inspiration employee development motivation tips guidesNo matter how big or small it is, a business rises and falls on the quality of its workforce. Employers should not underestimate just how vital employees are to the success of a business. Unmotivated, unhappy and unproductive workers who simply turn up each day to secure their paycheck can cost a company dear, so it’s vital that you ensure your workers feel valued in their jobs.

Here are five ways you can help your employees to grow and develop in the workplace, starting by recognizing a job well done:

Recognize Their Accomplishments

Employees want to feel appreciated for the work they do – a study conducted by APA found that 93% of workers who felt valued were more motivated to do their best work and more likely to help your business grow. Recognizing your employees’ accomplishments through positive feedback is easy. Ensure that, when you’re praising your workers’ performance, you’re specific about what it is they’ve done. Don’t go for the generic ‘good job!’ or ‘nice work!’ Make it clear that you recognize a specific worker for going above and beyond on a certain project, or that you’re delighted with their productivity. Ensure that the recognition is timely so that the employee remembers why the praise has been earned.

Allow Them to Grow Within the Company

When acknowledging their achievements make it clear to your employees that yours is a company that values the idea of upward mobility of staff members. The message being – work hard and you will be rewarded with a better job and higher pay. Employees don’t want to feel they will be stuck in the same dead-end job for years on end, so it is necessary to ensure that if a worker is performing well, promotion opportunities are there for him or her. Sure, your company won’t always have higher positions available – in that case, give your high-performing employee additional responsibilities so that they still feel they are valued by the company.

Help Them Gain Qualifications

Ensuring that your workforce is well trained and highly skilled can be of immense value to your business. Qualifications can indicate whether training targets are being met, and helps you assess the skill level of each worker; they can also provide a benchmark for setting reward levels. It is obvious that better-trained and fully committed employees are more likely to improve the profitability of your business. Consider part funding some courses for your employees – Bryant & Stratton students can earn a bachelor degree to help them progress in a range of industries, including accounting, management, and healthcare.

Establish an Office Mentoring Program

An office mentoring program can be beneficial for both new and existing employees. Ask your senior workers to assist with training up new employees – that will help your older workers to feel more responsible and loyal towards your brand, while it will get across the message to newbies that you value your employees and give them something to work towards. Mentoring programs can also be valuable in helping to foster leadership skills among your staff, contribute to a dynamic office culture and boost the sense of togetherness your employees have with other members of their team.

Create an Employee Development Plan

To ensure employee development forms a major part of your company culture, why not institute a formal process for it within your business? Employee development shouldn’t be something that happens without proper preparation or as an afterthought – the best results will occur when you come up with a solid plan. First, consider your short-term and long-term business goals: for example, whether you need one of your salesmen to become a direct manager or an accountant to look at developing technical WordPress skills. When you’ve identified your objectives, you can start looking at your employees’ skills and put in place a plan for their career development.

Institute a system for talking to your employees about what they want to achieve, but keep in mind both their potential and readiness for the role – a junior employee may have shown signs of managerial capability, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily ready to take that next step.

You may feel you have a great product or service to sell, or you may be a highly experienced businessman with an enviable track record, but you should never underestimate the importance of employee satisfaction. Follow the above tips to help your workers development, and it will pay off in the long-run.