Why Every Employee Needs a Career Path

There are good reasons that most organizations have struggled to help employees see their development and progression opportunities. Too many people, too many jobs, not enough HR team members. And so, most organizations either focus on high potential employees, employees from new acquisitions or groups in crisis.

The effect of incomplete investment in career pathing is inconsistent engagement across employees. And this represents a significant missed opportunity.  Companies with high employee engagement have 41% less absenteeism, 24% lower turnover, and are 21% more profitable. These are shocking differences in terms of workplace experiences as well as economic performance. Add to this one more important factor.  Lower turnover also means that these companies spend less recruiting new talent to replace the talent that has walked out the door.

Driven by these financial metrics, the most forward-thinking companies recognize that unlocking career path options is a point of differentiation for their businesses. They do not approach career pathing from a piece-meal perspective. Rather, they establish a program to engage every employee. Scaling career pathing across the whole company requires a commitment to a set of foundational work.

• Development of a competency/skills-based view for every role at the company
• Ability to assess every employee’s current competency level
• Clear connection of development resources (classroom, online, certifications) to skill progression that allows every employee to upskill and reach new competencies and new roles
• Deployment of guided, on-demand access for employees to explore both near-and long-term paths to connect their interests to concrete deployment plans

Developing a growth focused, people development culture is your first line of defense against costly attrition. Successful implementation of a career path solution to upskill and empower growth within your existing workforce allows you to focus on other important strategies like reskilling, succession planning, and taking performance reviews to the next level. You can then leverage these data points to strengthen your strategic workforce management and planning. To begin boosting employee engagement by recommending career paths aligned to skills, goals, and aspirations, learn more about TalentGuard’s career pathing software.

Interested in learning the 5 pillars of a strategic people development program? Read our white paper Winning in the Skills Economy: The Strategic Guide to People Development.