Here at WeLearn, when we are working with a client on a new project or to take on a big goal, one of our first goals is to get to the “why” of the issue.
In our previous post, we shared our Organizational DNA Model for Workforce Development. We believe that fundamentally embracing workforce development is good for organizations and drives not only organizational results – but ultimately employee engagement and retention.
So, what does Organizational DNA solve for or more succinctly, what is the “why” organizations?
We believe at its core, Organizational DNA solves for:
- Increased retention
- Higher Employee Engagement
- Increased Diversity
- Superior Performance
- Increased Retention
One of the fundamental underpinnings of Organizational DNA is credentialing job roles correctly. What that means is setting the right educational levels required to perform in the role. During the last financial crisis many organizations up credentialed their frontline roles – and when you think about it – who could blame them – who would not want the most educated person for the role they were trying to fill. The unintended consequence was twofold – first individuals who took these jobs are turning over at a higher rate – which leads to the second consequence – which is these roles now look inaccessible to those who would be most qualified to fill them.
By credentialing the job roles correctly – it opens the organization to rethinking where to source candidates for these – as well as forward-thinking strategies – such as pre-employment programs, externships programs, and apprenticeship programs that would be funded by the organization – and build loyalty with the employee, driving retention. A win-win for both!
Higher Employee Engagement
We all know the adage, a happy employee is an engaged employee, and we fundamentally believe that rethinking your organization’s workforce development strategy is key to driving employee engagement. Fundamentally, we all want to work for organizations that believe and invest in us as individuals and that connect us to a sense of purpose.
Moving beyond the talent acquisition and onboarding process and aligning your internal learning programs to career pathway development is one part of ensuring that your employees can see their journey in the organization. Increasingly, organizations are putting career coaching and academic advising programs into place to help employees navigate those pathways, which we believe is an emerging next practice
Increased Diversity & Inclusion
One of the most important impacts an Organizational DNA Approach to workforce development can have for an organization is on diversity and inclusion. By opening up the lens of the qualifications for the specific roles, organizations can tap into a more diverse candidate pool – such as opportunity youth, underemployed populations, and military veterans.
This diversity not only represents a social value to the organization but also allows the workforce for the organization to more resemble the communities in which the organization serves.
Superior Performance
We believe strongly that organizations that embed this approach to workforce development will achieve superior performance financially, client satisfaction, employee engagement, and build an exceptional employer brand value.
The key thing to remember here is that some impacts will be incremental and will be able to be measured in the short term but others will be more longitudinal.
In our next post, we will explore the stakeholders you must engage with for implementing and Organization DNA Workforce Development Model.
