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2022’s Most Valuable Renewable Resource: Your Talent

As your enterprise grows, so does your workforce. This sounds simple enough, but growth isn’t defined by just hiring more employees. In fact, Harvard Business Review found that more than 60% of a business’s future positions can be filled internally, provided the right systems are in place.

Fresh faces often help, but your senior employees may be the true drivers of your organization’s long-term success. And in our current labor market, retaining and continually developing your company’s veterans isn’t just a good idea — it’s a must.

Upskilling hundreds or even thousands of employees can feel overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be!

Here’s why I recommend focusing on professional development to meet your enterprise’s upcoming needs and how this can be achieved with the right practices and technology.

The price of disengagement

2020’s challenges have reframed the employee experience. We’re firmly rooted in the digital reality, and without the tools and initiatives to meet the expectations of today’s worker, you may find yourself without a paddle against a wave of resignations. And this image isn’t an exaggeration — in November, the Department of Labor reported roughly 11 million job openings.

And low engagement isn’t just about turnover. According to Gallup, the productivity lost from a disengaged employee is equal to 18% of their earnings.

In the past, the advantage of focusing on skills and internal mobility may not have been immediately obvious. But in today’s job market, Gallup estimated the cost of replacing an employee can range from half to as much as double their final annual salary, making the possible, positive impact of upskilling initiatives on ROI clear.

The path toward greater engagement and development is one we must travel. And the right preparation helps us make it happen.

The power of engagement

Employees aren’t quitting without reason, and those reasons are addressable. While Gallup reported 48% of American workers are either job searching or at least watching for new employment, it also found it takes more than a 20% pay increase to take employees from leadership that truly engages them. If you provide your staff with the foundation to build their professional future in your enterprise, it will take a lot more than surface-level incentives for a competitor to lure them away.

When employees feel inspired by the investment of their employer, their aspirations gradually align with a business’s long-term goals. This provides you with a workforce you can truly lean on and the potential to nurture the leaders that will help steer your enterprise into the future.

And industry experts are taking note. As part of an annual study by the asset management firm Mercer, national HR leaders cited expansions to their talent and learning ecosystems and upskilling critical talent pools as their highest priority for this year and beyond. A majority of the interviewees also said collaboration, the ability to grow and self-management are the three most important skills to future resilience.

The right learning management software turns these hopes into action.

Moving ahead with technology

Those “right systems” Harvard Business Review alluded to are available within an effective learning management tool. By giving employees direct access to the training and upskilling they need anytime, anywhere, they practice self-management by following a development track that’s intuitive to them. And by awarding them with more growth opportunities and incentives for reaching developmental checkpoints, you can leverage the workplace satisfaction necessary for retention.

As HR professionals, we have the power to guide our workforces into the future while innovating along the way. To that end, I ask just one question:

What’s holding your workforce back?

Do you already have a plan and just need software to deliver it across your enterprise? Consider a streamlined, fully customizable learning management system like Paycom Learning to confidently navigate your workforce into the future. Learn more about why talent management is important on our Paycom blog.

 

DISCLAIMER: The information provided herein does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional legal, tax, accounting or other professional advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation and for your particular state(s) of operation.

About the author
Author picture, Jennifer Kraszewski
Jennifer Kraszewski
Jennifer Kraszewski, Paycom’s senior executive vice president of human resources, has more than 20 years of HR leadership experience, driving transformative, business-focused human capital strategies in high-growth industries to achieve efficiencies, compliance and employee engagement. Named by Human Resource Executive® magazine as one of the Top 100 HR Tech Influencers in 2020 and 2021, Kraszewski is a featured blogger and hosts webinars on HR topics through the Society for Human Resource Management, HR Daily and HR.com. She is SPHR- and SHRM-SCP-certified.