Professional Development Among Top Retention Tools

In the age of LinkedIn and social media, staff are constantly looking at job opportunities that provide them with more development. How do you keep your best staff,  and attract the best candidates for the role? Providing the opportunity for career development will allow your employees to become more engaged and stay motivated within your nonprofit. Below is some key takeaways from HR Dive.

• Professional development has emerged as a key tool in employers' efforts to retain talent, according to a survey by Robert Half. The company found 81% of the more than 2,800 senior managers it surveyed were at least somewhat concerned about retention, while one-third were very concerned. Forty-one percent said their companies offered professional development programs for retention purposes, tied with efforts to improve employee recognition as the second-most used company tactic.

• A separate survey of more than 2,800 workers showed their retention concerns may be justified: 43% of workers said they intend to look for a new job in the next 12 months. A pay raise was cited by 43% of workers as the top reason to stay with a company, while 19% said a promotion would keep them on staff. Just 10% of workers said nothing would convince them to remain with their current employer.

• Other retention strategies used by employers in the survey included improving employee recognition programming, enhancing compensation and benefits and facilitating mentorship opportunities.

Retention isn't the only benefit of improved L&D programs, either. Workers can learn useful skills to bring back to their teams, helping to build institutional knowledge. If you're an employee and you're interested in your career development, click on our news page here.