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Whether you are a small business owner or a fortune 500 franchise, your employees are your greatest asset, and for this reason, you should nurture their growth to increase their economic value. Because your workforce takes up 70% of your operating expenses, you should maximize the potential value each employee brings on board through their knowledge, abilities, engagement and skills.
Have a clear cut vision of how you want to shape your workforce. What type of talent and skills would you like to attract and keep? How do you lower employee turnover?
As an employer, you should invest in your workforce by providing career planning and development opportunities. Although it can be a costly investment, in the end, the company reaps the benefits. How do you invest in your workforce?
Organize Workshops and Training Camps
With time, employees feel like they are stagnating when they don’t upgrade their skills. To avoid this, enroll them into programs or courses that improve their knowledge and skills, which will directly benefit the company. One such program is the drug testing laws course that can be taken by HR professionals, managers and all the employees.
Offer a Healthy Workstation
Make your employees look forward to spending time at their workstations. Support your staff in their various roles, offer comfortable workstations and equip them with the necessary tools. Motivate them to be more productive by engaging them in teamwork, having a reward system, and building strong work relationships. Let the employees know you appreciate and value their time and effort.
Offer Competitive Salaries
Although the salary is not the only reason to make workers stay in a company, remunerating them well and offering competitive packages will keep attracting the right talent. Paying your workforce well shows that you value their input and skills.
Create Opportunities for Growth
Instead of recruiting externally, empower the workforce to create the required skills needed to fill a vacancy. Workers feel more motivated to work in a set up where there is growth and progress. Don’t let them stay too long in one position but keep promoting them to higher positions depending on their abilities and commitment to the vision.
As you invest in your human capital, the benefits will be many. They include
More Satisfied Employees
Your employees will experience more job satisfaction meaning that they will be more productive and generally happier. Showing that you care about your workforce’ career development and are ready to invest in them will also attract quality talent and keep it within for a long time.
More than 54% of the global workforce admits that career advancement is more important than a salary. It means that employees are more likely to stay in a company that offers career growth opportunities.
Increased Employee Engagement
Employees will want to showcase their newly acquired skills and knowledge in the company. They also get more freedom to express their talents when they realize you care and recognize their potential. They will be more dedicated to their work, take up more challenging tasks and commit to the vision and goals. Engaged, happy and satisfied employees are more productive and loyal to the company.
Improved Skills and Better Recruitment
Developing human capital makes your workforce ready for any job opening. You’ll slowly transform your workforce and empower it with the skills, knowledge and abilities you need to steer the company ahead. On the same note, you’ll attract better talent because everyone, especially the millennials, wants to work in an environment that boosts their knowledge, skills and promotes growth.
It Boosts the Business
Improved skills and employee retention impacts your business positively. You’ll have a more productive workforce leading to enhanced customer experience. You are more likely to attract and keep happy customers when employees have the necessary skills to perform their duties effectively.
Additionally, the employees are the face of the company. When they are happy, engaged and satisfied with their roles, they work harder to improve the customer experience.
Better Internal Communication
Investing in your human capital improves the relationship between the various departments in the workforce. Team building activities and other bonding arenas help employees create quality friendships with their superiors and each other. With this in place, they find it easier to approach their leaders when they have issues or need guidance while the management understands its workforce better.
The improved relationship enhances a better working environment where information moves about freely. Improved communication boosts productivity. As you will realize, investing in your human capital improves company ROI. The largest, long term beneficiary is your company.
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