Updated: 21 May 2020
The Benefits of Professional Development
Employee development is an investment that should not be overlooked. Both attracting and retaining talented professionals is critical for an organization.
When an organization shows its willingness to invest in its employees’ skill sets, employees are often able to better envision their future with the company. Furthermore, employee development programs can provide the skills needed to grow within the organization.
Benefits of Employee Development
1. Retain top talent in your organization
Keeping talent in your organization is important—especially when considering the cost and logistics of attracting new talent. Checking in with your team members to ensure that they are satisfied with their current positions and projects can increase employee engagement and improve morale.
2. Improve employee skills and abilities
Not only does investing in continuing education benefit your employees, the resulting increase in expertise and new skills also benefits your organization. The more your team’s skills improve, the more productive and knowledgeable your team will be.
3. Improve organizational reputation and culture
Consider speaking to your team about the importance of professional development. Participating in these kinds of conversations shows how much you value their job growth and satisfaction.
In a 2019 study, 74 percent of global respondents said company culture was important to them. Furthermore, being known as an organization with good company culture can boost your reputation with customers and job applicants.
4: Promote from within
Do you have good employees whom you want to encourage to grow and become leaders in your company? Continuing education gives employers the chance to promote from within.
Opportunities for growth are important to individuals. Hiring internally presents a positive feedback loop for the staff to see. It shows that loyalty and dedication can lead to advancements. This helps the team feel more involved and more likely to put in extra work to succeed.
Train Your Team to Be Leaders
What does your company do to provide your next generation of leaders with the necessary skill sets? If employees feel empowered, they perform better and eventually may take on leadership roles within their companies. Understand how to bridge the gap between business and engineering as your team prepares for growth into management roles.
Watch the complimentary on-demand webinar, “Lessons in Leadership: Preparing the Future Leaders of Your Engineering Workforce,” presented by Braun Kiess, instructor at the Rutgers Business School; Sohaib Sheikh, technology associate at Smart Building Systems for Land Securities (Landsec) Group Ltd.; and Jennie Fine, program director at the Rutgers Business School.
This article was originally published on IEEE Innovation At Work.
Continuing and Professional Education
IEEE Innovation at Work helps you stay up to date with the latest in technology and engineering. Updated twice a week, these blogs cover topics such as autonomous vehicles, blockchain, and the Internet of Things.
IEEE Tech Talk gives you a chance to hear from industry experts and innovators on the convergence of the latest technologies. This free series, available to all through podcasts and virtual events, both live and on demand. Topics covered include personal digital twins and child data privacy. Future slated events include topics around 4G, 5G, and IoT.
IEEE Educational Activities also features free webinars on topics such as 5G, autonomous vehicles, and distance learning.
Other relevant free webinars that were designed to assist in the transition to distance learning and working from home are:
- “Online Delivery of Engineering Programs: Tips You Can Use From an Experienced ABET-Accredited Program”
- “Emerging Technologies and the Impact You Can Make - HKN Pathways”
- “Helping Students Learn via Online Delivery: Considerations for Pandemic Pedagogy”
- “Using eLearning to Support Distance Learning”
- “Strategies for Effective Delivery of Online Engineering Courses: Best Practices, Tips, and Toolkits”
The IEEE Learning Network (IEEE ILN) is a centralized website that provides access to hundreds of courses, webinars, and eLearning programs from across IEEE. Members can access free IEEE ILN Partner Resources as well as discounted IEEE ILN courses.
Preuniversity Education
IEEE TryEngineering—aimed at students, their parents, and teachers—features information on what it takes to become an engineer. Users can read about professional engineers’ work experiences, access lesson plans that feature hands-on experiments, and play games that demonstrate what engineers do.
There’s also the new virtual event series TryEngineering Live: Engineer Spotlight, which provides students with a glimpse into the careers and lives of engineers through interviews. The first is with IEEE Member Burton Dicht, former lead engineer at Northrop Grumman and Rockwell Space Transportations System Division.
A complementary series entitled TryEngineering Live: Hands-On Design Challengeshighlights lesson plans from TryEngineering.org. Each lesson plan is designed to be a complete road map that’s easy to follow and implement, no matter your familiarity with the topic, and to align with educational standards. The first design challenge is on the lesson plan Critical Load.
There is also a COVID-19 Resources Page, which has curated free resources available to support teachers and parents during this unprecedented and challenging time.
