Why investing in your employees is key for all round success

As more and more businesses struggle to deal with the current talent shortage, it’s important for employers to look within their own team and ensure they have the building blocks in place to set their company and employees up for success, long-term. 

Providing employees with an array of opportunities for training and upskilling, both internally and externally, is critical to obtaining and retaining talent. Additionally, it shows your employees that you value them by investing company time and money into their career growth and championing their success.

Implementing strategic Human Resources initiatives, such as coaching and mentorship promotes a culture of growth and learning, while also fostering leadership and ambition, key attributes of a successful company.

Here’s why investing in your employees is key to success:

Implement innovative training programs

Training programs that respond to the specific needs of your employees deliver the best outcomes for both employee and employer. For new employees, training that focuses on company processes, as well as general skills, will equip new talent with the confidence to get stuck into their role.

Leaning on the experience of your existing employees, through coaching and mentorship, is a great opportunity for both mentors and mentees to grow. Implementing a formal mentoring program, to encourage leadership and collaboration between different levels of the business, in turn creates a more cohesive and collaborative team. At PharmaCare, we have the Marketing adVantage Program (MVP), which sees Founder and Chairman of PharmaCare Laboratories, Toby Browne, impart his experience and wisdom onto the company’s youngest employees.

Toby, who started the business in 1985, takes the sessions solo, with only 12 attendees at a time, making this truly an invaluable learning opportunity for PharmaCare’s junior marketing professionals to learn from one of Australia's most successful business people.

Providing employees with opportunities to upskill is not only critical to employee retention, by fostering their growth within the business, but is an important aspect of attracting staff. As more and more employees are valuing skills development and training when it comes to choosing an employer, implementing opportunities for upskilling should be top of mind for employers this year.

Internal mobility increases employee retention  

Providing employees with opportunities for upskilling and career progression within the company, means that when employees inevitably look to progress their professional careers, they won’t need to look outside the business to do so.

Not only does internal mobility increase employee retention by allowing employees to develop their career within the same organisation, but it also shows that you have invested in their career development and recognised their growth.

In fact, a recent study LinkedIn Global Talent Trends shows that in Australia, employees who make an internal move are 27 per cent more likely to stay at their organisation longer than those who stay in the same role – clearly demonstrating that reward for them begets reward for the wider business

Internal mobility champions employee success and allows employees to move into different area of the business, growing their skill set and gaining diverse experiences. It also increases brand love between the employee and the company, making them an asset to your internal Marketing team – engaged employees will speak highly of their employers more than those who are not rewarded. Businesses who are at risk of losing their senior employees to outside talent – and even those who may have difficulty finding new staff to meet growth needs – should prioritise upskilling their own employees and providing them with opportunities to progress their careers within the company.

Creating an environment that fosters growth and inspires success is crucial to attracting and retaining great staff. A business is nothing without its people, and 2023 provides a great opportunity for businesses to invest into them! 

Rebecca Page is the head of people and culture (APAC region) at PharmaCare Laboratories.