The story is told of a Professor of English giving a lecture at an Irish University. He said that a ‘double negative’ implies a positive, whereas the same logic did not apply to the use of a ‘double positive’. When a voice came from the back of the lecture theatre, with a sarcastic “Yea, right”.

I’m beginning to feel empathy with that sarcastic student when it comes to the oft used phrase Employer of Choice. More and more companies and organisations I meet talk about being, or aiming to be Employer of Choice. There’s a website with that name and another called ‘greatplacetowork.com’ – all espousing wonderful ideas and methods to create workplace nirvana. And I am sure there are some organisations that more than meet their defining criteria.

On one of the above sites I read about the importance of employee development, succession planning, engaged staff and an enhanced company culture. All of which I heartily support.

So I’ve developed a simple test for you and your organisation…

 Does your org invest in staff development? (BTW – that doesn’t just mean spending money on formal training).  Do your managers/leaders get involved in that staff development? Coach and train the staff themselves (day to day)? Delegate? Talk to the staff before formal learning events, agree objectives, follow up after to discuss how learning can be applied, offer and provide support and guidance, monitor, evaluate, recognise and reward where actions/successes/developments occur.

 If your answer is a resounding YES to all the above, then I can’t believe you’re not an Employer of Choice.