Career planning in the workplace – it’s kind of like succession planning. Many employers don’t tend to think about it until all of the sudden they are in a situation where they need to fill an open position – then they wish they had spent time working with employees and their career path, grooming them for potential openings that fall in their area of desired growth.
Yes, it is an investment to work on career plans with employees and to pay for or subsidize continuing education, however the benefit can far outweigh these initial costs.
6 benefits of implementing career planning in your organization:
- Reduction in turnover
- Reduction in recruitment costs
- Increased morale
- Promotion of a learning culture – more educated staff
- Less business disruption from employees leaving
- Improved productivity
Sometimes I hear concerns from employers about investing time and money into educating their employees and the worry that they might leave the company. I have two responses to this: 1 – “What if they stay?” and 2 – Ensure your education policy has a claw-back stipulation in place such that if they leave your company within X amount of time, they owe Y amount back to the company from their education costs.
What does a company that invests in education say to the employee? Well, it says that they are dedicated to seeing growth in their people, it shows commitment to continuous learning, it shows that employees are an important asset and worth the investment. This is also very attractive to job seekers and may assist in the recruitment process to pull good people away from other offers or opportunities if they see a commitment to growth and development.
Invest in your people, they are your most important asset.