Making the Case for Professional
Development Benefits

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

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

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

SHRM Customized Benchmarking Reports

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.
   

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