Whether you are an employer or an individual employee, now is not the time to stop investing in learning and development. On the contrary, it is time to stay ahead of your competitors by preparing for the upturn through continuing or even starting this investment. All individuals will need to have acquired skills, knowledge, and behaviours that will ensure they carry organisations forward on strong shoulders.

Tips for Employers
Tips for Employees

Tips for Employers
Based on analysis of leading employers across a multitude of industries in various countries, we found that in order to gain credibility in the market and increase staff motivation and retention, adherence to following is considered key:

Do:

• invest in your staff's learning and development
• ensure your training is benchmarked, accredited and/or certified by an internationally recognised organisation
• reward outstanding achievement
• make training programmes as flexible as possible
• make contact with local training providers – they are your biggest source of skilled, work-ready individuals

 Don't:

•  base your choice of staff training programmes on cost – always remember: you get what you pay for
• offer courses and qualifications that will pigeon-hole staff and hinder their progression within your company
• forget that your company is only as strong as the people who work in it
• expect staff to consistently provide high quality work without your show of support and appreciation
• think your HR department is a recruitment facility; more important than that, it's there to take good care of your existing employees

Tips for Employees
Based on analysis of leading employers across a multitude of industries in various countries, the following were identified as important aspects of employees' attitude and behaviour toward their career development:

Do:

• form a career plan which lists your current position, the position you aspire to in 2 years/3 years/5 years/10 years, and the skills, behaviours and knowledge you must acquire to reach those positions
• keep up-to-date with industry trends
• make an effort to understand the company's goals and how you can help it reach them
• research in-house and third party training programmes
• periodically meet with your manager and/or HR representative to assess your skills, behaviours, strengths, and weaknesses

Don't:

• depend only on your manager or HR representative to inform you of learning and development or training opportunities – like you, they have many responsibilities 
• limit yourself to only performing only those duties listed in your job description
• assume you know what your needs are better than anyone else
• forget that the world is constantly changing and technology is advancing; you have to keep up
• stop challenging y.