As a business leader, investing in your employees is the most strategic thing you can do. Your team members drive your company’s success and breathe life into your business goals. There’s a powerful multiplier effect that investing in your employees unlocks, too. We’re talking about better productivity, improved morale, lower turnover rates, and uncovering hidden potential within your workforce.
In our Team Building Saves the World podcast episode, Teaching Power Skills in the Workplace, we talked to Laura Sukorokoff, Chief Engagement Officer of Take Charge Learning.
During our conversation, Sukorokoff summed up the benefits of investing in your employees pretty well:
“When you invest in training, you’re looking at it on a bit of a larger scale potentially, but this is also something where people can be taken out of their day-to-day and really focus in on their own development. And that tends to pay off big time.”
In this article, we’ll dive deeper into the benefits of investing in employees. We’ll also look at how to get the most out of the money you invest in your employees and what employees can do to invest in themselves.
Why Is Investing in Employees Important?
The why behind investing in your employees goes beyond professional development and employee wellbeing. Investing in people within your company can dramatically improve your bottom line and transform your organization.
One of the most significant benefits is increased workplace productivity, which manifests in multiple ways. Direct investments in training or workshops give your employees practical skills they can immediately apply. This hands-on approach helps them become more efficient and view challenges with a new perspective so they can find innovative solutions.
As Laura Sukorokoff noted in our podcast, making “investments in your managers and in your team members pays off in engagement, in productivity, in loyalty, and in retention.”
More Benefits of Investing in Your Employees
When you invest in employees, you’re getting more than skill development. A company that’s willing to invest in people makes their employees feel valued; it shows them that they’re important, and this does so much more than boosting morale.
Investing in people can fundamentally shift an employee’s whole mindset, showing them how integral their skills are to the business. This means more motivation, creative problem-solving, and productivity, and you can’t argue with that.
Plus, investing in employees also reduces turnover rates. You’re not just providing them with training, education, and skills—you’re saying, “Hey, this is a long-term partnership! We have to help each other grow and succeed. It’s all about teamwork, and I’m here for it!” It’s statements like these that make them want to stick around.
How To Invest in Your Employees
Understanding the power of investing in employees is just the first step. The real challenge is knowing how to invest in your employees and finding strategies that align with both your employees’ goals and those of your business.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, so take a moment to assess your workforce before diving into the strategies. Here are some questions to get you started:
- What do your employees value most?
- What are they looking for in terms of professional development?
- What skills or knowledge would help them in their current roles?
- How can you align their personal goals with your business objectives?
By considering questions like these, you can figure out the best way to invest in your employees so everyone comes out on top. Now, let’s explore some proven approaches to help you build a stronger, more engaged workforce.
1. Provide Growth Opportunities
Professional development is incredibly important and it’s the heart of making an investment in employees. Providing strategic growth opportunities—from specialized training programs to mentorship opportunities—creates pathways for your employees to get the skills and knowledge they need to advance their careers.
These investments produce tangible results in several ways:
Immediate skill improvement: Your employees will be better equipped for their current roles, gaining practical skills they can apply directly to their work. This means more experienced, knowledgeable team members.
Improved performance: Employees who learn new approaches and gain fresh perspectives can solve problems and overcome challenges more efficiently.
Boosted confidence and motivation: Investing in employees shows them that you value them and see their future potential. That can be a huge confidence booster for employees, which often turns into increased productivity and motivation.
Long-term loyalty: Giving employees a clear path for growth in your company makes them more likely to stay and do their best. This lowers turnover rates and builds stronger teams.
2. Encourage Work-Life Balance
Another way to invest in your employees is by encouraging a better work-life balance. While much has been written about the importance of this balance in recent years, it’s worth understanding how this translates into tangible benefits for your business.
A better work-life balance can benefit your bottom line in multiple ways:
- Better employee wellbeing: Employees with a healthy work-life balance experience better mental health. And when that happens, they take fewer sick days and show up more engaged and motivated.
- Increased psychological safety: A balanced approach also creates a psychologically safe workplace where employees feel comfortable contributing ideas and voicing concerns. This leads to better communication across all levels of the business.
- Improved productivity: Even if your employees end up spending less time at work, they’ll perform better because they’re happier and more focused. This, in turn, leads to better morale, productivity, and even sales in some cases.
How do you provide a better work-life balance as an employer? Here are some practical options:
- Flexible scheduling: Flexible work schedules and generous paid time off (PTO) give employees the flexibility to spend time with loved ones and handle personal matters.
- Remote work: Remote and hybrid work have become massively popular among employees. These options give employees even more freedom, helping them save money on things like gas while improving their work-life balance.
- Boundaries: Establish and respect boundaries surrounding work hours and breaks. Avoid asking for your employees’ time when they’re not on the clock so they can separate work and personal time.
3. Employee Wellness
A 2022 study from Deloitte found that 68% of employees say that working on their wellbeing is more important than advancing their careers. It should come as no surprise, then, that employee wellness is one of the most popular areas of focus when investing in employees.
When you invest in employee wellness, you demonstrate that you care and want to help them improve their mental and physical health. Here are some ways to invest in employee wellbeing initiatives:
Provide Essential Resources
- Offer a stipend for counseling services and mental health support.
- Include gym memberships and fitness classes in your employee benefits packages.
- Provide paid memberships to wellness apps and digital health tools.
- Host team building events focused on wellness; for example, at TeamBonding, we offer Laughter Yoga classes.
Launch Company-Wide Initiatives
- Incentivize a step-counting challenge with PTO and other rewards.
- Organize group fitness and yoga classes.
- Host or send your employees to wellness workshops.
- Provide healthy lunches and snacks free of charge to your employees.
Foster a Company Culture of Wellness
- Implement regular stand-up and walking breaks throughout the workday.
- Recognize, reward, and incentivize health behaviors.
- Provide PTO to allow employees enough time for wellness activities.
- Get the company’s leadership involved in wellness programs to set good examples.
A healthy company culture and wellness-focused initiatives are just as important as individual benefits. Remember, showing dedication to employee well-being can reduce turnover while attracting quality talent when you hire externally.
4. Team Building
Team building is one of the most versatile and effective ways to invest in the people who keep your business running. It’s a powerful tool that builds employee relationships, improves communication, and provides a break from work. Depending on the activities or events you choose, you can improve your employees’ skills while giving them a chance to de-stress.
At TeamBonding, we have tons of team building events and activities custom-built for investing in your employees. Whether you want to focus on communication, teamwork, relationship building, fun, creativity, or something else, we have an activity or event to help you and your employees.
Here are a few of our many options:
- The Mystery Bus: This event transports your team members to weird, interesting, and exciting destinations in and around your city.
- Clean Water Connection: This meaningful, hands-on experience brings clean water to communities worldwide. You’ll build water filters with your team as you enhance relationships, purpose, and passion.
- Tabletop FASTCAR: This event will take many people back to their childhoods as they work together to build their best LEGO racers before sending them down a gravity track.
Team building is one of the best and most rewarding ways to invest in your employees because you can accomplish multiple things at once. Investing in employees helps them grow, build relationships, improve morale, and connect with team members.
What Employees Can Do to Invest in Themselves
While employer support is valuable, professional and personal growth is a shared responsibility. It isn’t up to the company to make all the changes. As an employee, taking initiative in your own growth and development can skyrocket your career progress and wellbeing.
Here are a few ways your employees can invest in themselves:
- Education: Encourage employees to pursue education and certifications, attend industry workshops, take online courses, and seek mentorship opportunities.
- Networking: Remind employees to build industry relationships through networking events, and professional platforms.
- Personal: Employees can also find great value in volunteering for challenging assignments, practicing new career skills, reading industry books, and listening to relevant podcasts. (Check out our Team Building Podcast if you’re not sure where to start with that last one!)
The most important step is creating a meaningful and actionable plan. This plan should:
- Define clear, achievable goals
- Break goals into actionable steps
- Define a timeline for completion
- Have a clear definition of success for each goal
- Be reviewed and updated regularly
What this plan looks like will depend on where you are and what you need. For some people, that’s furthering their education. For others, it’s socializing and networking within their industry. It’s all about taking ownership of your professional development and guiding it accordingly.
Start Investing in Your Employees With TeamBonding
Investing in employees isn’t just a business strategy—it’s the foundation for success. Thoughtful investment allows you to upskill your workforce so it’s more capable, engaged, collaborative, and resilient. That means better relationships, improved teamwork skills, more effective communication, enhanced wellness, and much more.
The bottom line is this: Successful managers and leaders prioritize investing in employees.
Are you ready to transform your workplace by investing in the people who keep it running? TeamBonding can help. We offer a wide range of team building events and experiences. There’s something for every organization, and each event is designed to create memories your team members will cherish while delivering meaningful results for your business.
Build a better workforce. Contact TeamBonding today and discover how our programs can help you invest in your most valuable assets—your people.
