Continuous Learning is Good for Business

Employee development is good for business. How do we know?

According to Forbes, companies investing in training have 24% higher profit margins than those not prioritizing employee development. The 2024 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report shared that 8 in 10 people say learning adds purpose to their work. A Gallup survey at the end of 2024 told us that employee engagement in the U.S. is falling to the lowest level in a decade. Leaders need to look for obvious ways to add value to employees work lives in 2025 and you can do this with employee development opportunities.

Creating a continuous learning culture at your staffing firm is easier than you think. Here are three ways.

Weekly Coaching

Managers should meet weekly with team members, one-on-one. This is one of the most important things a manager does. Why? One, because a manager’s job is to achieve results through a team of people. And two, managers should care about employee success! When staff know managers care, it will result in engagement. And yes, we have time; schedule it on your calendar.

What do you do in these weekly meetings? Review individual metrics. Talk about any recent changes or issues. Solicit concerns about work and problem solve together. And review development plans, what learning has been completed and what activities are in the works in the coming months.

Many Learning Options

Although employee development can be structured, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Create a list of learning options for the team to pick the things that are meaningful to them. There are so many learning options!

There is obvious training like webinars, online training, staffing chapter meetings and workshops, and national association workshops and conferences. Professional and industry certifications, like the ASA Certified Staffing Professional (CSP) or the Society for Human Resources Management certification (SHRM-CP). There are internal, cost-effective learning options too, like job shadowing and mentoring or being part of a special project team. Even simply reading and reflecting on business books, articles, and industry publications are meaningful development options.

Create Career Paths

Develop career paths with varied forms of career progression, including traditional vertical career ladders, horizontal career lattices, as well as career progression outside the organization. Ideally, we want to retain our team. The best way to do this is vertical career ladders that provide skill development and experience to advance employees in title and pay within your organization. Career lattices offer options for employees to move from one function within the staffing firm to another, like from recruiting to account management or sales.

It’s hard to imagine, but employees don’t stay forever. Sometimes an employee’s career aspirations aren’t aligned with the opportunities that are available internally. Is it better to encourage employees to be secretive, waiting to surprise managers with a two-week notice? Or is it better to build trust and transparency within the team with open career development, encouraging employees to share their true aspirations and transition positively? It’s a new leadership mindset that builds an honest growth culture.

Meeting one-on-one weekly, expanding learning opportunities, and creating career paths isn’t as hard as you think. A continuous learning culture is good for your business. You can do it at your staffing firm.