The Key to Employee Retention: Learning & Development

Employees are your greatest asset. Companies with higher employee retention rates maximize profitability by up to four times. And in today's rapidly evolving workforce, the key to retention is to focus on your employees' learning and development. 

A well-trained employee impacts nearly every aspect of your business. In short, companies that create robust learning and development programs see tangible benefits for their business today and tomorrow. 

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Here's why focusing on learning and development is the key to employee retention.

Today's talent focuses on their growth

By 2025, Millennials and Gen Z workers will make up roughly 65 percent of the entire labor force. That number jumps to 75 percent by 2030. In fact, 94 percent of employees today say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in helping them learn. 

This generation of workers are insatiable learners, and the best and the brightest want to invest in themselves. Many Millenials and Zoomers say that having opportunities to learn and grow is a major factor when deciding whether to apply for a job. 

By highlighting that your organization has a culture of continuous learning, it will show today's talent that you are just as invested in their personal and professional growth. ‍

Increased innovation‍

A team of experts is a team of innovators. By focusing on each individual's learning and development, you simultaneously create a culture that encourages collaboration. Industry experts thrive in collaborative settings. A team that brings their diverse skills and expertise to the table can grow a company faster than any other factor.

Training employees provides them with more depth of knowledge within their function and industry. Employees with more depth in their field are better equipped to think outside of the box when faced with complex business problems. 

Employees with strong functional and industry knowledge can look at problems and create optimal solutions that will fit your company's needs and be competitive in your industry. Depth of knowledge comes with time, which is why having a team that continually learns and grows together is the only way to create a truly innovative product.‍

Retention saves money‍

It costs roughly $4000 and an average of 42 days to hire a new employee. That's a lot of people-hours. It makes more business sense to understand what mastery in a given role looks like and then develop a roadmap that helps your current employees grow.

Today's workforce is made up of digital natives and digital learners. Twenty-five percent of young adults have elected to postpone college, and over half of Americans today say their degree is irrelevant in their current role. Now, young adults are choosing to self-educate online. 

Self-educated employees come with a host of benefits, like more creativity, higher motivation, and better problem-solving skills. But because of the lack of direction that traditional education provides, the current and incoming generations of workers are bound to have gaps in their skillset. Learning and development programs will allow you to rapidly fill in those gaps and level up your current employees.‍

Good for business‍

Customer satisfaction significantly improves a company's brand reputation. A company's brand has never been more important for business sustainability. The best way to develop your brand is to deliver the highest possible customer experience.

Customers see company employees as experts in their field. When an employee is an expert, they can instantly build rapport and personalize the customer experience. Delivering a high-quality customer experience can have a compounding effect in today's social media-driven world. 

Delighted customers will happily share their experiences on their social networks. A satisfied customer creates a loyal customer—which increases word of mouth, helps gain valuable feedback, determines areas of improvement, and ultimately identifies what your customers may want next.‍

Make training Easy‍

In today's fast-moving distributed workforce, it's important to meet your workers where they are and create a frictionless learning process. At Arist, we built the first text messaging learning platform. 

You can build courses quickly, launch instantly, and track remote-friendly training in minutes. Or we can build courses for you. 

Let us help develop your team of expert innovators. Learn more here.
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