Research & Surveys

Making the Case for Professional
Development Benefits

December 20, 2017

Why are professional development benefits important?

Employee Satisfaction and Retention
Professional development (PD) benefits and opportunities for advancement are important to nearly all employees and especially to those early in their careers, yet only one-third of employees (32%) are very satisfied with their organization’s commitment to PD. This gap between the importance of PD and satisfaction with it can lead to negative outcomes such as turnover: 21% cite a lack of career advancement opportunities as a reason to leave an organization.1
Are employees leaving your organization because of a lack of PD and career advancement opportunities?

  • Get employee feedback about your PD benefits and find out if there are differences by career level, tenure, job function and other variables. Focus on the needs of the talent that has the highest strategic value to your organization.


Recruitment
Many HR professionals—especially those at organizations using benefits strategically for recruitment and retention—expect that PD benefits will become increasingly important for recruitment.2 In addition to external recruitment, PD benefits could help bolster internal recruitment and succession planning. Nearly one-half of HR professionals (48%) indicate that training existing employees is the most effective recruiting strategy for hard-to-fill positions at their organization.3
Do your organization’s PD benefits support succession planning and help fill vacant positions?

  • Revisit your succession and performance management strategies to ensure they are supported by your organization’s PD benefits and learning and development program.

    • Strategic Organizations Lead the Industry in PD
    Organizations that use benefits strategically for recruitment and retention are more likely to lead the industry in offering professional development benefits. These organizations are also making additions or enhancements to their PD benefits at two times the rate of companies that do not use benefits strategically, suggesting that they are anticipating future workforce needs.2
    How do your organization’s PD benefits measure up against your competitors?

    • Benchmark against others in your industry and decide for which benefits you want to lead, meet or lag the market. Start with the interactive graphic below and consider a customized benchmarking report if you need more tailored data.

    Use the interactive graphic to learn what PD benefits are being offered in your industry.

    1. Select an industry from the first drop-down list. The blue bars show the overall percentage of organizations offering the benefit in all industries. The orange dots show the percentage of organizations offering the benefit for the selected industry. Hover over the orange dot to see the sample size.

    2. Select a PD benefit from the second drop-down list. The orange bars show the breakdown by organization staff size for the selected industry. Hover over the orange bar to see the sample size.

    View on a desktop for the best user experience.

    2017 Employee Benefits Full Survey Findings (PDF)

    Additional SHRM Resources

    Effective Practice Guidelines: Learning System Design: A Guide to Creating Effective Learning Initiatives

    Effective Practice Guidelines: Developing Leadership Talent: A Guide to Succession Planning and Leadership Development

    Articles: Organizational and Employee Development

    Toolkit: Developing Employees

    Toolkit: Using Government and Other Resources for Employment and Training Programs

     

    Sources

    1 Employee job satisfaction and engagement: The doors of opportunity are open (SHRM, 2017)

    2 SHRM Strategic Benefits Survey (unpublished raw data) (SHRM, 2017)

    3 The new talent landscape: Recruiting difficulty and skills shortages (SHRM, 2016)

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