Workplace Development: Genuine Help or False Promises?

Jul 28, 2010
Melissa McAvoy

Achievement can Sometimes be Difficult at Work - dullhunk

A discussion on some of the problems of business today and why they sometimes fail to help their employees learn, develop, grow and achieve.

The business world today is sometimes lacking in terms of genuine development assistance for its employees. Declaring in “mission statements” and marketing material that businesses support internal development and internal career progression is not sufficient unless they back this up in practice. Further, development should not be made the sole responsibility of the employee, as this can lead to them finding themselves without any assistance whatsoever in terms of advancing their career and being left to bear the blame when they are unhappy in their job. There is a time for change and that time is now.

The Importance of University Education

Shockingly, some businesses seem to have little regard for university education. Across Australia, there are countless people with tertiary qualifications working in call centres and administrative jobs. Initially taking on these roles as a starting point for their career, and to pay the bills, many find themselves trapped in these positions for years as their company cannot acknowledge their educational achievements or promote them accordingly.

Sharon T. Bolton writes in Dimensions of Dignity at Work that this can severely impair a person’s dignity, and thus their wellbeing. What is staggering here, is the number of positions which advertise “relevant tertiary qualification is essential” when the recruiting staff and even the recruiting manager themselves actually have no idea which tertiary qualifications are in fact relevant for the role.

Lee Harvey writes in New Realities: The Relationship Between Higher Education and Employment that what so many recruiters and hiring managers seem to fail to realise is the value of any university education in priceless workplace skills that are simply not held by those who have not achieved a tertiary degree. Communication skills, both written and verbal, time management, prioritising, proofreading, editing, negotiation, analysis, forward thinking, problem solving, and computing skills are but a few of the talents that a tertiary qualified person brings to any job on day one.

Workplace Development

Education aside, development within the workplace is a two way street. Managers need to do more than simply say that they “support” a person’s development. Giving a staff member “permission” to better themselves in their role may not be enough; employees should be encouraged to develop, supported fully every step of the way and above all else, and given adequate time to do so.

It is not enough to “allow” development if the person is then given too large a workload to be able to do anything about it. Dana, Dodd and Brown write in Sunabi Inc: The Case of the Disgruntled Employee that when this occurs, employees will feel their development needs are not being met and will eventually leave the company, becoming more disgruntled and negative each day until they do.

Employment and Recruitment

The advertising of roles externally is highly overused, with many companies largely unaware of the talents and skills they have sitting a mere few desks away. As noted in the Journal of ManagementPractice, it is often assumed for certain roles that the right person is somewhere else; yet how can they be certain of this if they do not look?

Loyalty may be a thing of the past and it may be more true now than ever, that it is truly “not what you know, but who you know.”