A lack of employee engagement is one of the biggest challenges companies around the globe are facing, and Australian firms are no exception.
Gallup indicated in its 2017 State of the Global Workplace Report that a staggering 71 per cent of employees worldwide aren't engaged at work, which amounts to an employee engagement crisis.
Fighting back against this global epidemic of disengagement requires figuring out what motivates employees on a daily basis. According to Deloitte, more than 2 out of 3 millennials - who will soon comprise the majority of most companies' staff if they don't already - believe their employer should be providing career development opportunities.
Career development connects employee actions with their future goals
Career development can lead to higher employee engagement as well as providing an actionable way to recognise, motivate and retain them. Starting a career development initiative in the workplace can begin by setting up a meeting with each employee to determine where their talents lie, what they want to learn and what their long-term career goals include. From there, you can determine what teaching tools to provide across your company to help your employees grow and achieve their personal career goals.
Questions to ask employees about career development expectations
Creating a small survey for your employees to take is a good way to start your new engagement initiative. Include questions that make them think about what they really want out of their career, where they want to be in five or ten years, and how they think their employer should be supporting them:
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What do you hope to accomplish in your overall career?
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What short-term goals do you have as part of this organisation?
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What are your long-term hopes within this organisation?
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What skills do you need help developing?
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What type of training is most valuable to you?
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How can this organisation improve in its skills training?
By taking the time to meet with your employees, you can show your appreciation for their past and current hard work on your organisation's behalf. This alone can kick-start better work and help boost employee satisfaction. Once you have successfully identified what skills your employees want to develop, you can create an action plan that defines when and how these skills will be developed. Also, when your employees see you investing in their future, they feel like you are partnering with them to help them reach their career goals - which only further bolsters their motivation and loyalty to your organisation.
Supporting managerial staff in providing career development access
Career development initiatives are doomed to failure if managers aren't given the flexibility and tools they need to correctly and effectively get them off the ground. Ensure that training materials are readily accessible, develop plans for integrating career development sessions into the workweek and design ways to reward managers for meeting employee training and upskilling goals. While only each individual employee can chart their own path to personal success and realisation of their career objectives, by empowering and supporting managers you improve the likelihood of good relationships between the tiers of your staff and contribute to a positive work environment.
Inspiring employees with career development and meaningful work
To achieve real, consistent engagement, employees must feel their work is meaningful and fulfilling. Providing training and upskilling opportunities helps staff members find ways to participate more fully at work. By providing the opportunity for them to learn and grow, you can deliver on your promises for their future within your organisation, and build a culture that promotes advancement and career-building. When employees see their work as meaningful, their sense of self-worth increases, and you can further boost these positive feelings with your investment in their careers.
How Power2Motivate can help
Up-skilling and training employees is essential to energise them and encourage continual engagement. With Power2Motivate's Training Centre, you can organise all your training material in one place. Use our SCORM-compliant LMS system to load your training material into the platform and oversee how your employees are tracking. Contact us to request a demo today.
