A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to drop in on my god-daughter. I can’t quite believe she’ll be 15 next month, but that’s another story, time really does fly!

Anyway, she was telling me about how she was going on a campus trip to their local university, a great initiative set up between the university and her school.

This got me thinking about being able to make informed decisions early on, and not when there is the pressure on to decide. A-levels are a tough and intense time for many teens (and their families!), and having to make your next important education choice can feel overwhelming. It’s great that her school is being very forward-thinking.

So, what can we be doing in the workplace to think ahead for our employees? Learning is one of the five pillars to wellbeing, and if employees feel they are learning in their role, it can lead to not only the prospect of promotion in the company, but also to greater job satisfaction and betting working environment.

Education in the workplace is not just structured training, simply pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone means we are learning. The harder part is getting employees to see this as in-role education too. Being asked to assist another department can be a learning piece where new skills are acquired, but not in a formal, traditional training environment.

Let’s take a look some areas of learning that you can be offering your employees:

Job specific training – we might be employed into a role because we can do most of the tasks asked of us. But rarely is someone put into a role with nothing left to learn. Helping employees early on to identify their further learning areas can make them feel they can grow in their role. This is especially important in flat structure organisation, or where a career progression path might not be evident.

Having regular meetings with you team members to see how they want to progress is a start. But being able to act on their requests is another area all together. Where there is a financial input required companies need to see that this training will prove to have a return on the investment. It’s always worth looking into apprenticeship routes for employees as these can be government funded, helping organisations with upskilling workers. 

Being proactive in your employees’ future and having a plan for those that want to progress their career with you can be a big draw people wanting to come and work for you. As Richard Branson said: “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

PS If you want some other free tips for your general life, check out the Philosopher-in-Residence blog – out fortnightly on Thursdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Principal Planner, Anna Pascoe. Browse the latest edition here: https://www.makemeaplan.com/news/on-ableism/