Delaying to invest – or worse, ignoring to invest – in employees including in terms of development, engagement, and management could cost a business a fortune. Gallup State of the Global Workplace report revealed that 85 percent of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work due to minimum investment in development and management. The group of survey respondents makes up the majority of the workforce are not businesses worst performers, but they are indifferent to their organisation. They give the employer their time, but not their best effort nor their best ideas. The economic consequences of this global “norm” are approximately $7 trillion in lost productivity.
See also: Want To Set Competitive Salaries & Compensations? Read This First
The Global Workplace report showed just how performance is managed, and specifically how people are being developed, is misfiring. In general, business leaders and HR professionals only rely on annual reviews to provide them feedback and evaluate performance. Yet, the workforce is looking for more things like purposes, opportunities to develop, ongoing conversations, a coach rather than a boss, and a manager who could leverage employees’ strengths rather than obsessing on their weaknesses. When leaders and HR professionals can see this alignment, the business could once again compete in an ever-growing global market.
That is just one of many reasons why business leaders and HR professionals should invest in the overall employee’s work-necessity. Here are other significant advantages of investing in your employees now.
Lack of employee engagement is often associated with a higher turnover rate which would not only affect businesses bottomline but also increase the investment in new recruitment. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, hiring a new employee in a company with 0-500 people can cost an average of $7,645, including running a background check, onboarding, ad placements, etc. For internal hiring, the cost of hire is lower as an employer could skip background check and intensive training. However, the investment of recruitment would come back if the recruiter could bring the best hires that suit the position. Otherwise, an employer could suffer from another cost of a bad hire.
On the contrary, investing in employees equals investing in company retention. Investing in overall employee experience, such as work appreciation, employee development or wellbeing, shows that the company values, appreciates, and cares for employees. Feeling valued and appreciated, employees will likely perform better on the job because they are happy.
Happy employees would likely share happy moments with their employers on social media. This could be a word-of-mouth marketing that heightens the change for an employer to grab more top talents on the market. Based on SHRM survey, company culture is the best driver for candidates when it comes to job search, with 23 percent of respondents selecting the option, followed closely by career progression (22 percent) and benefits (19 percent).
“The real power lies in creating a wellbeing culture, making a commitment to wellbeing at the individual, team, and organisational levels and equipping employees with technology that promotes wellbeing behaviours.” – Micheal Fenlon, Chief People Officer of PwC
Read also: Is Company Culture More Important Than Organisational Strategy?
