Why Learning and Development Matters to New Hires

What does your learning and development strategy say about you?

One of the most important accomplishments for any organization is to set new hires up to succeed. The first weeks and months of a new job will set the tone for an employee’s entire tenure with your organization, and starting off well will pay dividends in the long run in the form of performance, growth, and loyalty. 

Before you can meet the needs of your newest team members, you must first clarify what those needs are. The priorities of job seekers and new employees fluctuate in response to economic and social trends, so it’s a good idea for organizations to regularly check in on what’s motivating them today. In the contemporary climate, uncertainty is high, and surveys suggest that workers are seeking stability at higher rates, alongside more usual priorities like increased pay and increased engagement.

Of course, some goals for new hires stay the same under almost any circumstances. Once a new employee is in the door, getting up to speed on their new role and its demands is typically top of mind. Fortunately, there’s a way to accomplish this efficiently, and at the same time signal to new hires that you’re prepared to address their big-picture priorities. The solution? A robust learning and development (L&D) strategy, powered by an equally robust technology platform.  

Learning and development as the mark of a high-performing culture

A 2023 study in the Journal of Vocational Behavior explored the link between so-called “high-performance work systems” (HPWS) and employees’ career advancement. The authors defined an HPWS as a suite of key HR practices, separate but aligned under an overarching strategy, which “reflect the extent to which [an] organization places emphasis on the management of its employees.” 

Put another way, high-performance work systems are a collection of management behaviors, purposefully implemented and designed to work together, that display an organization’s commitment to its people. It won’t surprise you to learn that a key part of an HPWS is a learning and development strategy. 

The study supported a distinct positive relationship between an HPWS and employees’ career growth, even independent of factors like employee wellbeing. It’s a common-sense result, but it demonstrates that if career growth is a priority for job seekers, they’re right to look for organizations with a structured and holistic approach to employee management. These organizations are the most likely to help them on their path—and now they have the data to back it up.

As a core part of an HPWS and the element most closely related to career advancement, a strong L&D strategy sends a clear message to new hires and candidates. It demonstrates your material commitment to employees’ growth, but beyond that, it’s a good sign that you’ve surrounded your L&D strategy with other hallmarks of a high-performing culture—things like opportunities for internal mobility, results-oriented feedback, or autonomy and knowledge-sharing. 

That understanding goes a long way toward reassuring new hires that they’ll be supported as they settle into your organization. They’ll also invest more into their present work, knowing that it could pay off in advancement opportunities down the line.

Empowering new team members with accessible knowledge

Starting a new job, while exciting, is also a vulnerable feeling. New hires enter a workplace as explicit learners, trusting new teammates to answer questions and steer them in the right direction. They face a tension between wanting to prove themselves and relying on support from others to perform well.

In one’s early days on the job, strong L&D can offer new hires a lot of confidence. A learning platform like Pinnacle Series acts as a single source of truth and a central repository for information, empowering new hires to seek out answers on their own. Encouraging autonomy and critical thinking communicates trust, and frees new hires to focus on learning and delivering their best work. 

An L&D framework also enables organizations to deliver high-quality onboarding experiences. One strategy is to leverage skill assessments during the hiring process, creating a detailed picture of new hires’ strengths and gaps, and facilitating the creation of a personalized day-one training plan. New hires start with the knowledge they need at their fingertips, and can feel confident that when they complete their onboarding, they’ll have the skills needed to hit the ground running.

An in-demand benefit that boosts job satisfaction

Development opportunities are a popular benefit, especially among young people just entering the workforce. Amazon and Gallup’s American Upskilling Study and a Kellanova study on attracting talent both found that young workers valued development opportunities higher than paid time off, behind only healthcare and disability (in the Amazon study) or healthcare and financial incentives (in the Kellanova study). 

Access to high-quality L&D increases workers’ engagement and sense of purpose, both key factors in overall job satisfaction. Growth is a powerful motivator, keeping new hires enthusiastic about their work as they expand their horizons. In addition, L&D can act almost as an avenue for expressing employee appreciation: it recognizes the talent and potential of workers at every level of the organization, and invests concrete resources toward helping them achieve it. Rather than a token like the old-fashioned gold watch, workers come away with real progress toward their own future goals.

Build an unmatched new-hire experience with Pinnacle Series.

As the Journal of Vocational Behavior study highlighted, L&D resources alone don’t make a high-performing workforce. Rather, organizations need a cohesive system of processes to support and develop employees. The simplest way to accomplish that is with a powerful, flexible Learning Management System  like Eagle Point’s Pinnacle Series.

Our flagship platform offers an expansive content library of consistently updated learning materials from leading software providers, alongside the ability to customize content and create your own. Supporting it all is a flexible knowledge framework that incorporates skill assessments, custom courses and learning paths, in-depth reporting on utilization and progress, and a suite of additional tools that allow you to create a holistic, thoughtful approach to L&D which aligns with your unique organization.

To learn more about how Pinnacle Series can help you attract top talent and position your new hires to succeed, request a demonstration today.