Want to Keep Your Employees? Give Them Growth Opportunities

Why career development opportunities are important

Career development opportunities are important because they keep employees happy, and happy employees stick around longer. Lowering employee turnover is always a key small business goal, as it saves time and money on recruiting and training while preserving vital institutional knowledge that only veteran employees have.

A 2022 survey from the Pew Research Center found that high employee turnover rates were correlated with poor career development opportunities. The Pew Research Center surveyed 6,627 non-retired Americans, 965 of whom chose to leave a job in 2021. Among those who left jobs, 33% cited a lack of career growth opportunities as a major reason for their departure. Another 30% said it was a minor reason, for a total of 63%, making it the second-most commonly cited reason, after low pay.

Beyond addressing this prominent concern, offering career growth opportunities can benefit your staff’s work quality and bottom line. When you train your employees in skills they’re seeking that are also relevant to your work, you can hire them internally for new job openings. Your employees will move up the ladder, and you’ll drastically lower the costs of your usual hiring process. Professional development can be as good for you as it is for your team.

How to create career development opportunities

Here are some ideas for creating internal career development opportunities, according to staffing firm Robert Half:

• Collaborate with your employees on growth goals. When you and your team members work together to set growth goals, you’ll find a meaningful middle ground. The employee will get career development opportunities they like enough that they won’t look for jobs elsewhere anytime soon. Simultaneously, your team’s new skills will move your company forward.
• Cover education costs. A big challenge with implementing professional development programs is finding the time to manage and run them. If that’s not possible, you can direct your employees to relevant courses and cover their costs. Doing so can show that you value your employees’ presence at your company, which can lead to happier employees.
• Set up a mentorship program. Early-career employees can often learn directly from more experienced ones. You can establish a mentorship program to shape how your higher-ups guide other members of the organization. You should also be a mentor in this program so your team can learn from and form personal connections with you. This approach to team building can increase employee retention.
• Give and get feedback. Employees learn best when they know what they are and aren’t doing well. This means being unafraid to give constructive criticism and praising your employees for all their wins as they learn and grow. You should also make it clear that you’re open to receiving feedback, too. This way, employees can feel safe sharing concerns about your development program. You’ll show that you value them if you quickly make the requested changes.
• Involve all departments. Maybe an employee on your writing team really wants to be a marketer. You could connect that employee with a manager in your marketing department for long-term training. Over time, this employee could work toward a job in which they write less often but always get to promote the work they create.

How to encourage employees to pursue career growth

Although Pew’s findings suggest that most employees don’t need much motivation to pursue growth, some might need extra encouragement. Some employees might be less invested in your company mission, or others might think they’re too busy for career development. If you need to persuade certain team members to pursue career growth, take the following steps:

• Create a career development schedule. Your busiest employees may be more likely to emotionally invest themselves in developing their careers if they’re certain they have the time. Building career development into their schedules is a great way to achieve this goal. A half-hour Zoom meeting every other Thursday to learn the basics of a higher-level job might just interest an employee who’s been a bit hesitant.
• Help team members apply for internal jobs. In June 2021, market research firm Gartner surveyed 3,000 job candidates. Among this group, 33% sought employment within their current company, but only 17% said they had assistance in applying internally. This finding suggests that your employees will be more likely to grow within your organization – and in their careers – if you help them apply for internal openings.

• Encourage knowledge sharing. Urge your employees to occasionally share what they’re learning with the rest of your team. When employees who are not currently in your development program hear what other people are learning, they might ask to join your program. This can do wonders for your team’s overall work quality.
• Provide accessible resources. Career growth is easier when your team can access your schedule of upcoming development events, such as networking sessions or lunch-and-learns. You can also create employee accounts for any software platforms that might be used as part of your team’s professional development. This access in and of itself can encourage your team to pursue career development.
• Link development to promotions. Money talks: The Pew Research Center survey found that low pay was the No. 1 reason employees left their jobs. So go ahead and explicitly link your career development paths to promotion opportunities. This alone can persuade your team members to start building their career paths.

Benefits of offering career development opportunities

Career development opportunities benefit your company in the following ways:

• Happier employees. In-house career development often ranks high on lists of cool perks that keep employees happy. The happier your employees are, the healthier your company culture will be – and culture is more important than salary for some employees.
• Improved leadership skills. A successful business needs strong leadership to get where it’s going. By making leadership development a part of your career growth program, you can build a base of savvy thinkers who push your company forward.
• Higher productivity rates. Employees with stronger, more refined skills can do more work in the same amount of time. They’ll also get closer to perfection the first time they attempt a task. When you combine these improvements, you get a higher productivity rate across your team.
• Better job candidates. You can advertise your career development track as part of your job descriptions. And that’s important: Pew’s data shows that job candidates are seeking development opportunities, so explicitly stating that you offer them can give you a competitive edge.
• Higher profits. It’s less costly to train someone within your company than to find and hire someone new. Professional development is also a boon to your staff’s productivity. Put these two together, and you’ll spend less money to improve your team’s results and keep your revenue flowing. That’s typically a conduit to greater profits.

Grow, grow, grow

Employees who work in settings where they can access growth opportunities are typically happier, better employees. Companies that implement career growth tracks typically see benefits such as stronger hiring pools and greater profits. If you find a way to work career development into your operations, both you and your team will benefit.