Welcome to 2018 – the world is changing and the world of work is changing even faster, at a ridiculous rate.
Jobs that used to be are no longer - think telephone operator, milkman. New roles have taken their place in spades; roles that weren’t even thought about five to ten years ago. Then there are roles such as social media manager, 3D printer operator, Neuroscience practitioner to name but a few!
Like it or not, change is happening at a fast pace, and being an employer of choice means changing with it and taking your team with you.
Now some of you will be saying, if I teach my team new skills they will leave me and go and use those skills elsewhere. Those skills that have cost me money to teach and most likely taken them out of the workplace for a period.
Well, let me educate you now. Train them, let them learn, upskill them and put those skills to use, or you will still lose them to the competition.
I have mentioned before that employees need three things to keep them happy in the workplace, these are:
Relationships - their sense of connection to their work colleagues and a common sense of purpose, to belong if you like and not be ostracised.
To be able to make a difference - they need to believe in what the company does, its values and its aims, and its leaders, and they need to be able to make a wider contribution to society or to their team - they need to feel of value and have purpose.
Last but definitely not least
Progression - this could be in terms of role or job title or more easily in terms of learning. Employees coming into the workplace now are expected to have up to three or four careers in their lifetime not just one, so lifelong learning is essential.
So my question still stands, do you let your employees learn? About themselves, about the company and what they bring to the wider community, about a subject that can help the company and the individual move forward, or do you leave them stagnating, bored and unfulfilled in their role?
It doesn’t have to cost a load of money, just a well thought out quarterly team meeting would work where you work on the team and their self-progression, and not just on the company progression. It goes hand in hand funnily enough. Your ROI will be returned 10 fold.
I know what I’d prefer, a buzzy and engaged team of workers, ready for the day, creative, innovative and leading us forward to greatness because they are engaged, feel valued and given opportunity. I’ll leave you with that thought.
If you’d like to discuss this in more detail, please call me on 01424 83000 or email me
