Why You Must Invest In Your Employees’ Future, Even If They Leave You
By Stanley Meytin
Build Up Your Employees
The reality of today’s employment culture is simple: employees aren’t sticking around for 40 years.
You’re lucky if an employee stays for four years… Most Gen Z and Millennials have a longer relationship with their first car than their first employer. While it may seem prudent to churn and burn employees, the deeper you dig, the more attractive investment into employees becomes.
Just because your employees won’t stay at your company as long as their parents would have, doesn’t mean that time is less valuable. You want to get the best 4(ish) years out of your employees and create brand ambassadors once they move on. Investing in their growth is hands down the best way to accomplish this.
Note that career development is not necessarily employee growth. Nor is growth necessarily a monetary investment. Employee growth is an investment in their personal development that may or may not be related to a career, and may or may not cost you capital. Growth is empowering your employees with new skills and the freedom to express their individuality.
Google is the prime example of a non-monetary growth investment. They give their employees 2 hours a day to work personal projects. While there have been employees who used this time to create opportunities that took them outside of Google, this policy also led to the invention of Gmail.
However, the employees who left Google are the most often-reported use case when it comes to inhibiting employee growth investment. Companies are afraid that because of short tenures, investment into employee growth won’t be realized within their walls. To an extent that’s true – a good investment into employee growth teaches lessons that last a lifetime. But don’t fret there are still immediate benefits when you invest in your employees.
Immediate Impact
Four years is the average employee tenure. Investing in your employees shows you care about them not just as people who work for you, but also as human beings. It’s likely that if you invest in your employee’s development, their tenure at your company will exceed the average.
If you’re investing in a time-management coach, then you’ll notice an improvement in your employee’s efficiency. Sure they’ll take those lessons with them wherever they work, but a) they’re first applying them at your firm and b) they’ll never forget where they picked those lessons up.
Even hiring a management coach is worth the investment – despite the fact that you know most of your current workforce won’t become managers within your company. One of your employees might learn something useful, get a management role at their next employer, and do something incredible with that information. That’s great! You should smile like a proud parent. While you don’t directly benefit, that employee will always remember where they learned that skill, and champion your company at every opportunity.
Personal Anecdote
Personally, I see investment in my employee’s growth as a must. It’s one of our five core values. We’re invested in each other as individuals, and as a result, our culture is positively impacted. If one of my employees leaves tomorrow for a better opportunity, I want there to be nothing but love between us. I don’t invest in their personal development for them to love True Film, or me but it’s a by-product that comes from the investment.
I’ve had employees leave to start bands and become pro kite surfers. I never invested in their coaching, but I gave them days off so they could make it to gigs. I knew their passions ran deeper than film production and when they could, they’d leave the industry. When they did eventually go, it was all hugs and tears. Perhaps one day one of them will become famous. Which brings me to my next point:
Long-Term Impact
I’ve heard of Fortune 500 companies who police their employee’s social media use, while at the same time pay thousands of dollars for social media influencers to shout out their product. Yes, there are boundaries to what an employee should and should not be posting, but if they’re posting content that’s in good taste while still getting their work done, then I think it’s ridiculous to stop them. In 4 years that employee could be building up a massive following and one day, out of the blue and for no cost, thank their former company for giving them the freedom to follow their passion – that’s massive, free, and positive exposure.
Conclusion
If you look at employee growth as something that should only benefit your company, then you’re never going to make a good investment, or an investment at all. You can’t have professional growth without personal growth. A good investment in your employee’s personal development will naturally benefit them outside the office – as it should be. While employee tenure length isn’t what it once was, that doesn’t mean your company’s impact on your employees should follow the same trend.
Reading Time: 4 minutes
By Stanley Meytin
Build Up Your Employees
The reality of today’s employment culture is simple: employees aren’t sticking around for 40 years.
You’re lucky if an employee stays for four years… Most Gen Z and Millennials have a longer relationship with their first car than their first employer. While it may seem prudent to churn and burn employees, the deeper you dig, the more attractive investment into employees becomes.
Just because your employees won’t stay at your company as long as their parents would have, doesn’t mean that time is less valuable. You want to get the best 4(ish) years out of your employees and create brand ambassadors once they move on. Investing in their growth is hands down the best way to accomplish this.
Note that career development is not necessarily employee growth. Nor is growth necessarily a monetary investment. Employee growth is an investment in their personal development that may or may not be related to a career, and may or may not cost you capital. Growth is empowering your employees with new skills and the freedom to express their individuality.
Google is the prime example of a non-monetary growth investment. They give their employees 2 hours a day to work personal projects. While there have been employees who used this time to create opportunities that took them outside of Google, this policy also led to the invention of Gmail.
However, the employees who left Google are the most often-reported use case when it comes to inhibiting employee growth investment. Companies are afraid that because of short tenures, investment into employee growth won’t be realized within their walls. To an extent that’s true – a good investment into employee growth teaches lessons that last a lifetime. But don’t fret there are still immediate benefits when you invest in your employees.
Immediate Impact
Four years is the average employee tenure. Investing in your employees shows you care about them not just as people who work for you, but also as human beings. It’s likely that if you invest in your employee’s development, their tenure at your company will exceed the average.
If you’re investing in a time-management coach, then you’ll notice an improvement in your employee’s efficiency. Sure they’ll take those lessons with them wherever they work, but a) they’re first applying them at your firm and b) they’ll never forget where they picked those lessons up.
Even hiring a management coach is worth the investment – despite the fact that you know most of your current workforce won’t become managers within your company. One of your employees might learn something useful, get a management role at their next employer, and do something incredible with that information. That’s great! You should smile like a proud parent. While you don’t directly benefit, that employee will always remember where they learned that skill, and champion your company at every opportunity.
Personal Anecdote
Personally, I see investment in my employee’s growth as a must. It’s one of our five core values. We’re invested in each other as individuals, and as a result, our culture is positively impacted. If one of my employees leaves tomorrow for a better opportunity, I want there to be nothing but love between us. I don’t invest in their personal development for them to love True Film, or me but it’s a by-product that comes from the investment.
I’ve had employees leave to start bands and become pro kite surfers. I never invested in their coaching, but I gave them days off so they could make it to gigs. I knew their passions ran deeper than film production and when they could, they’d leave the industry. When they did eventually go, it was all hugs and tears. Perhaps one day one of them will become famous. Which brings me to my next point:
Long-Term Impact
I’ve heard of Fortune 500 companies who police their employee’s social media use, while at the same time pay thousands of dollars for social media influencers to shout out their product. Yes, there are boundaries to what an employee should and should not be posting, but if they’re posting content that’s in good taste while still getting their work done, then I think it’s ridiculous to stop them. In 4 years that employee could be building up a massive following and one day, out of the blue and for no cost, thank their former company for giving them the freedom to follow their passion – that’s massive, free, and positive exposure.
Conclusion
If you look at employee growth as something that should only benefit your company, then you’re never going to make a good investment, or an investment at all. You can’t have professional growth without personal growth. A good investment in your employee’s personal development will naturally benefit them outside the office – as it should be. While employee tenure length isn’t what it once was, that doesn’t mean your company’s impact on your employees should follow the same trend.
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