Can’t understand the reason behind low employee morale? Have you tried providing employees with increased incentives and still face low productivity? Is the employee attrition rate as high as ever no matter what you do? These are common questions corporates ask one another when trying to understand what makes employees so resistant towards the organization. Often, organizations try everything possible to solve this puzzle, but still end up short. So what is really driving this employee resistance? And more importantly, what does it take to address this situation? Let us find out-
One of the biggest reasons behind high attrition rates and employee dissatisfaction with an employer is- providing little or no relevant training to your employees. A survey by Glassdoor- a popular job and recruiting site, stated “the ability to learn and progress” is a driving factor behind millennials considering an organization as worth joining, of which 42% are considering switching their organization, as they aren’t learning fast enough. These thoughts resound with 80% of the millennials in the US, 84% from the UK, 90% for China, and 88% for India.
These figures are definitely making organizations worldwide think, as a report from Deloitte states- Companies with dynamic career models, which consist of training and development for an employee, are continually outperforming their peers. For those L&D heads and business leaders reading this, know that providing your employees with the opportunity to learn and develop, will go a long way in retaining them and keeping them satisfied.
So why is training and developing your employees so important? Let us find out –
On this Page
An opportunity to grow by training
The millennials of yesteryear are the workforce of today, they have seen the struggles endured by their parents and the drudges of being in an unsatisfied, stagnant job over extended periods of time. This has directly impacted the current corporate scenario, where ambitious millennials prefer to switch between organizations frequently, in search of a more self-development conducive environment, the average time spent by them with an organization has dropped to under five years. The growing number of individuals unsatisfied by the slow growth rate in an organization is startling; however, there is a silver lining to this. Organizations who are proactively taking towards training employees, in an attempt to provide individuals who successfully clear training and assessments with increased opportunities, are finding an increase in overall productivity!
Exposure to new concepts
90% of the CEOs in US corporations, interviewed by Deloitte believed their organization was facing a disruptive change due to transformational technologies. Software engineers are now required to redevelop skill every 12-18 months. The rate of disruption is the same for sales, manufacturing, marketing, accounting, and finance. As employees face up to these changes, they demand exposure to new concepts. Organizations are increasingly required to shun the old and adopt the new. This calls for a robust training strategy to be in place, which easily allows an organization to train their employees on new concepts. Organizations which stick to the old ways of working will increasingly find their employees leaving for organizations with advanced opportunities to learn more.
Empowering employees in its true sense
The real meaning of empowering employees is presenting them with a certain degree of autonomy and responsibility when it comes to making a decision. Providing the workforce with supporting tools and resources is vital for them to work autonomously. In most cases, organizations have realized “the best tool to empower an employee is training and development.” Autonomy of an employee is majorly based on taking effective decisions concerning organizational tasks, these tasks vary from simple to complex, and the ability to make a well informed timely decision, can win or lose a case for the employee and the organization as a whole. If there is a case to be made about why training and development are essential for an organization, then employee empowerment is just that case. Reliable, confident, well informed, and educated autonomous employees are the by-products of a successful training and development initiative. A 2013 survey by Gallup involving 1.4 million employees across 50,000 work units found- organizations which actively empowered employees, witnessed: 22% better profitability, 21% more productivity, 37% less absenteeism, 41% fewer quality defects, better customer ratings, and lower staff turnover.
Maintain employee morale
Employee morale is a factor which many organizations forget to take into consideration on a regular basis, the truth is- employee morale is the driving factor behind a productive workforce, and the reason why it is important is because it is contagious. The morale of employees can be low for many reasons such as- lack of opportunities, low pay, slow growth, no learning, etc. But another reason behind low morale is- a lack of experience and little knowledge in performing a task at hand. Many employees suffer from low morale when they are provided with no support in terms of training, required to perform their task. The lack of knowledge about a job, results in an excessively stressed employee, who may come under fire from employers for underperforming, and hence, display signs of low morale, further affecting the performance. This is especially true for new employees. Immediate training and adequate support for a new employee paves a solid foundation on which they can build their knowledge further. Organizations which delay onboarding, induction programs, and OJT in hopes of waiting for a sizeable number of new employees to join before carrying out the training, are not only risking the employee’s morale but, also increasing the chances of an unwanted workplace accident.
The reality of today’s corporate environment is in the open and for all to see. The millennial workforce is demanding training and development opportunities from their organizations. Organizations providing these dynamic training opportunities are faring better than others. It is time for all organizations to make the right move. Empowering your employees with learning and development is a necessity today and there’s little doubt that it pays off in the long run.
We at Abara LMS strongly believe in creating a culture of continuous training and development, which is why our LMS system is a modern Mobile First LMS, built with the intention of engaging learners and empowering them. Reach out to us at contact@abaralms.com or click here m to initiate a free trial and a subsequent demo!
