Career Planning | Final Thoughts
What is Career Planning for Employees?
Career planning for employees involves helping your employees set career goals according to their interests and skills. It involves creating a map or guideline to help employees obtain the right set of skills they need to do well in their job. It also helps employees take steps that can help them advance in their careers.
As a hiring manager, human resource manager, or business owner, you may help your employees grow by:
- Adequately structuring their jobs
- Ensuring they have the necessary resources to grow
- Draw out a strategic plan for them
- Ask employees if they have career goals
- Inform employees of the plan
- Take note of their skillset
- Inform them of the skills they need to get there
- Providing resources, coaching, or training
- Take note of the strengths of your employees
- Observe and record their growth
Career plans for employees are guided steps that expose employees to activities, challenges, and growth. More importantly, these steps help them advance in their careers and grow as an individual.
Creating a career plan doesn’t mean that you have to tell the employee what you want them to do. It means knowing their goals and supporting them to climb the career ladder. It means you are interested in their lives.
Eight Benefits of Career Planning for Employees
Employees, like any business, have their objectives, dreams, and aspirations that their employers should not disregard if they want them to remain loyal and perform well at work.
Let us look at other benefits of career planning for employees in detail:
1. Better company image
Creating a well-designed career development plan for your employees puts your company in a better light. It sets you apart from other companies that don’t do the same thing in the job market.
When creating a creed for your business, one of the things you need to consider is the business’s image. However, your customers can also look at your business by the services they receive from your employees. And also by how well your business values its employees.
I bet you would feel great when your employees can’t stop telling the world how great it is to work for you. Or when they represent your business well.
2. Attract top talent
A career development plan for your employees is one of the best ways to attract top talent to your company. Humans like to associate themselves with people, events, or places that support growth. Therefore, creating an environment that supports growth will influence your business in the long run.
Employees who know the value of goal-setting are often better able to understand the business mission and achieve your company’s goals.
3. Well-informed employees
Helping your employees with career planning can help them better understand their different career paths. It allows them to set well-defined goals and take action.
Remember how you feel about the thrill of venturing into something new? Give your employees such an opportunity too. As a business owner, you do not need employees who come to work doing the same tasks and not moving forward. By offering new tasks that can help them improve, you are giving them room for creativity, innovation, and growth.
Plus, the kinds of employees who will not be easily distracted along the way and will appreciate your efforts to help them achieve their goals are those who know exactly what they want in their careers.
4. Employee satisfaction
One of the ways to boost employee morale is to show them (not just talk about it) that you have their best interests at heart.
When employees know that their employer cares about their development and invests in them, they happily do their jobs with an unmatched level of diligence, commitment, and loyalty.
The last thing you want is employees who come to work daily and approach their jobs with resentment.
5. Low turnover
One of the top reasons employees leave their jobs is a lack of professional development and opportunities for advancement. However, if you have a sound career planning system for your employees, you have a better chance of retaining them.
Instead of getting frustrated and jumping ship at the slightest opportunity, everyone waits their turn to be promoted.
6. Readily available human resources
With the proper training, you can be assured that you have employees with the necessary skills, knowledge, and talents to fill new or vacant roles and carry out responsibilities as they emerge. You won’t be under much pressure to find people from outside.
7. Save on hiring costs
Successful companies prioritizing career planning have the advantage of promoting team members from within their teams rather than hiring from the outside every time a leadership position needs to be filled.
It is always cost-effective to leverage your existing employees’ talents rather than hire new ones all the time.
8. Better productivity
When you provide professional development training, you help your employees improve as people, in their work, and as team members. And the better employees can perform their jobs in a top-notch manner, the better it is for your business.
For instance, a customer service representative who is happy with their job will be able to empathize with your customers better than someone who is not. And believe me, one bad customer service is enough to get rid of a customer forever.
Final Thoughts
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), many companies still do not put enough emphasis on employee development. Still, you should not be one of them because it would be impossible for you to provide value to your customers without the right employees.
It is critical to your company’s long-term success to support your employees’ professional development— this is usually equivalent to investing in the growth of your own business.
Related:
