The Value of the Employee Development Programme
Author: Eric Thompson
Eric Thompson discusses how both individuals and organisations can benefit from an employee development programme which is focussed on the longer term.
Over the years organisations have advanced a range of reasons for not engaging in systematic development of their employees. Perceived cost certainly features highly amongst these as does the rather defensive view that if people are "trained" they will leave and go elsewhere giving someone else the benefit of your investment.
Yet improving employee capability is one of the few levers that organisations have if they want to improve employee effectiveness and increase bottom line performance as a result.
If there is to be long-term development for individuals so that they can contribute more to the organisation in the future it is hard to deny that there will be a cost. However, if the employee development programme is well constructed and well managed with good use of naturally occurring development opportunities any additional costs may be modest. The real question then is whether the cost of developing staff for the long term is outweighed by the benefits obtained as a result. In this article I look at what we mean when we talk about an employee development programme and discuss the ways in which both the individual and the employer can benefit.
The Employee Development Programme
Let's start by considering what we mean when we talk about an employee development programme. Use of the word development implies that we are talking about something more than training. We are not just addressing a short term need through a single training course or even a series of courses; we are setting about sustained development of the individual's capability throughout the course of their career. We are talking about a much longer term process which will develop an individual to do not only the role they are doing now, but roles that they might perform in the future. Training is one way of developing the capability of an individual, but it is not the only way. Individuals can develop in many other ways through, for example, gaining experience by doing work, being coached by someone who understands the role, and through mentorship providing a role model.
"…improving employee capability is one of the few levers that organisations have if they want to... increase bottom line performance.”
Development can occur then in a number of ways, but if it is left to happen randomly and spontaneously it will not be effective. In addition to the broad aim of enhancing long term capability, there needs to be a specific target that is relevant to the individual and there needs to be a systematic process that drives us towards that target. Opportunities to develop the individual towards the target by training or through coaching or through gaining specific experience need to be identified and collated in the form of a personal development plan. The target needs to be defined in a way that enables progress towards the target to be measured. That progress then needs to be reviewed, and action taken where required, to revise the development plan.
The target also implies a standard that is to be achieved. For a professional individual that target might be a professional qualification. For others the target might be a level of occupational competence such as described for example, by an NVQ. The existence of such a standard in the employee development programme gives the programme focus and rigour and provides means of both auditing progress and validating its achievement.
A target may take several years to achieve, but that is not necessarily the end of the process. Once the initial target has been attained, further targets may be identified which will take the individual further along their career path. As an example we can consider a graduate whose initial target is to demonstrate that they have become a competent professional, who may then require further development before they are ready to lead others and may require even further development before they are ready to lead an organisation.
The existence of an employee development programme is not however an entirely altruistic notion. Organisations develop their employees for the longer term because the success of the organisation depends on the success of those individuals. The more competent and successful the individuals become, the more the organisation will prosper. Both the individual and the organisation can benefit from the existence of an employee development programme. Let's now examine exactly what those benefits might be.
Benefits for the Individual
"It is hard to see a down side for the individual.”
It is perhaps more immediately apparent that the individual will benefit from such a scheme. For that individual the process takes them along a career path making use of the experiences that they obtain to develop the competencies and skills that they will require in more demanding roles in the future. For the individual, it is more likely that they will be successful when appointed into these roles and a shorter induction period will be required. Success in these roles is likely to mean three things. Firstly, increased security of employment, secondly, increased reward as they progress or deliver more within their role and thirdly, opportunities to develop even further.
Individuals also gain satisfaction from the challenge of meeting the standard. They gain transferable skills that are relevant to their career and the recognition that comes with achievement can often act as a passport to similar employment with other organisations. It is hard to see a down side for the individual.
Benefits for the Employer
For the employer the situation is more complex, but a well run employee development programme will deliver on a number of fronts.
The programme will develop an internal succession of candidates to fill the more demanding positions within the organisation as they arise. Individuals will have developed the skills that will be required before they get to the appointment stage, so there is much less of an element of sink or swim. Individuals would for example arrive in leadership roles with leadership skills already developed and there would be less need to resort to trial and error. Statistics suggest that the average period in the UK for an individual to reach the required standard when appointed to a new role is seven months. Selecting from candidates who have already demonstrated their capability avoids this extensive and potentially expensive learning period.
The alternative to developing internal candidates is to appoint an external candidate, assuming that a suitable one can be found. Information from the job market tells us two things. Firstly the cost of finding and selecting an external candidate for even a moderately senior position might be in the region of £20,000 to £50,000. You can achieve a sizeable amount of employee development for that sort of sum. Secondly, one in eight appointments fail even before the appointed individual has been there long enough to become competent in the job. It would seem that an external appointment may be neither cheaper nor less risky.
Developing the individual is in addition motivating for the individuals concerned. Individuals welcome the attention and respond positively to the organisation. Not only does this increase employee engagement with the resultant increase in commitment to what the organisation is trying to achieve, but it also makes it more likely that the employee will stay as they see their career ambitions being nurtured and delivered. Employee retention increases as a result.
In a similar context, a programme that demonstrably develops the employees that it is designed to work with sends a powerful message to those outside. Individuals who are seeking a new role are much more likely to join an organisation that is committed to developing them, than one which is not.
"Can you afford not to run an employee development programme?”
A structured development programme not only produces individuals with appropriate capability but since individuals are being developed against a defined standard and their progress can be measured against that standard; there is a de facto audit trail that shows how the standard has been met. Since the standard in most cases will be set by a body that is external to the organisation, and assessment against its requirements will be by bodies independent of the organisation, the competence and capability of its people are being assessed independently. This has significance in a world where regulatory authorities are increasingly inclined to require that organisations can verify and validate the competence of their employees.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, enhancing the capability of an individual, with a view to what they may be able to do for the organisation in the long term, has some direct benefits for the organisation. They become able to do more, they are more productive and the quality of what they do is increased. This allows the organisation to develop an advantage over their competition. An organisation that has competitive advantage and whose employees are committed to its success is more likely to be successful than one where these factors are not present.
In Conclusion
An employee development programme delivers then both for the individual and the organisation. Its benefits can be summarised as follows:
• Enhanced individual capability
• Provides for succession
• Avoids recruitment costs
• Provides motivation for employees
• Outcomes are auditable and verifiable
• Creates competitive advantage.
Investing in employee development can produce the same sort of return for the organisation as an investment in equipment. Perhaps the question ought to be "Can you afford not to run an employee development programme?"
Your Reaction
I hope that you have enjoyed this article and found it useful. If you would like to offer a comment or ask me a question why don't you e-mail me now? If you would like to read other articles that relate to this one click here.