Author: Prenal Gengan
At its most basic level, employee development refers to the ‘execution’ of learning new skills and improving on current ones. Employees learn different skills at different times, while some may learn a particular skill faster than others. This is where the role of HR becomes important, assisting employees to develop and upskill themselves according to their own needs or requirements. A specialised career path or career plan needs to be created for each employee depending on their job requirements and the type of business the employee works in.
Below are a few strategies to approach employee development:
- On the job experience: Mentoring and assessments assist in upskilling employees.
- Exposure: Allowing employees to learn through observation such as coaching the employee, providing feedback and allowing the employee to buddy up with more experienced peers.
- Education: Sending the employee for structured courses, tertiary education or seminars.
The Skills Development Act 97 of 1998 aims to:
- Provide an institutional framework to devise and implement national, sector and workplace strategies to develop and improve the skills of the South African work force.
- Integrate those strategies within the National Qualifications Framework contemplated in the South African Qualifications Authority Act, 1995.
- Provide for Iearnerships that lead to recognised occupational qualifications.
- Provide for the financing of skills development by means of a levy-grant scheme and a National Skills Fund.
- Provide for and regulate employment services, and
- Provide for matters connected therewith.
In accordance with the act, it is important for HR specialists to take a proactive role in employee development by:
- Identifying employee learning and development needs
- Creating development plans for each employee
- Supporting employees’ career aspirations
- Consistently providing support to employees
- Improving employee performance
- Engaging and retaining employees to the best of their ability
- Upskilling employees to develop leadership skills
- Improving workplace culture
If you are wanting to remain competitive and retain the best people, it is time to make employee development a priority in your organisation. We can help you create the foundations for your people to thrive – contact us today.