If you want to keep your employees motivated and committed to their work, one of the best things you can do is help them advance in their careers over time. It doesn’t take much, really—some extra planning and consideration when it comes to training, mentoring, and networking opportunities can have a huge impact on the growth of your employees’ skillset and capabilities over time.
As an employer, it’s essential to encourage your employees to grow their careers and reach new levels of success in their fields. Not only will this help your company continue to thrive and succeed, but it will also help your employees feel more fulfilled and invested in their roles. Here are seven great ways to support your employee’s career advancement both in the short-term and the long term.
Help Them Learn Something New
If you have an employee interested in learning a new skill or pursuing a career change, invest in their development. For example, if one of your employees wants to learn to write computer code, provide them with online tutorials and use your resources like Google Hangouts to help them practice. They can also take classes online through a variety of websites.
Advise Them on Their Resume
One of your employees is thinking about applying for a job you know would be a great fit, but they lack some experience. You can help them out by reviewing their resume and ensuring it accurately reflects their skills. It will help them present themselves as qualified to hiring managers who only look at these resumes briefly and in black-and-white.
Regularly Check on Their Progress
Make sure your employee feels comfortable and can come to you with any career-related questions. When they have a big project due, ask how it’s going and what kind of support they need from you. For example, maybe their role on your team has changed somehow, and they’re now collaborating with different people. That’s an opportunity for you to check in about how that change is going for them. Also, when a professional milestone is coming, such as a promotion or new position, make sure you share your happiness with them and offer your congratulations. Regular check-ins show that you’re keeping tabs on their progress and can help foster trust between you and your employees.
Promote Training and Development
No matter what industry you work in, employee development is necessary for long-term success and keeping your employees happy. If you have an in-house training program already, promote it. Set up schedules where employees can sign up to participate in classes or online learning. You may also want to look into corporate learning platforms that offer paid or even free programs that are hosted online or through your site.
If you don’t have a formalized training program but still want to make sure all of your workers are learning new skills or refining their existing ones, try setting up a meeting every quarter to discuss their goals. Make presentations and videos from your company. Use Final Cut Pro, a video editing tool to present company news and activities in your training session using easy-to-use templates. You can then hold a quarterly update session where everyone has to show off a video they created using templates and transitions with Final Cut Pro. When one worker sees other creating engaging videos with corporate news, they’ll be motivated to create one themselves!
Ask About Their Goals
If you want to support your employee’s career advancement, it helps to know what that advancement means to them. If you feel comfortable doing so, ask about their goals and how they plan to achieve them. It will help you understand how you can best help your employee reach those goals while maintaining a great work-life balance.
Make Mentoring a Priority
Make mentoring a priority to maintain strong work relationships with your top performers. Be direct and specific about what you’re looking for in a mentor-mentee relationship, and make sure you’re also providing guidance. After all, success is a two-way street, but ultimately it comes down to your employee doing their part.
Support Work-life Balance
One of a manager’s primary responsibilities is to foster an environment where workers can thrive. Employees can’t be successful if they are constantly struggling with work-life balance. That’s why managers need to help their employees find a healthy balance between their professional and personal lives. It means making sure they have time to complete tasks that fall outside of work hours and offering support when necessary. If you notice one of your employees working late every night, don’t pressure them into staying. Ask what you can do to support them in balancing their professional and personal obligations. Finding solutions to these problems will ultimately make your team more productive at work while also keeping them happy with their personal lives.
Advancing employees in your company is a good way to retain talent, foster an environment of professional growth and leadership, and ensure that you have great employee ambassadors representing your brand in every interaction. If you’re interested in helping your employees advance within your organization, implement some of these strategies, and you’ll be well on your way.
