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According to the World Economic Forum, 60% of employees will need to upskill by 2027 — with 44% of workers needing to reskill. Meanwhile, only 41% have completed training to improve their skills.
The same study revealed employers’ fears about attracting talent and closing skills gaps, with 48% prioritizing overall employee development rather than higher wages (36%) or basic reskilling/upskilling initiatives (34%).
For organizations focused on retaining top talent and leading their industries, employee growth and career development will be key.
What is employee development?
The term employee development refers to the strategies and practices employers use to ensure their employees have the skills and knowledge needed to do their jobs and advance within the organization.
What is a development program?
An employee development program is a structured initiative by an organization to enhance employees’ skills, knowledge, and performance. These programs may include:
- Onboarding and orientation
- Ongoing skills training
- Professional development
- Coaching
- Mentorship programs
- Sponsorship programs
- Employee resource groups (ERGs)
- Upskilling and reskilling
- Career mapping
- Cross-functional projects
- Workshops
By investing in development, organizations support career growth, improve job satisfaction, and prepare employees for future leadership roles, ultimately contributing to the organization’s overall success and adaptability. Development programs for employees are often tailored to align with organizational goals and meet the unique needs of different employee levels.
Employee development program examples
Here are some real-world staff development program examples to inspire your own.
- Google: Offers programs like Googler-to-Googler (G2G) for peer mentoring and training, as well as dedicated leadership development tracks.
- Amazon: Runs “Career Choice” to support skills development in high-demand fields and provides structured growth paths for leadership roles.
- IBM: Provides their “IBM New Collar Certificate Program” to help employees develop technical skills through hands-on experience and certification.
- Microsoft: Their “Aspire” program for recent graduates focuses on mentorship, leadership development, and business acumen.
- General Electric: Known for its long-standing leadership development programs, such as the GE Management Development Institute, which trains employees for senior roles.
What employees look for in development programs
Employees intrinsically understand that workplace skill sets are changing, and they want to develop the qualities top employers are looking for.
Although every organization will have different needs, some employee development program examples can help paint a clear picture of what employees look for in development programs:
- Soft skills like analytical or creative thinking, motivation, resilience, and curiosity rank as the top core skills identified by organizations.
- On-the-job training like job shadowing, peer learning, and mentorship programs offer employees the opportunity to learn from their coworkers and learn other jobs within the company.
- Online courses to help workers develop specific skills in a flexible format that fits their schedule. Combined with certifications and assessments, these courses help build employees’ resumes.
- Career development that guides workers toward long-term goals and helps organizations create clear paths for internal advancement.
- A strong learning culture fosters an atmosphere of continuous learning that gives employees the tools they need to grow their careers while employers benefit from knowledge retention and employee retention.
- Technical training that supports the technological literacy needed in modern workplaces and helps employees adjust to job changes brought on by advancements in artificial intelligence and automation, making it one of the top areas of development for employees.
A strong employee development program can be the differentiator your organization needs to attract and retain high potential employees while other companies struggle to recruit skilled workers.
4 benefits of employee development
According to Gartner, over the next 10 years, cognitive work — i.e., creativity, critical thinking, digital upskilling — will outweigh the importance of tenure and experience in the workplace. What’s more, employees will be looking for passion and purpose in their jobs, with even salaries taking a backseat to the importance of company values.
When it comes to the future of work, organizations that take an active role in employee development and build strong staff development programs will thrive amid these changes. In LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report, 89% of L&D pros agreed that companies need to be proactive about upskilling and reskilling to succeed.
“Organizations that encourage upskilling among their workforces find their employees are happier, more engaged, and, in turn, more productive.” — MIT Technology Review Insights
Establishing an employee development program will bring four key benefits to your organization.
1. Retention
LinkedIn says it best in its Workplace Learning Report: “People who aren’t learning will leave.” Of the top five factors affecting employee retention, three of them are related to professional development and learning.
It’s the top concern among employers, too. For the 93% of organizations that are worried about retention, providing learning opportunities is their No. 1 strategy for combating employee churn.
The need for learning is especially strong with workers under the age of 35. They’re most likely to crave opportunities to grow their careers, add skills, and continue learning.
Internal mobility also affects retention — employees who have advanced or taken on new roles are 75% more likely to stay with your company. The problem? Only 26% of employees say they learned new skills, and just 14% have been coached to create a career development plan.
2. Recruiting
Simply put, workers are drawn to employment opportunities that offer some form of learning and development. According to Gallup, Millennials say they place the most emphasis on the learning and growth opportunities offered by a potential employer. And for non-Millennials, 69% ranked it as an important factor.
Clearly, top candidates are looking for organizations that offer opportunities for staff development and growth, which organizations can provide through an employee development program. In Glassdoor’s annual Best Places to Work, workers said the best companies offer opportunities for career advancement. By promoting how they provide employees with access to learning and staff development programs, businesses can show potential recruits that they are serious about their employees’ professional development.
3. Positive workplace culture
A positive and supportive work culture is essential for employee productivity, creativity, and engagement — it’s also an expectation. In their Workplace Trends Report, Indeed and Glassdoor reported that 46% of workers expect more out of their jobs when it comes to their overall happiness.
A positive workplace culture is one where employees feel valued and are given the opportunity to learn and grow. Employee development can help to create a positive culture by providing employees with opportunities to learn new skills, take on new challenges, and grow their careers. When employees are engaged at work, they are more likely to be productive at work. What’s more, companies with engaged employees are more profitable.
4. Employee performance
If your employees grow stagnant in their skills and knowledge, it stands to reason that their performance will suffer. This is because employees who are not constantly learning and expanding their horizons will eventually hit a plateau in their productivity.
On the other hand, 90% of employees who are actively engaged in employee development programs report that their performance improves significantly, and this is because they are constantly challenging themselves to learn new things and improve their skills.
As a result, employees engaged in employee development training programs will become more productive and contribute more value to the organization.
5 ways to build an effective employee development program
It’s clear that employee development is crucial for your business. But how do you go about creating an effective employee development program?
With these five essential components in mind, you can create a development program fit for a winning organization of talented individuals.
1. Connect each employee with a mentor
In order for employees to develop and grow, they need access to mentors. This means that every employee in your company should be paired with a mentor — someone who can help them navigate their way through the corporate culture and offer guidance when it comes to professional development.
Mentorship in itself can be considered an employee development program, especially when the mentee is challenged to become a mentor once they have developed the skills to do so. Mentoring programs offer the complete package of skill acquisition and putting those skills into practice.
Mentoring software makes starting a mentoring program easy. Match employees with relevant mentors in minutes—not weeks of manually matching in a spreadsheet.
2. Assign employees as coaches for peer-to-peer learning
In addition to having access to mentors, employees should also be given the opportunity to act as coaches in a peer-to-peer learning program. This gives employees the opportunity to share their knowledge and skills with their colleagues, and it also helps them develop leadership skills by taking on a mentoring role.
In a peer coaching situation, colleagues observe one another and gain confidence through teamwork. Coaches in this setting simply need to display the skills they want their peers to emulate, answering any questions that may arise along the way. This reinforces their own confidence and hones the skills they are demonstrating.
Together’s Colleague Connect can serve as a powerful asset to help foster growth, improve relationships between team members, and build a stronger, more connected team by expertly matching colleagues together based on factors like skills, ERGs, or departments.
3. Encourage ongoing knowledge sharing between employees
In order for employees to learn from each other, it's important to encourage knowledge sharing. This can be done in a number of ways, such as through brown-bag lunches, team meetings, or simply by providing employees with a forum where they can share ideas and thoughts.
Knowledge sharing simply means that skills and experience are exchanged between colleagues, departments, and teams. It’s ideal to facilitate knowledge sharing in development programs so that everyone is taking on the role of both learner and teacher.
4. Give employees clear goals for their development plans
One of the most critical aspects of an employee development program is ensuring that it has clear goals. This way, employees know what they're working towards and can track their progress. Goals allow for personalized development plans, which in turn helps employees to feel more engaged in the process.
When making Individual Development Plans (IDPs), goal setting is particularly important as it allows employees to see a clear trajectory for their learning. It also gives mentors an idea of the specific skills they need to focus on with their mentees. With IDPs, regular feedback sessions can help tailor and align development plans with established goals.
Goal setting and tracking can be optimized through employee development software, which can help employees map out their development journey and visualize their progress. The right development software can also help organizations keep track of the effectiveness and impact of the employee development program, which can provide a significant return on investment (ROI).
5. Make time for reflection and career-pathing
Employees should be given time to reflect on their own development and career paths. This can be done through periodic reviews, goal-setting sessions, or simply by providing employees with access to resources that will help them map out their careers.
Career-pathing allows employees to reflect on their current learning journey and ensure that their development program aligns with the direction of their career. It gives them an ultimate focus and motivation for developing their skills, and your organization gets the benefit of talent development.
Level up staff development with employee development software
Employee development impacts everyone in the company. That also makes it a team sport. From onboarding programs that prepare new hires for success to on-the-job training that helps employees succeed in their current roles, and even leadership training aimed at career growth, it’s a company-wide effort that can have a company-wide payoff.
For that reason, your employee development plan will have a major impact on company culture, employee engagement, employee morale, and employee satisfaction. The best employee development programs include everything from how you onboard new employees, to how you develop and recognize top performers, to how you deal with difficult conversations and beyond.
Mentorship programs can be the catalyst for launching a new employee development program. When learning and development is everyone's responsibility, everyone is able to contribute and everyone can benefit.
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