Continuing professional development is important for your employees. Having opportunities available to them will help everyone develop their own skills at their own pace. This will increase job satisfaction, which is ideal for employers who are seeking to strengthen their workforce. Furthermore, continuing professional development keeps works interested in their careers, gives them more experience and broadens their knowledge, and equips them with abilities to stay relevant in the future. 

Professional development resources are everywhere on the internet and as seminars. Let’s have a look at some of the resources you should have available for your employees to use:

Time management Development

Before you even consider the four professional development resources for your employees you need to make sure that they are capable of managing their time wisely. To develop efficient employees you need them to have proper knowledge on what to do with their work hours. It is recommended to introduce to them the Pomodoro Technique and provide them with a Pomodoro Timer if possible in order to help them segregate their work load in small chunks rather than doing it as a whole while taking short breaks in between. This technique has been used since the 1980’s and is still currently used by top companies.

Once your employees are well acquainted with developing their time management then you are ready to proceed.

• 1. Analytical Skills Development

Every employer wants workers who can think for themselves and be able to self-start certain projects. Creative, critical thinkers are highly sought after in the job market. When you offer resources that allow people to grow their analytical skills, you are helping them branch out and become better workers and leaders. 

Here are some examples: 

• Big Data For Better Performance (Open2Study)
• Think Again: How to Understand Arguments (Coursera)
• Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age (Coursera)
• Effective Problem-Solving and Decision-Making (Coursera)
• Sets, Counting, and Probability (Harvard Open Courses)

• 2. Technology Development

At the root of most careers these days is a technology that needs to be learned. College is not always going to prepare employees to deal with the technology that is needed in their current role or in the future. With the world gearing up towards automation, people should be given technological skills to prevent missed opportunities and give them the confidence required to use such technologies. 

Here are some free courses you can offer: 

• Google’s Python Class (Google)
• Introduction to Web Development: HTML (Udemy)
• Excel Easy (Excel Easy)
• Intensive Introduction to Computer Science (Harvard Open Courses)
• Introduction to Hyperledger Blockchain Technologies (edX)

• 3. Leadership Development

Millennials seek senior positions. This also means that millennials in your workforce want to become respectable leaders when holding those positions. You should empower them by providing leadership development courses that give insight into management roles.

Here are a few resources to consider: 

• Introduction to Management (Kaplan University)
• Managing People Who Hate Managing (American Marketing Association)
• Strategic Management (Open2Study)

• 4. Communications Development

These days, soft skills are just as necessary as hard skills. In other words, knowing how to connect with people verbally and through text is important, especially since chat apps, email, and video communication is growing rapidly. Customers in particular want to talk to representatives who understand what they are saying and can give good advice or a solution. Employees can use communication based continuing professional development courses to learn how to speak and listen better, giving them increased confidence. 

Here are some examples: 

• Being an Effective Presenter (Udemy)
• Introduction to Public Speaking (edX)
• Corporate Communications (Saylor Academy)

There are many free resources and paid ones that you can offer to your employees to help them grow and gain more skills that will serve your business now and in the future. Be sure to provide more opportunities to your employees, because that will not only increase their satisfaction but help you build a stronger, more productive workforce.