Abvisor Business Adverse Oscbsure Employee Development Plan: How To Guide & Template By Tomas Laurnaviius ely Mein torial Note: We earn @ commission from partner Inks on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do net affect our editors opinions or evaluations Table of Contents Businesses know that it's vital to invest in staff. But after the standard onboarding and training phases are over, the work is not done. Employers often find employees in need of additional assistance in order to advance within their roles and an employeeWhat Is an Employee Development Plan? ‘An employee development plan is a plan that outlines that person's professional growth within your organization. Types of Employee Development Plans Here are the three most frequently used types of employee development plans: ‘Skill development within the current role: That means helping the employee sharpen the skills required in their current position, such as encouraging a software engineer to learn new technologies. Skill development for progressing within the current career track: ‘That means helping the employee acquire the skills needed to get a promotion. For example, encouraging a software engineer to learn the skills required to become a senior software engineer. ‘Skill development for switching to a new career track: An example would be encouraging a software engineer to learn leadership skills so that you could promote them to a managerial position, Benefits of Employee Development Plans Here are the key benefits of employee development plans: Finding and signing up promising new talent: You might be familiar with the catch-22 of starting in a new field. You need experience to qualify for a job, but you need a job to get experience. Companies being reluctant to train entry-level employees means talented people witha lot of potential struggle to get their foot in the door. This allows you to recruit, promising new talent and train them on the job. Increased employee retention: According to the Pew Research Center ‘opportunities for advancement as one of the reasons for doing so. It's consistent with the common sentiment that job hopping is the only way to progress in one's career. Making it clear to your employees that they don't need to job-hop to learn new skills, enjoy pay raises and get promotions can do wonders for employee retention. ed no 663% of employees who quit their jobs c Increased employee engagement: According to Gallup, just 36% of United States employees are engaged at work. There's also a new trend known as quiet quitting, where people embrace the philosophy of doing the absolute minimum required to keep their jobs. Investing in employee development can help you increase employee engagement. Continuously learning new skills and overcoming new challenges makes work more enjoyable, Achieving company goals: The ultimate purpose of employee development is to help your organizz the benefits mentioned abave facilitate that. mn achieve its goals. All How to Create an Employee Development Plan in 3 Steps Here's a three-step process for creating an individual employee development plan. 1. Get Clarity on Your Business Goals Get clear on the long-term business goals of your company. Some examples of long-term business goals: A sustainable lifestyle business: Some entrepreneurs want to build a business that allows them and their employees to make a living doing something they enjoy while providing a great work-life balance Alluerative exit: Other entrepreneurs want to build a business that they could sell Going publie: Some want to eventually list the company with an initial publie offering (TPO). ‘What's important is deciding what you want. Then, you can start thinking about what you will need to reach that goal. For example, suppose all you want is a sustainable lifestyle business. In that ease, consider providing your employees with opportunities for professional development within their current roles. Meanwhile, growth will require hiring more managers, so if that's what you are after, you should identify employees interested in the managerial track and support them in developing relevant skills,‘make that launch a suecess. 2. Discuss the Employee's Career Goals With Them Avoid making assumptions about your employees’ goals. Talk to them and find out how they envision their careers. Entrepreneurs often assume that everyone wants to progress toward leadership roles. But plenty of people have no interest in that and want to do great work in their current position instead of taking on managerial duties. I's also important to consider your employee's career ambitions in the context of their lives. For example, someone might love to take on a leadership role one day, but if they have a baby on the way, now may not be the right time for that. People react differently to the same situations, so you shouldn't make assumptions here. ‘To continue with the baby-on-the-way example, one person might want to slow down to spend more time with their family, while another might go into career overdrive out of the desire to provide a better life. Again, communicate with your employees to find out what they want Also, someone just starting their career may still need to learn what they want and that's OK. You can help them discover that by providing opportunities to try different things. Once they get more clarity, you can create an employee development plan that supports their newfound ambitions. 3. Work Together With Your Employees to Create an Individual Employee Development Plan Once you know your employees’ goals, work together to ereate individual employee development plans. There's a possibility that the employee knows what they need better than you do. For example, ifyou're a tech startup founder but not a technical person, you can probably safely assume that software engineers know better what they need to improve on and the best way to go abou! it, Of course, if you're not just a founder but also a chiet technology officer (CTO), you might be able to provide valuable guidance to software engineers that are ss experienced than you. ‘The same applies to all other roles: marketers, writers, social media managers—you name it. Be open-minded and listen to your ‘employees. They probably already know how to get better at what they do and need you to provide support. Also, when switching career tracks, it makes sense to ask people already working in a similar role to mentor that employee. How To Follow Up After an Employee Development Plan Follow-up will depend on the type of employee development plan. Get feedback from the emplayee, discuss the progress made and determine what ean be improved regarding employee development at your organization. Developing skills within the current role should be an ongoing process. Consider working out pay raises that reflect the employee's increasing value to give them the incentive to stay at your company ‘Meanwhile, when it comes to progressing within the current eareer track or switehing to a new one, the endpoint should be getting a promotion or starting a new role. After that, you should work with the employee in question to ereate a new development plan that reflects this change. How to Structure Employee Development Plan (+Free Template) ‘As you can see, there’s alot of variance between employee development plans as they are highly dependent on the goals of the employee in question. However, every employee development plan should include: ‘Their long-term goals, ‘Their short-term goals Progress metries Atimeline with milestones A schedule for evaluating progress‘Remember to account not just for actual expenses, such as paying for certifications but also for their lost productivity and that of the person mentoring them, whether that’s you or someone else, Note that short-term produetivity loss is inevitable when someone is, learning on the job. Hopefully, it will pay offi the long run, Forbes Advisor ployee Development Plan Download Free Employee Development Pa Example of an Employee Development Plan Now, le’ look at an example of an employee development plan Junior Developer to Senior Developer Long-term goal: Become a senior developer. ‘Short-term goals: Learn computer science fundamentals, master specific technologies and make best practices a habit, ‘Progress: This is highly context-dependent, but it might mean certifications, attending training, completing projects using appropriate technologies, and more. ‘Timeline: Again, highly context-dependent but, ideally, you want to set clear milestones with deadlines. Schedule for evaluating progress: Meet with their mentor monthly to get feedback, discuss the results and make adjustments if needed. Bottom Line Employee development is one of the stnartest long-term investments you ean make as an entrepreneur. Itean help you attract talent, improve employee retention and engagement and achieve business goal. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) + What is @ good development plan for an employee? + How dol write a development plan for work? + What should be included in a development plan? + How dol ereate a growth plan for my employees?LU Was this article helpful? BEST OF Best HR Software est HOM Software Best HRIS Systems 20st Employee Management Software Best Onboarding Software Best Talent Management Sofware Best HR Outsourcing Services Best Workforce Management Sofware Best Time And Attendance Software Best Employer Scheduling Software Best Employee Time Tracking Apps Best Free Time Tracking Anps Best Employer Training Software Best Employee Monitoring Software fest Enterprise Learning Management ‘ystems Best Tine Clock Software REVIEWS Zenafits Review oracle HEM Review UKG Pro Review Intel Review ADP Workforce Now Review ADP TotalSource Review ‘SuccessFactors Review What i Human Resources? 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Definition, Pros & Cons By Shweta Contibuor ‘8 Types Of Accounting Explained By Tomas Laurinaviclus Contbuzor Attendance Policy Template (2023) By Tomas Laurinavicius ContbuzorForse: Advsor adheres to strc ectoralintegtty tondordsTo the best of our knowledge ol cartentis Tom Temas Laurinavicius . Ccontbutor ‘Tomas Laurinavicius isa writer and designer. He's a co-founder of Best Writing, an all-in-one platform conneceting writers with businesses, He has built multiple online businesses and helps startups and enterprises scale their content marketing operations. He ‘worked with TIME, Observer, HuffPost, Adobe, Webflow, Envato, Invision, and BigCommerce Forbes (© 2022 Forbes Media LLC. All Rights Reserve, fo ov in Adchoiees Privacy Statement Terms and Conditions About Us Contact Us Careers Reprints & Permissions Newsroom Forbes Quote of the Day Advertise