DEVELOP, DON'T DESTROY YOUR GREATEST ASSETS!

As I read through the latest headlines today, the one that stood out to me was, "This generation may need more training when it comes to professional skills."  This is not surprising for those who work in the workforce or with professionals in the workplace, but it's not often discussed openly.

ResumeBuilder's chief career advisor, Stacie Haller, made this statement in a recent article by Aaron McDade on www.businessinsider.com.  The article further quotes statistics around how quickly Gen Zers are fired in the first week or month.

Considering the costs of on-boarding, retention, and additional recruitment costs to fill a job that has just been filled (which could be 50% of the respective job salary), there are many direct and indirect costs that add up just for one hire.  The organizational disruption, lack of talent development, stress on adjacent associates in the impacted group, and drain of institutional memory are some of the indirect costs that should be considered.

What if companies invested a fraction of the cost of replacing an associate in their development?  This can be especially helpful given there is already data to show that positive impacts (not just financial) for the organization can result from such investment.

Consider this simple example - a $50K salary that could have cost approximately $25K in recruitment costs (on average, it takes 6 – 9 months of salary to hire someone). If the associate had to be replaced within a few months, the additional recruiting costs would be another $25K, and there would be loss productivity as the role would be empty again.  That is 100% of the salary lost.  However, a $50K investment in a coaching program can potentially cover an entire group, department or company (depending on the size of the organization) and mitigate the risk of having to fire anyone while building the exact enhanced people skills (EPS) needed!  If a company was able to build up just ONE associate, the cost savings of an exit for one person could cover an entire program.

These are just some financial facts, and there are many other positive attributes to investing in a properly designed coaching program.  A well-invested coaching program can lead to improved job performance, increased employee engagement, and higher retention rates.  These benefits can result in increased productivity and significant cost savings for the company.  Any CFO would support costs savings of that magnitude, any VP of HR would sign up for having an competent and highly engaged workforce and any CEO would be proud to have a workforce that is hitting and exceeding the Company goals! 

So, what’s the cost of not investing in a coaching program?  Still think your associates are your greatest asset?