Introduction Recap:

In order to truly understand what makes a company a great place to work, it is important to explore, evaluate and improve several different aspects of the employee experience. Best Companies Group manages more than 40 “Best Places to Work,” “Best Employers” or “Best Companies” programs. We use an employee survey that has 8 very distinct areas of evaluation. We call them our “8 Core Focus Areas” of employee engagement and satisfaction. We have created this blog series to explore each of those “8 Core Focus Areas.”

Our goal is to help you understand these focus areas so the next time you conduct a survey or participate in one of BCG’s programs you have a better idea of how we go about identifying the best. This blog is part 6 of our feature series. To read part 5, please click here.

This week we will focus on, Training, Development & Resources

It may seem counterintuitive for an organization to spend money to help employees develop only to watch them take their talents and education elsewhere, even to a competitor. You educate people and then they leave the state, region or country. Government Economic Development entities call it “Brain Drain.” From a “Best Employer” standpoint, investing in the training and development of your workforce is a necessary risk. And, as it turns out, it’s not as big of a risk as you may think. The employers with higher levels of employee engagement realize that investing in the education and training of the workforce is well worth the investment. The outcome includes higher productivity, increased efficiency, greater innovation, and more. Even if it begins with something as simple as expense reimbursement for an employee’s partial degree or simple encouragement for employees to grow in their jobs and to achieve their personal aspirations, employees will notice that you care about their development, which goes a long way toward building loyalty.

Beyond interpersonal development, this core focus area also describes the need to provide appropriate resources for employees to do their jobs. In addition to asking about general resources, this core focus area also explores the area that has fast become a primary source of frustration for millions of employees: technology. Removing obstacles to progress can be one of the most effective ways to improve employee engagement. That way, unresolved hardware, software and other IT issues don’t become roadblocks to getting work done and making progress.

Statements in this area include:

• This organization provided as much initial training as I needed
• This organization provides as much ongoing training as I need
• This organization provides the technology, equipment and resources I need to do my job well
• The computer or other hardware I use to do my job is dependable
• The software and program applications I use to do my job are adequate
• Technology issues are resolved in a timely manner
• Technology issues affecting my work are communicated to me in a timely manner
• I understand what is expected for career advancement
• I am encouraged to explore growth or advancement opportunities within the organization
• There is room for me to advance at this organization
• I trust that if I do good work, I will be considered for a promotion

The percentage represents the national average percentage Positive Response (Agree or Strongly Agree) in the “Training, Development & Resources” Core Focus Area for all the winners of our “Best” programs.

In two weeks our blog series will continue with Pay & Benefits, the 7th of our 8 Core Focus Areas.