Studies have shown that companies that invest in their employees’ professional development boost employee satisfaction, improve recruiting, and build the overall knowledge base of their teams. Unfortunately, not all employers realize the benefits of professional development without some convincing from those employees.
Know the Facts
The first step to convincing your employer to invest in professional development is to do your research. Sixty-eight percent of employees say that training and development is the most important workplace policy to them, and 40 percent said they would leave a job within a year if they don’t get proper training. These and other statistics may show employers that professional development is vital if they want to keep good employees.
Most employers want employees who are engaged in their jobs and want to grow and develop their skills. As companies grow, they will need employees who can grow along with it, and professional development can be key to finding employees managers can promote from within. Companies with retention and internal promotion goals may find it beneficial to know that professional development is an important part of meeting these goals.
Make a Plan
Responsible professional development enhances employees’ existing job skills without taking them away from important tasks. Having a plan for how and when professional development will take place will help to ease employers’ fears that continuing education will be detrimental to productivity because time spent working will be spent training instead.
When the employer sees your plan to maintain your productivity while at the same time developing skills that will help you do your job better, the benefits of doing so will outweigh the possible negatives in the minds of leadership and they will be more likely to support your efforts.
Negotiate
In reality, professional development is an employee benefit. If your employer doesn’t already provide this benefit, it may be something that you can negotiate for as part of your next salary and benefit review or request for a raise. You may also want to get together with other employees who want professional development as a benefit and present your ideas to management together for added impact.
If despite your best efforts to convince your employer to invest in professional development, you still can’t get them to do so, you may need to take matters into your own hands to get the training you need. Whether employer-paid or not, CCSU offers professional development courses for many different careers including education, human resources, and project management, just to name a few. CCSU’s courses are affordable, and some even lead to certifications that can add concrete and measurable value to your credentials. Join our mailing list to get updates on courses we offer.