Continuing education key in company success, employee satisfaction

One of the top five predictors of a workplace’s psychological health is the degree to which it offers workers opportunities for growth and development, according to The American Psychological Association.
“In this day and age, constant education is a necessity,” Peter Devries, a chief operating officer,writes in Entrepreneur Magazine. “Employees need to develop their skills or risk falling behind the level of their peers, both inside and outside their current workplace.”
Continuing education benefits both employers and employees. When workers are learning and honing their skills, abilities and knowledge base, they are less likely to feel frustrated, bored or trapped. Workplace morale, productivity and employee retention rates typically improve.
Of course, this is one area in which walking the walk is far more important than talking the talk. Here are some tips if you would like to introduce continuing education into your workplace:
Offer encouragement:
As a manager, it’s important to encourage your employees to engage in learning programs and praise them when they do. Don’t underestimate the value of simply acknowledging their efforts and saying “good job.”
Set goals: 
Set specific goals for individuals and teams to work toward, and then find concrete ways to track and reward progress over time. Establish a reward — such as a catered lunch — when the group has completed an employee development course or met a certain benchmark of improvement.
Use online resources:
Sending employees elsewhere to learn can be incredibly expensive and often disappointingly ineffective. Instead, invest in user-friendly, cost-efficient training courses from Mastery Technologies. Whether your team is interested in learning about conflict management, team work or occupational skills, you’ll find resources available to meet their needs.