The labor force is becoming more connected and mobile than ever before. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2013, 83.8 percent of U.S. households reported computer ownership, with 78.5 percent of all households having a desktop or laptop computer, and 63.6 percent having a handheld computer.
More and more companies and organizations are seeing the advantages of making special accommodations as well as investing in ongoing training and development for their employees.
Here are 5 different ways an organization can facilitate employee development into the kind of employees required in the connected age of today:
1. Psychological Help
A psychologically fit workplace is a broad idea that improves organizational performance. Workers are at peace of mind at work, and so their worries do not distract them or wear them down. Psychological fitness can be categorized into five categories:
- Employee involvement
- Health and safety
- Work-life balance
- Employee recognition
- Employee growth
For an organization to foster a psychologically healthy workplace, all five should be addressed and fit into a company's tailored programs. Communication is also very vital in creating a psychologically fit workplace. Communication is the corner stone of all the five categories of psychological fitness as it forms the basis under which employees and employer relates. It determines how people will let others know about both concerns and encouragement.
2. Cross-Training
Employee cross-training is a form of job rotation where an employee is taken through different workplace departments to learn skills and gain experience in the different job positions. Companies often do it to new employees, but forget to go through it for current employees.
Cross-training can take hours, days or months. Doing so equips your employees to understand what other departments do, as well as see the bigger picture. You also develop leaders this way, people who are capable of moving up in your company.
Cross-training benefits for employees:
- Employees gain greater knowledge which is vital for team building
- Employees with cross training are able to understand how the whole organization runs and thus better placed to handle the organization
- Employees are able to understand the difficulties fellow employees go through, thus come up with ways to make work better and easier.
Cross-training benefits for companies:
- Cross training leads to high productivity due to better understanding of the organization.
- In case an employee quits or gets reassigned, there are ready or almost-ready replacements so recovery is quicker.
- There is improved teamwork as employees share knowledge
- There is proper handling of your clients as employees have key knowledge of the organization and its services and products.
3. Flex Scheduling
Flexible work scheduling is another vital tool for employee development. Maintaining a flexible schedule for your employee helps them deliver high quality services. What you let everyone know is that there should be no drop off in productivity, and, in fact, there should be some natural increase due to saved time.
Flexible scheduling may not be applicable in all types of jobs or employees, but when applied appropriately can improve employee-employer relationship. It can be from once a week to every day. There will be some trial and error and letting employees know that up front is another way to build trust and rapport.
Flexible work scheduling includes:
- Planned and predictable time schedule
- Focused on business vision rather than based on current activities
- Focused on long-term instead of short-term goals
Benefits of flex scheduling to employees:
- No rush-hour commuting
- Better time management
- Work-life balance, i.e. one is able to handle other duties away from work.
- Possible to re-assign work during free times of the day
Benefits of flex scheduling to employers:
- Assigning work for better parts of the day
- Maintaining staff who have other duties to handle away from work
- Making better use of facilities
- Staff coverage when some employees are away
4. Subscribing to Business Book Libraries
Learning is the integral part of becoming a better employee. Organizations with employees with high levels of education are well geared for success. Subscribing to business book libraries is a key step towards furthering employee education. With access to the best business books of all time, employees will have a wider scope of knowledge available to them. If a company has vetted a source, both parties know they can read these materials while at work without wasting anyone's time.
Subscribing to a variety of business book services allows directed knowledge and the ability of employees to plan when to read during their free time. This will also be considered a perk of the job; something an employee will not have to pay for.
5. Job Enrichment
Job enrichment is a good way to give an employee more authority and responsibility in his/her position. Job enrichment creates motivation and interest as employees are able to try out new functions and duties and create new relationships. Some of the ways an organization can facilitate job enrichment include:
- Assigning committee work
- Giving special assignments
- Assigning employees duties in cross-functional teams