The most productive assets in your business are your employees. It’s their talents and skills that move your operations. As such, they should not be stagnant and continue to hone their skills and knowledge.
How far you can innovate and generate fresh and creative outputs depends on all the people working in your company. It’s not just the head or a few select individuals who will be executing all the procedures necessary, after all. If you couldn’t send them to advanced education or formal training, you could organize informal workshops and skills sharing in your office.
General Needs
As a courtesy to their contribution to your business, offer them the knowledge to help them with their normal concerns. For sure, many of them are interested in owning a house. Invite someone who could inform them about loans, how mortgage refinancing can be done, and how to find a good deal in real estate. Or maybe invite over a car enthusiast who can share knowledge on various vehicles and recommend some deals. Better yet, inculcate in your employees the power of investing by inviting stockbrokers and small entrepreneurs.
Cultural Awareness
While you are free to invite art curators, artists, and the like, culture is not just about art. Culture encompasses the lifestyles of different groups, social classes, and peoples. If you are a business that deals with different nationalities, races, genders, and other social classifications, a culturally sensitive workforce would be to your advantage. For one, you need not be anxious if someone suddenly complains of harassment or discrimination.
Invite a speaker who could talk about gender norms. Invite someone who could share the different traditions of a nationality you often work with. Big corporations look into the business etiquette of the countries they operate in. It makes transactions easier and brings in more local investments. Even if you are not that far-reaching, your care for whomever you’re dealing with will not only boost your image but would also earn the trust of your partners and potential clientele.
Work-Related Supplemental Knowledge
Since it would be construed as work, you could offer these topics sparingly. For example, if your business is on digital marketing, you could arrange discussions on Communication for Development. Although it’s usually the jargon of non-profit organizations, it’s a tool utilized to achieve the desired goal. It is not far from marketing. If your business provides services for the elderly, you could have your employees learn about music therapy or how to do basic massage to provide comfort to a stressed individual.
Technical Skills
Most technical skills you would be interested in offering to your employees would probably be work-related, but they need to have a category of their own in this list as they need to be given importance. Technical skills could include basic knowledge of several computer programs used in your office. It’s better for everyone to know these than rely on just one or two persons to navigate the programs.
For example, you are using a database to record all your transactions. If only one or two persons know how to fill up this database, the process of updating your database will be limited to the efficiency of these two people. It is inefficient when anyone who facilitates a transaction could directly upload their information if they know how to do it.
Self-Help and General Well-Being
When work becomes stressful, your workforce will need to know different coping methods to clear their minds. Although we all have our different ways of dealing with stress, it would be nice to offer courses on some techniques to destress. You could hold a few free yoga sessions, for example. Or you could organize meditation sessions.
If you are a small company, you could also include relaxing hobbies that your employees could profit from during their free time. For example, they could learn how to bake, do woodwork, and other crafts that wouldn’t compete with your business.
In today’s world where workaholics are highly valued, you would be unique if you show that you value the humanity of your employees. Giving them these small learning sessions acknowledged that they also have needs beyond their salaries. Big tech companies provide their employees’ playrooms and recreational spaces where they could refresh their minds so that they could unleash more of their creativity. You may not afford this, but your efforts to provide your employees continuous learning would be greater. They are not just unwinding and having fun. They also become more-equipped for work, better at what they do.
