How does training lead to employee engagement?

"Your company stands out in the market."

"Your employees don't quit their jobs that easily."

"Your employees look happy."

If your employees are engaged with their job and feel passionate about doing their part to achieve the organizational goals, you'll hear these statements often. Training is one sure path towards employee engagement. Read on to find out how.

What does employee engagement mean?

Employee engagement is the emotional and psychological connection that employees have with their jobs and the organization they work for. Engaged employees are passionate and involved in their job and strive to do their part in achieving organizational success.

Employee engagement ensures that employees feel purpose, value, and respect in relation to their work and their organization. Engaged employees continually seek ways to boost their performance to provide a valuable contribution to their organization.

What factors influence employee engagement? 

While job satisfaction is centered on doing a job to the best of one's ability without necessarily putting everything into the task, employee engagement is far more about an individual's personal commitment and emotional connection to the organization they work for. There are several factors that influence employee engagement including:

Purpose: Employees feel valued when they know the importance of their job role and understand the big picture.

Autonomy: It's imperative to provide autonomy for your employees.

Communication: Two-way communication is key to avoiding confusion and ensuring clarity of organizational and departmental goals.

Recognition: Make sure to recognize your employees' efforts because it has a high impact on employee engagement.

Work relationships: Ensure that you have positive relationships with your employees and make them feel comfortable in their workplace.

Personal growth and development: Make your employees' career advancement a high priority because it has a direct correlation to their personal investment with your organization.

Other factors that impact employee engagement are the type of work, salary and incentives, peer culture in the workplace, and more. It's important to understand these factors and work on fostering employee engagement in your organization for the most optimized workspace.

How does training lead to employee engagement? 

According to the Workplace Learning Report, eight in 10 people say learning adds purpose to their work. The pros of training are numerous, with a major one being employee engagement. In a market where organizations tend to hesitate spending on non-mandatory training, investing in training and development programs that lead to an increase in employee engagement will provide a competitive edge for your company.  

Improve consistency 

An effective training program ensures that every employee has the same level of knowledge. Simultaneously, consistency is key for an in-depth understanding of products and services. Training programs conducted routinely increase consistency in product understanding, product updates, and provide the same learning experience for everyone.

Boost employee productivity 

Create robust training programs that ensure that your employees are equipped with the necessary skills to perform more effectively. As employees improve in their roles and show better results, they're more likely to be productive with their work and engaged with their organization. This contributes to overall growth of your organization because goals are achieved with greater profits.

Enhance employees' skill sets 

In a constantly changing technological landscape, skill development is crucial for all employees to stay competitive. To ensure that employees stay up to date about changes in the product or technology, employ continuous training programs in your organization. When training programs are comprehensive, it enhances business and soft skills. Employees' enhanced skill sets motivate and push them to perform better, leading to their career development and their organizational success.

Increase employee retention 

The more engaged employees feel about the organization, the less likely they are to leave the organization if they have a personal investment with the company. To increase employee engagement, show genuine interest in the skills and success of your employees. This can be done by providing adequate training resources. When employees believe they can grow professionally and acquire new skills in a secure, encouraging, and cooperative workplace, they're much less likely to quit.

Empower employees 

Incorporating training and development opportunities in your organization not only enhances employees' skills but gives them confidence in their work and performance. This makes employees feel empowered because they know what they're doing and they feel valued by their company's efforts for their personal growth. Training is a sure way to make employees feel empowered enough to feel conviction in their work while creating the future leaders of your organization.

Strengthen workplace relationships 

Training programs are a great way to bring out collaboration and teamwork among your employees. Exploring new topics, enhancing their skills, and discussing better ways to work can strengthen work relationships as employees come together and share knowledge. By learning from each other's mistakes and strengths, your employees will feel camaraderie with their peers and a deeper connection with your organization.

Wrapping up 

From better performance to increased staff retention and empowered employees, employee training helps with employee engagement in numerous important ways. It's crucial to design the right training programs and ensure that the employees' needs are fulfilled. Highly engaged employees not only deliver better results, but remain with the company, ready to take over senior positions whenever necessary. With employee engagement, talent is retained, skills are enhanced, and organizational success is achieved.