Feature
The Great Resignation of 2022 reaffirmed that switching jobs can lead to higher earnings, and that the best time to find a new job is while you’re still employed. A survey from Microsoft and LinkedIn reveals this trend is holding strong, with nearly 50% of workers planning to leave their jobs in 2024.
Companies risk losing their best and brightest unless they move quickly to prioritize retention.
One of the most effective ways to do so is by providing career pathways. Sounds simple? Turns out, doing it right is more complicated than it seems.
Cultivating Career Paths
Career paths have become more difficult to map, as technology upends some roles and continuously changes the goalposts. The shelf life of some skills has gotten shorter.
“Think about the software languages we hired for 15 years ago, 8 years ago, vs. now,” said Beth Gullette, chief people officer at Well. “Or the rise of data science as a unique profession or social media manager as a role in marketing.”
Adapting to changing roles presents one set of challenges; creating career paths for roles that don’t yet exist offers an even bigger one.
Complicating matters, “there’s a misalignment between employee aspirations and organizational needs,” said Fresia Jackson, lead researcher at Culture Amp. “There are limited resources for development in a tough economic climate and a new focus on skills rather than roles.”
There are also competency differences to consider.
“Most HR teams don't have the capacity to properly analyze the needs and desires of today's new workforce and create Level 1, 2, 3, positions for roles throughout the organization,” said Cara Silletto, president and chief retention officer at Magnet Culture, identifying this as the greatest barrier she's seen.
Experts agree it takes time to plan, implement and tweak new programs for them to be successful — and time is rarely in ample supply.
Related Article: Leaders, to Boost Engagement, Help Employees Map Their Career Journey
Accounting for Generational Differences, Similarities
Ultimately, career pathing needs to be more personalized than before. Its effectiveness depends on managers providing developmental feedback and navigating organizational politics to advocate for their direct reports, provide visibility to their work and access opportunities.
“HR folks need to focus on upskilling managers to have these more personalized discussions,” said Jackson — and even that may not be enough.
Generational distinctions are another important consideration, as younger adults have been reported to place a greater priority on non-work aspects of their lives than previous generations.
“They’re less interested in or willing to make tradeoffs to potentially secure rewards or success down the line,” said Gullette.
They also expect to advance much more quickly in their careers than one would have expected 20 years ago.
“Younger generations seek ways to level-up often,” added Silletto. “The world moves too quickly today to expect newer workers to wait years for recognition and opportunities for continued growth.”
But the way we’ve been framing generations' impact on the workplace may be misguided, according to Jackson, as “there is much more variability within generations than between them.”
It comes back to understanding each person’s values and aspirations rather than stereotyping.
“Companies should create structured mentorship and sponsorship programs that pair employees from underrepresented groups with senior leaders or mentors who can provide guidance, advocacy and networking opportunities.” And, Jackson added, “there should be objective criteria for performance evaluation and especially for potential — if you are using that metric.”
Companies also need to pay conscious attention to factors that have traditionally created obstacles for underrepresented individuals, whether in formal programming or policies, in informal group inclusion, in language that may be exclusionary, etc.
“Companies that bring an inclusion and equity lens to everything see many more opportunities to adjust traditions, habits, policies, practices and programs,” explained Gullette.
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Related Article: From Ladders to Lattice: How Careers Can Engage and Retain Employees
The Requirements of an Effective Career Pathway Program
An effective career pathway program will look a little different for every individual.
“Don't be linear in your thinking,” said Silletto. “Not everyone wants to climb the traditional ladder.”
She recommends considering more lateral and diagonal moves to keep employees engaged, interested and aware of multiple potential next steps within the organization.
According to Jackson, the elements of an effective career pathway program include:
- Clear job descriptions and role expectations
- Concrete goals, progression paths, and responsibilities
- Regular feedback and mentorship
- Continuous learning and development opportunities
- Manager training
- Leadership development and succession planning
- Data analysis for continual improvement
“Involve employees in the design of your program, ensuring their needs and aspirations are considered,” but don’t reinvent the wheel, she said. “Eighty percent of career pathing is getting the basics right, like creating role clarity, fair performance management, supporting discussions with managers, etc.”
Document the program and ensure that information is accessible and that you’ve created a development culture, “so that if their manager is incapable, employees can self-serve and advocate,” she added.
Encourage a growth mindset that views failure as learning and values constructive feedback, with employee wellbeing at its center, as burnout can cause even the best performance plans to fail. A study from Culture Amp, involving 741 companies and 200,000 employees, highlighted that continuous performance discussions can have diminishing returns and that high performers need additional support to avoid burnout.
Related Article: AI Is Transforming Corporate Learning. Here's How to Evolve Alongside
Cut Once, Measure Twice
Companies can measure the success of their career pathway programs through usage metrics and satisfaction surveys, but the retention stats will speak for themselves. Top talent and high-potential hires will stick around longer than usual, and there will be a marked increase in internal promotions and job changes, both of which are good for the employee and the business.
You may even notice increased diversity at higher levels in the organization.
Interestingly, retention will increase once competency enhancements are valued more than tenure requirements. Instead of saying, "After you've been here two years, you can …” consider offering new opportunities once confidence and competence are demonstrated.
Ultimately, you want employees to feel invested in and appreciated for their work, and that doesn’t happen when weighing widgets on a scale — at least not anymore.
