Amy Pouncy

October 6, 2018

EDTC 6460

Fall 1 2018

Dr. Mahfood

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This paper will address why it is important for my organization to have a vigorous program of

education and self-improvement. First, I will give an example of a company that currently has an

educational program for their employees. Then, discuss what makes their program effective and

how it has improved their employee's overall engagement. In closing, I will address actions we

need to take in my organization.

Each year companies conduct surveys to find out how they are doing as an organization. In these

surveys most, employees want to know how they are doing in the areas of leadership, employee

engagement and training and development. When HR provides feedback, the lowest scores are

mostly in engagement and training and development. According to Bezuijen, van Dam, van den

Berg, & Thierry (2010), “Employee engagement and learning has become increasingly important

for organizational effectiveness and for employee success in today’s rapidly changing

workplace”.

As Deming (1982) states, “it is obviously of the most importance, to train new people, when they

come on the job, to do the job well. (pg.249). Most employers say they do a good job of training

their employees when they join the company. However, this is not enough. Companies need to

not only have a new hire training but also a training plan for the employee while they are

employed with the company. This is the start of employee engagement.

How should we address the issue of engagement and employee development? You must “begin

with the end in mind.” (Covey, 1998, Pg. 104). Companies must think of training and

development of their employees as an extrinsic reward for their company and an intrinsic reward

for their employee. When you invest in an employee’s training and development, you will see a

return on your investment which includes, increase profits, better morale, productivity, and a

great company culture. According to Caesens, Stinglhamber, and Marmier (2016), “For instance,

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research has demonstrated that work-engaged employees have lower levels of turnover intentions

than non-engaged employees. Precisely, work engagement is associated with outcomes

beneficial for both the organization and the employee.” (pg. 1)

“Your company needs to “understand where they are now and know the steps to take in the right

direction” (Covey, 1998, pg. 105) It starts with the leaders in the organization. A meeting should

be held with your leadership team to make sure everyone is on the same page. In this meeting

you should ask the question, why is training and development important, and why do I have to

provide this for my employees? If your leadership team doesn’t have an answer to this question

or feel training is not important, this is also possibly reflected in your employee’s engagement.

According to Schaufeli and Bakker (2004), “When an organization provides valued resources to

employees, it would foster a motivational process (i.e. through an increase of work engagement),

which leads employees to be less inclined to leave their organization.

Let’s discuss how this looks in the real world. This is an example of how the company Sodexo

invested in training and development. and it has improved their employee engagement.

“Sodexo is among the largest food and facilities management companies in the world, with more

than 400,000 employees in 80 countries who design, manage, and deliver an array of “quality of

life” services”. Heinrich, T. (2013) Sodexo felt it was important to invest in their people because

it not only saved the company money, it also increased the employee engagement and

productivity in the work place. Sodexo’s company had a traditional training plan for face to face

training. Their company wanted to save money and implement a new training program with less

face to face training to online learning. When you hear this statement, the first thought is training

will not be effective and engagement will decrease. However, this was not the case with Sodexo.

The company still believed that having a vigorous training and development plan is important for

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their employees. They spent time developing a training program for their employees that

included regular technical updates, career development information, and shared learning around

specific topics”. (Heinrich, 2013 pg. 2.). Sodexo’s strategy focused on engagement and shared

learning around specific topics. After the implementation of their online learning program,

training attendance doubled, employee satisfaction scores increased, and the company amassed a

cost savings of more than $1 million. Heinrich, T. (2013)

Unlike Sodexo, many companies don’t see the value in training or if placed in a similar situation,

they would not take the time to transform their learning program to increase employee

engagement, most companies would only focus on saving cost. According to Franklin (2017), “a

business can only be as strong as its employees. When employees aren’t engaged, they’re less

productive and efficient on all fronts, and the scale of the problem is not to be underestimated.”

In my previous company we also moved from face to face training to online learning. However,

when someone first joins the company, we offered face to face training to welcome them to the

office, complete paperwork, and some on the job training with a peer. However, we did not have

a development plan for our employees. We did have a lot of online training courses, and

employees would take them at their leisure. If you don’t provide a development plan and a path

for the employee, they will not see the value in training. They will begin to disengage themselves

from their work and start looking for a job in company where they feel valued and training is a

part of their development. Therefore, it is important to not only provide training when an

employee starts the company, but also create a vigorous development plan throughout their

career.

From these two examples, there are a lot of things I have learned and will implement in my

current organization.

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First, I will “begin with the end in mind” I will work with leaders in the company to create a

learning plan that involves training and development for employees. As Blanchard (1989) states,

One person can own the project and another person can make the next move (pg. 64). Since I am

the learning expert, I will own this plan. This plan will start when employees are first hired in

the company and throughout their career. I will work each department leader to understand their

learning requirements to help them create a career path for their employees. As Deming (1982)

stated, “The aim of leadership is to improve the performance of man.” If we are not improving

our employee’s performance, this impacts employee engagement.

Another takeaway is from the Sodexo company. Our organization is also moving from face to

face to online learning. I must remember, the content should not be comprised. The learning

content and environment should be engaging, and time should be spent on developing great

learning programs.

When you invest in the employee at the beginning, they will care about the work they do, and the

engagement is there. As Greany. & Guilds (2016) stated, “Employees who feel engaged, feel

empowered involved consulted supported valued and a sense of belonging. Imagine the impact

on a company if an employee feels this way when they come to work it day.” It all starts with

setting them up for success by creating a vigorous program for education and self-improvement.

These are easy things that we can do to keep our employees engaged!

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 Bibliography
Heinrich, T. (2013). Business Outcomes Improved With Virtual Learning. T+D, Vol.67(6), p70-
71.
Caesens, G., Stinglhamber, F., & Marmier, V. (2016). The curvilinear effect of work engagement
on employees’ turnover intentions. International Journal of Psychology. Vol. 51(2), p150-155.
Bezuijen, X M., van Dam, K., van den Berg, P. T. & Thierry, H. (2010). How leaders stimulate
employee learning: A leader–member exchange approach. Journal of Occupational &
Organizational Psychology. Vol. 83 (3), p673-693.
Franklin, S. (2017). Employee engagement — why learning and development must be the
torchbearer in the 4th Revolution. Retrieved from: https://saffroninteractive.com/employee-
engagement-learning-development/
Greany, C. & Guilds K. (2016). Seven Ways That Learning and Development Can Foster
Employee Engagement. Retrieved from https://engageemployee.com/seven-ways-learning-
development-can-foster-employee-engagement/
Deming, W. E. (2000). Out of Crisis. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Covey, S.R. (2004) 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York, NY: Free Press
Blanchard, Kenneth H. (1991). The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. New York:
William Morrow & Company.

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