Here is a recent article from our Monthly Newsletter:

Hearing a lot of talk about “growth opportunities” when you are interviewing candidates?  Are you talking about it to your employees?  Let me guess, you think you provide great growth opportunities within your working environment, but do you really?

Here are a few things to ponder…

Do your managers work with their employees to talk about career planning?

Do your managers help your employees create a plan to support employee career paths?

Do you have an education policy that assists with continuing education costs?  And do you encourage your employees to make use of it?

Do you have an onsite “library” with an abundance of material that could enhance knowledge?

Do you provide lunch and learn sessions?

Do you have subject matter experts that come into the office from time to time to share knowledge?

Do you have a peer mentoring program set up?

Do you allow and encourage internal applications to available positions?

Do you have a succession management plan in place?

Do managers touch base with their employees to discuss training needs, gaps or desires?

Do you set learning goals and reward successful achievement of the goals?

This is just a start, but if you find that you do most of these, you are heading in the right direction.  I would then ask you “What more could you do?”  And, “Where can you gain an edge over your competitors when it comes to this subject and attracting/retaining your people?”

If you are shaking your head “no” then you my friend have some work to do.  The majority of employees or job seekers are looking to grow their skill set.  They are looking for employers that support and encourage this.  Employers that do well are ones that recognize this, that value the increase in knowledge of their people and are actively looking to encourage and support learning and development.

Email us with your thoughts or questions.

What can you do today that will impact tomorrow?