Investing in Employees -- Even if They Might Walk

He said it out loud, but wasn’t the first to think it. One of my clients admitted, “I don’t see the point in investing in training her if she is just going to use that training to leave us & get a new job.”

Professional development might provide your team with more opportunities that allow them to leave, but here are 5 reasons it’s still worth doing:

1)     The field is changing and your community is changing. There is certainly still something for your staff to learn that will support them in being more effective in their current roles.

2)     Offering professional development opportunities as a general practice can help attract talented staff and increase your reputation as a good workplace.

3)     You’re in this work because you care about the field/have causes that matter to you. It’s a good thing to equip others to be more effective in moving the mission forward – within or outside your organization.

4)     What goes around comes around. Yes, your professional development investment might have payoff for a different employer, but you also benefited from the preparation previous employers provided to your team members. And you never know who might come back to your organization down the road.

5)     And here is the sneaky one – it pays off now! You don’t need bodies; you need engaged staff. And part of what keeps people engaged is knowing they are growing. So even if the skills they are attaining make them better suited for a different role, it likely will make them happier and thus better in their current role and maybe even keep them at your organization for a little longer than they would have been otherwise. 

If you train them, will they leave? Yes. 

If you don’t train them, will they leave? Yes.

But supporting the development of your employees is always a win.