Career Development – Pros and Cons for the Employer

From an employee’s point of view, career development is about continuing to learn to lengthen and enhance your professional skill set. For an employer, career development is about ensuring that employees have the knowledge and enthusiasm to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Companies and individuals benefit from professional development, but since companies often bear the time and financial cost, they must weigh the pros and cons.

Increased employee effectiveness – this is often the reason why most companies undertake professional development activities. Skills learned at school and university can be updated and refreshed as the workplace changes. The better trained employees are to do their jobs, the more effective they will be and the higher their performance will be. Additional training of old staff to improve their skill set is much faster and more cost-effective than hiring new staff.

training cost-An employer must decide if the cost of bringing in a trainer or investing in online learning is worth it to upskill employees. If the required professional development courses are conducted by private companies or require staff to travel, the price of the train may seem greater than the benefit of increased employee effectiveness. Employees should consider online learning. Employees can complete many modules online. Once purchased, modules can be reused with no travel or instructor fees.

Increased employee morale – Being selected for special training can help employees feel special, like they are being recognized and rewarded for their hard work. For this benefit to materialize though, management needs to approach professional development as a reward rather than a punishment for lack of work or skills. This can also have flow-through effects by inspiring other employees to work harder so they can be considered or the next round of career development activities.

Cost of increased productivity – If the business is small or the employee to be trained is an integral part of daily operations, absences due to development days can lead to decreased productivity. When numerous employees are involved in a training session, productivity will surely drop considerably. Employers must decide if this is a reasonable cost when compared to a happy and more effective staff.

Adaptability- the market is always changing. Companies that cannot adapt will be left behind. A flexible company needs people who can quickly cope with changes in job roles, industry standards and practices. Only through continuous learning, contact with other professionals and exposure to new ideas is this possible.

Personnel looking for a new job There is a fear that if employers upgrade their staff to many employees they may seek better employment elsewhere. Studies show that companies with relevant professional development programs generally have employees with higher job satisfaction. People want to do their job well, and professional development enables them to do so.