Why is it important for companies to invest in employee development and benefits? Companies expect their employees to be very productive and focused on the task to be done while they are working, which leaves very little time for gaining additional information and keeping up with the knowledge for their particular work. That’s why by providing the opportunities for their employees to get trained by in-house experts or training company that have good instructors and knowledge base, companies allow their employees to maintain pace with the rapidly evolving environment they are in.
In a study of more than 3,100 U.S. workplaces, the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce (EQW) found that on average, a 10 percent increase in workforce education level led to an 8.6 percent gain in total productivity. But a 10 percent increase in the value of equipment increased productivity just 3.4 percent.
What needs to be understood by companies is that there are several scenarios.
One scenario is that your team doesn’t keep up. In this case, you may pay a very large penalty because either your employees will not be able to use the latest technology or it will be used in a very ineffective way, or what even worse, in a wrong way that may result in considerable issues.
Another option is when companies require employees to learn on their own. In this case, companies cause the significant decrease in productivity as employees will take a work time to do that because they cannot do it at home; or they can be dissatisfied because you are taking away their home time to do the great amount of upgrading their knowledge.
The third option is to allow your employees to get a lot of information along with practice that they can get from in-house experts or training courses that can sharpen their business and technical skills.
No doubts the third option is the one that smart managers should choose when thinking about their employees. In this way, companies deliver very clear messages to staff about company’s values and show their social responsibility that is a key component of the business image. Therefore companies not only attract new employees but also stand out from the crowd and create a positive corporate reputation.
Employee Benefits for Companies
One of the reasons employees become dissatisfied with their work is that companies do not offer the most desired perks that would make their lives easier. Usually, there is a big difference in what employees want to get and what companies are actually ready to provide. According to One Medical Group, 59% of employees say employee benefits are “very important” to how they feel about their job and their employer. That’s why introducing family-friendly benefits is a good option for companies to stay competitive and to increase loyalty among working parents.
Among the most desired family-focused benefits are daycare or childcare subsidies. By providing such options companies could not only satisfy the most desired needs for working parents but also help them prepare their children for school and, even more, create specialized business-focused training for school-aged children.
Company-Based Business Schools for Kids
It is important for companies to realize that teaching business skills at a young age is essential both for future business and for instilling perseverance and critical thinking in kids. According to Jacque Fresco, an American futurist, and social engineer, “we are not taught to be thinkers, but reflectors of our culture. Let’s teach our children to be thinkers”.
Even the youngest children could adopt this important knowledge that would help them to deal with problems they usually face when going to school. Company-based business schools for children can be a non-traditional way to encourage kids to be thinkers and to prepare them for starting school according to their skills, not age.
Immersing kids in a real business environment and showing the examples of how business functions will allow companies to encourage kids to think seriously about becoming a business person someday and to transfer the acquired skills to the real life. By investing in the education and finding the most anticipated benefits companies not only get loyalty and social status but also contribute to the growth of a wide range of top tier professionals.