Encouraging career progression and growth opportunities for your employees has numerous benefits, including retention. A significant 87% of employees consider career advancement and growth opportunities a decisive factor in their decision to stay in their current company or to leave, according to a 2016 survey. Amongst other advantages, career support can increase employee satisfaction, give them a sense of purpose and boost engagement and productivity in the workplace.
This will ultimately have an impact in the company’s success, and statistics speak for themselves: a Dale Carnegie survey reported that companies with engaged employees outperform those without by up to 202%. Because the FinTech industry is rapidly growing, there are increasingly more FinTech startups making ground and therefore more opportunities in this area, so it becomes even more important to have satisfied employees that truly care about your company and are committed to helping it grow.
Career progression is a long-term plan that requires commitment from both the employee and employer. Here is a simple guide on how you can encourage career progression in your startup:
Set a career development plan
Talk to your employee to understand their own professional goals and their career plans within the company. Where do they expect to be in the next three years? What exactly do they want to accomplish? What do they want to specialise in? Having a clear idea of their own goals will allow you to provide the right support throughout their journey.
Equally, it’s important for employees to know how their own plans fit into the bigger plans of the company. It avoids setting unrealistic goals or making promises that are not likely to happen, and employees will have a more defined picture of the career development opportunities available. Set your employees’ weekly, monthly or annual targets, so they know exactly what they need to do to get a promotion. Setting targets will not only motivate your employees to work hard to achieve those, but keep them invested in the company, so it‘s a win-win situation.
Offer career development support
Once a career development plan is defined, it’s about understanding how you can support your employee to reach their goals. Research shows that 40% of employees that don’t receive the necessary training to become effective in their position or to reach a higher position, will leave the company within the first year of employment. So, it is crucial to make sure that you provide external or in-house training, online courses, additional resources and assistance that will help employees boost certain skills needed in a senior position or help them perform better in their current roles.
Encourage your employee to give you feedback and suggestions on what the company can do to help them- it is a two-way street after all, and it might be that they have certain skills they would like to improve, or knowledge they would like to broaden. Especially in the FinTech space, because of its many subsectors and the fact that it is constantly evolving, there are always new technical skills to learn.
Provide ongoing learning opportunities
Training is as important for new employees as it is for employees in higher positions: it should be ongoing and adaptable to everyone’s professional needs. In fact, 68% of workers find training relevant regardless of their level of seniority or how long they have been in the company, according to a 2016 Skillsoft survey.
Besides formal training, you can provide smaller and more informal learning opportunities such as podcasts or a series of webinars focused on specific FinTech concepts which employees can access whenever they need. Workplace mentoring is also a great way for employees to learn from more experienced colleagues and see first-hand the technical and soft skills that a more senior position requires.
Though some businesses argue that providing extensive training to employees can be counterproductive, as they will acquire important skills that will make them more employable by other companies, it also invokes a sense of trust and employees will appreciate the company’s efforts to invest in them.
Monitor your employees’ engagement
Following up on your employees’ career improvement plan is just as important as setting it up: it is not only a way to make sure they are hitting their targets, but also to check on their progress and see the results from all the training. It keeps employees motivated to continue pursuing their professional goals within your company. For instance, breaking down a 1-year performance plan with quarterly or monthly reviews allows for employees to think strategically about how they will reach their goals, adapt their plan as they go, have regular feedback on their progress and stay focused.
If you are unsure on how to structure your employees’ career development plan, want advise on employee retention or any additional career progression information, contact Storm2 here. Our team of FinTech recruitment experts have outstanding industry experience and will be happy to help you grow your startup whilst ensuring employee satisfaction.
