What is professional development assistance?

Professional development assistance is when companies assist their employees by providing programs and access to training that enables them to become better-performing workers.

Companies that invest in their employees by offering them professional development assistance opportunities truly care for their workers and the overall health of the company.

Helping employees grow professionally is a win-win for both the employer and the employee. Common professional development opportunities that companies offer include:

• Tuition assistance

• Time off to pursue a new degree or certification

• Free continuing education programs in the form of seminars, conferences, workshops, and classes

• Management training

• Skills training

Professional development opportunities are essential to helping employees grow and thrive in the workplace. Professional development assistance is effective because it improves employees' confidence and skill sets. Here are some reasons why professional development assistance is important for companies:

• It improves employee confidence

Professional development assistance can help to increase employees' confidence as professionals. Their confidence gets boosted when they learn new skills or take on new knowledge that is vital to their role. This boosts employee confidence and makes them better workers.

• Increases networking opportunities

Professional development assistance gives employees the opportunity to expand their professional network. Most professional development programs are completed alongside other professionals so they get a chance to meet new and interesting people in their field. This can not only benefit your employees but your company as a whole.

Here are some common venues for professional development:

• Classes or professional programs

• Seminars

• Webinars

• Industry-related conferences

• Professional workshops

• Volunteer events

These types of events usually welcome professionals from within one specific industry, like software development for example. They provide novel opportunities for employees to meet and learn from others in their specific field. Internal company events like these also provide the chance for team members to bond and form meaningful and trusting relationships.

• Employees get to develop new skills or hone existing skills

Most forms of professional development see employees increasing and honing the number of hard and soft skills that are critical in the workplace. Job-specific knowledge and abilities, like technical knowledge about role-specific programs, are in the hard skills category, while soft skills refer to their social workplace skills, and are essential to how your employees work.