Do you ever get frustrated by the feeling that you train and develop your key people, simply in readiness for your competitors to poach them?

We've heard it all before, "I left for a better opportunity". The research shows that more than any other single factor, people stay engaged because of opportunities to learn and be challenged. Organisations need to be opportunist and help create the right opportunities for the right people at the right time so that people are engaged enough to stay another month, another year or another five years.

Keep developing your people, or develop increased turnover, the choice is yours.
People have an innate desire to grow and develop. Almost everyone wants to enhance their strengths and take on new challenges to be the best they can be.

If employees are not being developed and growing then they are not being the best they can be. If they are not being the best they can be, then they are not being as happy as possible and therefore employee engagement can be hugely affected.

Consider this, 41 per cent of employees at organisations with poor training plan to leave within a year, versus 12 per cent of employees at companies with excellent training. (Source: American Society for Training & Development)

What sort of talent development plan do you have for yourself and others?

Growing your biggest asset
In many companies more money is spent on recruiting people than for on-going training and development. What is more important; new people or retaining and developing existing employees? One of the most effective engagement returns on investment is growing and developing your existing people.

Best Employers invest more financial resources and time into developing their people than other companies. Companies in the top quarter of training expenditure per employee per year average 24 per cent higher profit margins than companies that spend less per year. (Source: Susan J. Wells, HR Magazine)