The Executive Director, Human Resource and Corporate Services of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Barr. Justin Ishaya Dodo has revealed that employees’ career development impacts positively on an organization’s productivity. He made the disclosure during a chat with newsmen in Abuja: Excerpts:

Q: May we know you officially sir?

A: My name is Justin Ishaya Dodo, the Executive Director, Human Resource and Corporate Services of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

Q: What is Career Development?

A: Career Development is a very broad topic. It talks about training the employees of an organization so that they can fit into the company’s set objectives.

So, career development is the process that allows you to get the right people, the right skills and right skills and then place them in the right places so that one can achieve a company’s objectives.

Q: Who takes care of career development in an organization?

A: Basically, a company must have programmes. The company should have a policy whereby as soon as employees are recruited, they will be trained.

It is a two-way thing. In TCN there is a policy in place that when employees are recruited, they receive training. Equally staff can develop themselves through training.

So, at times when it comes to moving from one level to another, in terms of promotion, you look at that advantage one employee has over another.

So, employees may not have to wait until the company develops them. An employee can go out and train himself and come back. That gives him a cutting edge over other employees in terms of placement

Q: If a staff member trains himself secretly, can the certificate be recognized by the organization?

A: Training could not be done secretly. Usually, you take permission from the company because they have to be sure that the knowledge you are going to acquire will be valuable to the organization.

If an employee trains himself secretly without the approval of the organization, he cannot be promoted based on the training.

Q: Does a company pay for every approved training?

A: They pay. There are various forms of training. There is what is called study leave with pay. That means you are studying and your salary is running. In this type of training when you come back from training, you are bonded.

For a nine months programme at TCN, you can be bonded to serve the company for at least three years after completing the course before the employee will be allowed to leave the organization.

There is another one called; study leave without pay. In study leave without pay, the employee must have been confirmed before such study leave can be approved for him.

When an employee goes on leave without pay his position becomes vacant. On completion of his training, he can be absorbed into the company if there is a fresh vacancy.

There are rules governing study leave in TCN. The programme must be a weekend programme. It must be within some kilometers away from the company.

In career development there are many ways of training staff of an organization. Staff can go for seminars, workshops and refresher courses. There is also what is called on the job training, which is part career development. Training can be local and overseas.

Q: How do you come up with the kind of training an employee needs?

A: In preparing for training, you have to come up with training needs. Training is supposed to increase the knowledge and sharpen the skills of the employees involved. That is the essence of sending people for training

Q: What are the impacts of training on an organization?

A: It is very simple. The idea of developing the employee is to be sure that you have the right people, the right skills and the right capacities at the right time.

So, training or career development has a direct impact on the performance of the company. Whether a company is efficient or inefficient is determined by the value they place on employees’ career development.

A company that wants to move from inefficiency to efficiency must always develop its workforce.

On the other hand, it adds value to the employee and makes him more efficient and relevant to the company.

Development improves the immediate performance of the employee involved, who takes the first benefit and applies it to the company’s work.

Q: Thank you for your time.

A: You are welcome.