The workforce in 2023 is unusual.
Commercial buildings are still sitting empty because 40% of American workers believe they are more productive at home than onsite. There are expected to be 36.2 million American workers working remotely by 2025. Working remote still is and will continue to be a perk that American workers desire. We do not see remote work going away anytime soon.
Beside remote work, the next perk that employees want is professional development opportunities. In fact, 76% of employees are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous learning.
As we find ourselves in an economy where employers are not laying off staff, while simultaneously cutting back significantly on expenses, employees are now seeking training opportunities elsewhere. Some are even considering leaving positions where development opportunities are not offered.
If during a regular economy 55% of employees say they need additional training to perform better in their roles, as we continue in this ‘unusual’ economic situation, Learning & Development must be a part of your culture in order to retain your team members.
Something new (and exciting) we’re starting to see in the workforce is employee stipends for Professional Development.
Defined simply, an employee stipend is a cash benefit to employees that can be used for any kind of professional development or continuous learning opportunity. Some companies, like Starbucks, have always provided this stipend and employees were encouraged to use it for advanced education like a bachelor’s degree. Truth be told, in the past and still today, many companies have offered a stipend for a continuing education program.
The employee stipend that has emerged recently is a bit different.
Companies are understanding that employees with a growth mindset want to use these funds to go to conferences, take classes that help them in their career advancement, or have access to classes that develop their soft skills.
Recently, Traci was asked to develop a class on Confidence. As it turns out, BECAUSE of remote work, employees are seeking more opportunities for development. It seems that remote work, while desired, is also having the effect of slowing down the rates of employee development vs. those they have when working in face-to-face environments.
As an added benefit of this newer structure, employees also enjoy the individual nature of stipends because they can pursue topics of interest rather than sitting in the same training as everyone else.
We are seeing stipends being given anywhere from $500—$2000 per year, per employee.
While there are certainly plenty of free to low-cost ways of development, companies like Human Potential Advisors are gearing up for this new wave of culture. We are providing online book clubs, lunch and learn virtual opportunities, after hour classes on self-improvement and weekend retreats.
In fact, we recently updated our website to showcase our different offerings including: classes, assessments and strategy, leadership and development, coaching, and retreats.
In this month’s newsletter, we will focus on all things professional development. We’ll provide some classes to consider and data to understand this trend. And we must mention that while we LOVE training in-person (and that is always available), we believe adjusting to what the marketing is demanding is equally important.
Please check out our new offerings and even consider “building your own retreat” from our 26 custom teachings!
Above all, remember that it takes 31 hours of training to make an employee feel “developed”.
Let us know how we can help! Let’s begin.
