If employers want to maximise the value of their people resources, they need to ensure employees are given the necessary training and coaching, it has been claimed.
Research conducted by Robert Half found that 93 per cent of employees believe a good career coach is crucial to job satisfaction.
However, a quarter of those surveyed said they have never received coaching from their manager.
And a further 16 per cent revealed that coaching had only been available to them once a year.
Andrew Morris, director Robert Half, suggested that in many workplaces, people with responsibility for a team are often so focused on delegating and managing workloads that proper mentoring and coaching is “an afterthought”.
And this is to the detriment of organisations as they aim to develop their workforces and equip employees with the skills needed to do their jobs properly.
“Leaders who share knowledge in a mentoring environment and view staff coaching as a crucial part of their job description will be more productive and get significantly more from their teams,” he suggested.
And as another benefit, Mr Morris suggested that having strong career coaches also helps an organisation to build its reputation as an employer of choice.
This makes it far easier for the company to attract new members of staff, and then retain the top performing employees who may attract interest from elsewhere.
So while it may cost businesses to provide regular, ongoing training to workers within a company, not doing so represents a false economy.
Employers may be viewed in a negative light by workers for failing to make provision in this area, while people from outside the organisation may be less inclined to join.
