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Training and career development
Training is the planned education by a company to foster employee’s understanding of job-related knowledge, skills, and behavior. The goal of training is for employees to leverage these and apply them to their everyday job role and responsibilities. Formal training programs and courses are facilitated by the company; whereas, informal training is controlled by the employee. A systematic approach to training includes a needs assessment, designing the learning environment, considers readiness for training, and the transfer of training. Training contributes to effectiveness which can yield profitability (Noe et al., 2023).
Development is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and behaviors that support the employee’s ability to meet changes in the job. This includes formal training, diverse job experiences, relationships, and assessment of abilities and personality to better equip employees for the future. Since development is focused on the future, the learnings are not necessarily connected to the employee’s current job. Employees should have a development plan, and in order for them to be effective, that relies on both the employee and the company to fulfill those responsibilities. The main difference between training and development is that development considers the future job within the company, and training considers the current job. However, training is becoming more strategic to align with business goals which now blurs the line in their distinction (Noe et al., 2023).
Of these concepts, which is more likely to increase retention in an organization and why?
Training is very valuable to the employee because it can help them to be a high performer in the current job. But most employees want to know what is next; they want to see their future. Career development is future-focused and connected more to retention. Development allows employees to have opportunities growing their skills and using them in a variety of ways which contributes to higher satisfaction and engagement (Noe et al., 2023). The research says that career growth opportunities are helpful in retaining employees and keeping them in your institution. They are interested in moving up the career ladder. The investment on employee’s training and career development can have excellent returns on the investment. If the development leads to growth, the retention is further enhanced. Career development is mutually beneficial due to the fact that increased growth opportunities leads to higher employee retention (Asif & Nisar, 2022).
According to further research, more than 60% of U.S. employees who quit their jobs in 2021 shared that a lack of career advancement opportunity was a reason they left. Promotions and lateral moves allow professional growth and new skill development. There have been additional findings that lateral moves are twice as important as compensation in predicting retention, but only 10% of positions filled are with internal lateral moves. This has potential to be an untapped gold mine for companies (Vaduganathan et al., 2022).
Career development and fostering internal mobility for employees has the benefits of deploying existing worker capacity and allowing these successful hires to activate quicker with institutional knowledge and higher levels of engagement and retention. It is a win-win situation because it benefits the employee as well with skill and career development opportunities that have alignment with their goals. Also, taking on new projects allow for employees to develop new skills and seek out a passion, and the employer benefits from additional worker capacity and innovation. (Vaduganathan et al., 2022).
Talent programs that offer internal mobility needs to be an everyday reality. It needs to be embedded into onboarding, training and career development planning, and performance management. This focused approach can reduce siloes and integrate talent processes. Some organizations have been front-runners in career development planning with unique programs such as future-fit upskilling plans and internal career development coaching teams. In an environment where companies are facing skills gaps, hiring pressure, organizations are recognizing the need to invest in talent mobility, including lateral mobility which remains relatively untapped (Vaduganathan et al., 2022). The Holy Bible says, “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” (English Standard Bible, 2001, Proverbs 22:29). Employers need to recognize the strong talent in their organization and provide the opportunity for growth. Otherwise, another organization may be able to capitalize on that success which is mutually beneficial.
References
Asif, R. & Nisar, S. (2022). Policies, rewards, and opportunities: Antecedents of employee retention. International Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, 13(1), pp. 18-26, https://doi.org/10.18843/ijcms/v13i1/03
English Standard Bible. (2001). Crossway Bibles.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2023). Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage, Thirteenth Edition. McGraw-Hill LLC.
Vaduganathan, N., Zweig, B., McDonald, C., & Simon, L. (2022). What Outperformers Do Differently to Tap Internal Talent. MIT Sloan Management Review, 64(1), pp. 1-4. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-