Career Management Making It Work for Employees and Employers
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Career Management Making It Work for Employees and Employers Stuck in neutral. That’s how many employees around the world would describe their career. In fact, according to the 2014 Global Workforce Study, 41% of employees say they must join another firm in order to advance. Even more troublesome, almost the same percentage (40%) of employees who have been formally identified as high potentials by their organization say they would need to leave their organization to advance their career. Overall, employees tell us career advancement opportunities rank among the top reasons why they’d join or leave an organization.
Rising talent mobility complicates this picture even
46%
further. Globally, nearly half of employers (48%)
participating in the 2014 Talent Management and of employees
Rewards Study say hiring activity has increased say their
organization
compared with last year, and more than one-third
provides useful
(35%) indicate that turnover is rising. At the same
career planning
time, nearly two in three respondents are experiencing
problems attracting top performers (65%) and high-
tools.
42% report that
potential employees (64%), an increase from two their organization provides
years ago. Additionally, more than half report difficulty opportunities to advance.
retaining high-potential employees (56%) and top
performers (54%).
In the face of these challenges, employers need to Figure 1. Career management is valued by both employees and employers, but many
understand what employees value if they are to attract organizations fall short in delivery
and retain the right talent. Our research shows that
employers do in fact agree with employees on the
critical importance of providing career advancement
Employee view Employer view
opportunities to get and keep employees (Figure 1). Advancement in career is the 3rd Advancement in career is the #1
But this understanding is not translating into effective most cited reason they joined their reason employees join an organization.
career development and management programs. A organization. Lack of career advancement Lack of career advancement is the 2nd
mere 46% of employees say their organization provides is the 2nd most cited reason to leave. most cited reason they would leave.
useful career planning tools, and only 42% report that Source: 2014 Global Workforce Study Source: 2014 Talent Management and Rewards Study
their organization provides opportunities to advance.
Only
agree their employees are often able
“Employers
“ need to understand 41% to achieve career advancement.
what employees value if they
Only
are to attract and retain the 35%
say their employees understand how
they can influence their careers.
right talent.”
Employers for their part recognize they are falling
short. Less than half (49%) report being effective at Figure 2. What is career management?
providing traditional career advancement opportunities
to employees, while an even lower percentage (38%) Career management is a process to help employees understand career opportunities and chart
report being effective at providing career development a career path within their organization.
opportunities beyond traditional concepts. Moreover,
only 41% of employers agree their employees are Career Overarching Visible Integrated
often able to achieve career advancement by moving management career and viable development
across organizational boundaries. And a disturbingly management career path planning
low 35% say their employees understand how they can strategy alternatives process
influence their careers.
Organizations are clearly missing the mark when it
comes to career management — the process that Enabling
helps employees understand career opportunities and experiences
chart a career path within their organization (Figure 2). Established and Aligned
career opportunities competency
framework framework
Career management encompasses the strategy, tools, processes and technology that enable
talent development, agility and mobility.
towerswatson.com Career Management: Making It Work for Employees and Employers 2While it might seem simple enough to organize jobs,
define competencies, provide career planning tools
and communicate opportunities, the reality is more
complicated. Our research reveals several key pain
48%
of employees report
points that employers face in developing and delivering
career management programs: that they have to
take ownership of
•• Career architecture and career paths are poorly their own careers.
defined. Fewer than half of employers (48%) report
that their organizations have career architectures
57%
and levels in place.
•• Managers are ill equipped to handle key aspects of
career management and development. Only 33% of
employers say managers are effective at conducting of employers indicate
career development discussions as part of the that employees and
performance management process. managers should have
•• Technology is not effectively leveraged for career joint ownership of the
management. Less than half (45%) of employers career management process.
say their companies make effective use of
technology to deliver programs to help employees
advance their careers.
•• Most organizations don’t know if their career
“It’s
“ critical for employers to step back and think
management programs are working. A low 27% through the components of an effective career
of employers say their organizations monitor the
effectiveness of their career management programs. management program.”
In addition, we know from our experience that there
are other factors contributing to this challenge. management program is to provide employees with
Information related to career management is often the ongoing skill building and development needed
communicated in a disjointed manner. In some to enable breakthrough thinking and career success
organizations, different parts of HR own different while ensuring the talent pipeline to support the
elements of career management without clear company’s long-term growth.
accountability or partnership. Finally, organizations •• A set of principles (how) that will guide the
may lack the business buy-in for career management direction and execution of career management
programs, which can make career management the communications and tools. For example, one of
sole domain of HR. the guiding principles of the innovation-focused
organization cited above might include the importance
Given this situation, it’s critical for employers to step
of building a culture of continuous learning and
back and think through the components of an effective
professional development, which in turn leads to new
career management program.
ways of addressing business challenges. Details on
the types of learning and professional development
Start by Defining Your Strategy opportunities that the organization invests in would
An overarching strategy is needed to anchor and guide be showcased in the strategy.
the development of a career management program.
A basic question to consider when developing a career
This strategy should capture an organization’s high-
management strategy is who is responsible for the
level perspective on career management, and reflect
career management process. According to our latest
its talent priorities and strategic business objectives.
research, almost half (48%) of employees report that
Begin by defining the why and the how of your program
they have to take ownership of their own careers,
through:
while 57% of employers indicate that employees
•• An overall statement (why) of what the company and managers should have joint ownership of the
believes and wants to communicate about the value career management process. An effective career
and importance of career management. For example, management strategy will help reduce employees’
an organization pursuing a business strategy focused feeling they are on their own when it comes to career
on innovation might state that the goal of its career development and advancement opportunities.
towerswatson.com Career Management: Making It Work for Employees and Employers 3Building the Foundation “A
“ globally consistent career framework across all
With its career management strategy in place, an
organization can begin to build the foundation of its
functions and business areas of an organization
program, which should include three elements: a serves as a foundation for organizing jobs and
career framework, scaled competencies and enabling
experiences. clarifying career paths.”
•• Career framework. An organization’s career
framework consists of a series of career bands, managers and supervisors to clearly communicate
which represent how jobs contribute to the career opportunities and have more effective career
organization, and levels, which show the relative development discussions. Many organizations have
contribution of a role within a career band (Figure 3). some type of career framework in place, often to
The framework is supported by the job architecture assign compensation grades and ranges. Being
(e.g., how jobs are organized by titles, functions transparent about the career framework can help
and families) and job leveling (i.e., the process for employees shift out of neutral and into first gear.
determining the relative ranking of jobs). Given that •• Scaled competencies and technical skills. While
only 40% of employers globally have defined job the career framework describes what employees
architectures, and a mere 39% have defined job at various levels do, competencies define the
levels and a career framework, there is room for how — the knowledge, skills and abilities required
improvement here. for successful performance. We can think of
competencies as behavioral concepts that may
A globally consistent career framework across all
apply across job families, for example, analytical
functions and business areas of an organization
thinking, creativity and project management. On the
serves as a foundation for organizing jobs and
other hand, technical skills refer to more discrete
clarifying career paths. Additionally, in many
knowledge areas that are relevant across fewer
organizations, such a framework becomes a
job families, for example, application development,
platform for describing overall work requirements
database administration and requirement analysis.
and responsibilities. It also makes it easier for
Figure 3. Foundational element: Career framework*
The career framework sets the stage for clearly communicating careers and discussing career opportunities and development.
Executive
E1 E2 E3 CEO
Management
Vice Senior vice Executive
president president vice president
Career band
Management
Represents broadly
how jobs contribute M1 M2 M3 M4 M5
Supervisor Manager Senior Group Senior group
to the organization manager manager manager
Professional
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 Career level
Entry Intermediate Career Specialist Master Expert Represents the relative
contribution of the role
Individual contributor
Technical support within the career band
T1 T2 T3 T4
Entry Intermediate Senior Lead
Business support
U1 U2 U3 U4
Entry Intermediate Senior Lead
Production
W1 W2 W3 W4
Entry Intermediate Senior Lead
*Actual alignment of career bands and levels will vary based on types of jobs within each organization.
towerswatson.com Career Management: Making It Work for Employees and Employers 4Figure 4. Foundational element: Enabling experiences
Sample template for defining enabling experience opportunities
Question:
What are the enabling experiences to prepare an employee to move through the job family (i.e., from level to level)?
1 2 3 4 5 6
IT developer IT developer IT developer IT developer IT developer IT developer
I II III IV V VI
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6
••Regularly ••Successfully ••Participate ••Speak at an ••Demonstrate
introduce manage a in special internal or success in
new ideas few projects assignments external industry defining,
and process independently, to gain deeper conference or delivering and
innovations to under limited knowledge/ event implementing a
own team supervision expertise in a ••Serve in a strategy
••Coordinate ••Present technical particular area leadership role ••Participate in
and assist analysis/results for a cross- the development
department to a nontechnical functional of company
efforts audience project or standards or
activity capabilities
The scaling of competencies enables organizations Visualizing the Possibilities
to show the changes in expected competencies and
associated behaviors at different career levels. For Once the foundational components are set, it’s time
instance, creativity at a lower level might involve to help employees understand what it all means for
demonstrating a willingness to try new processes them. Career path visuals will help bring your career
and approaches. At a senior level, creativity might management program to life by illustrating potential
involve creating opportunities for employees to movements between roles (Figure 5, page 6). A career
generate new ideas, products, methods or solutions path is unique to an individual and will vary depending
that enhance organizational effectiveness. on business needs, career aspirations and capabilities.
According to the findings of our 2014 Talent There are typically two types of movement that career
Management and Rewards Study, 55% of paths are used to illustrate:
organizations have already implemented an •• Progression — Movement to a role at the same/
organization-wide competency model applicable equivalent level or a lower career level as the current
to all employees. Yet only 42% of all companies role; offers an employee breadth of experience
participating in the study have implemented scaled •• Promotion — Movement to a job at a higher career
competencies, suggesting that many companies have level than the current role; requires demonstration of
yet to realize the full benefits of using competencies. increased competence and additional responsibilities
•• Enabling experiences and opportunities. These
are the experiences and opportunities that help It’s important to note that the intent of a career path is
prepare an employee to move from one career to provide a sense of what’s possible — not to chart
level to the next. While enabling experiences and every potential course — and to remind employees
opportunities help guide career development, of what the organization values. These illustrations
they are not intended to be used as a checklist serve as a very effective tool to help differentiate the
for promotion. For example, Figure 4 illustrates organization and illuminate the career management
the enabling experiences and opportunities for strategy. Our research shows that only 43% of
an IT developer, from successfully managing new companies have defined vertical career paths, and a
projects with limited supervision, to participating mere 27% have defined lateral career paths, which
in the development of technical standards for could help explain why so many employees feel they
their organization. With increasing frequency, are on their own when it comes to career development.
organizations are supplementing the career
framework and scaled competencies with enabling
experiences and opportunities.
towerswatson.com Career Management: Making It Work for Employees and Employers 5Figure 5. Sample career path
Gain foundational and Senior MakeLead
a move
advanced experience Database to Database
gain people Enterprise Identified as a destination role
Database database
Database in database analytics analyst and management database due to the high degree of impact
Analyst I analyst and Project
developer II architect this role has on the organization.
and development developer Manager
experience Senior
This is the top individualDirector,
contributor in the IT function,
Data and
Senior Security
with responsibility for designing
Information Information Information
Information Move into systems information major components of the IT
security security security
security engineer to gain security infrastructure. This role requires
specialist I specialist II manager
broader organizational specialist
a high level of understanding
Director,
IT knowledge Information
of databases, security and IT
Gain experience
Systems systems. Individuals in Technology
this role
Senior in IT security Systems mustSenior
manage large projects and
Systems Systems Systems engineering
systems engineering Director, IT
engineer engineer I engineer II project project teams.
engineer director Engineering
manager
Move to moreSenior IT
senior IT systems IT systems
Systems IT systems IT systems
role with systems
continued support support
support support I support ii
support
focus on gaining manager director
technical knowledge
Start in a
P1 job — Software
Senior
Software entry into Software Software engineering
software
engineer job family Engineer I engineer II project
engineer
manager Software
engineering
director
Software
engineering
manager
Professional Illustrative
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 alignment
Management
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5
Integrated Development Planning aspirations and capabilities of the company’s talent
pool. It is necessary that this type of platform link to
For a career management program to be effective, an organization’s HR information system to ensure
it must be properly supported and linked to other seamless access to critical HR data including career
strategic HR initiatives and existing HR programs. management information.
•• Tools and technology. Two of the most valuable career •• Manager training and support. Unfortunately, less
management support tools include an employee than half (47%) of organizations say they provide
reference guide and an employee workbook. The their managers with career management training
reference guide describes the career management and tools in the form of talking points or discussion
process and program fundamentals, while the guides. This could help explain why only 41% of
workbook enables employees to assess their employees rate their manager as effective in holding
strengths and weaknesses, and to develop short- and career development discussions. It is important for
47%
long-term career plans with their managers. organizations to ensure that managers are trained to
have effective career conversations with employees.
A technology platform that provides access to Regardless of whether these conversations are
current career information and tools, thereby formally set at certain intervals or occur informally of organizations say
enabling employees to take an active part in at any point in the year, managers need to be they provide their
managing their careers, can facilitate effective equipped with information on the organization’s managers with career
career management. Given that such a platform career management strategy and tools. This will management training
typically captures performance management and tools in the form
prepare them to ask the right questions as they
information — e.g., performance objectives, reviews, of talking points or
guide employees through the process of developing
competency assessments — as well as career discussion guides.
actionable career plans.
management data, it shines a spotlight on the
towerswatson.com Career Management: Making It Work for Employees and Employers 6•• Structured mentoring. Even a carefully planned Change Management and
career management program may not sufficiently Communication
prepare employees for all the challenges that come
with increased responsibility. For this reason, a A thoughtfully planned and executed change
growing number of organizations are implementing management and communication process will help
structured mentoring programs. The goal of sustain your career management program over the
structured mentoring is to identify the deep and long term. As with any program, it is essential to
often undocumented knowledge that senior people secure ongoing support and sponsorship from senior
have acquired over several decades, and transfer executives and business leaders.
that knowledge to those with less experience. This In addition, organizations should reach out to
reduces the risk of knowledge loss when senior employees early in the process, even as the program
employees leave or retire. At the same time, it is being designed, to help them understand the value
provides an opportunity for employees to accelerate of the program. Be sure to engage key influencers,
the learning process, and reduce the amount of trial including skeptics or those with dissenting views, and
and error they often face in new positions. Overall, solicit their input as a way to give them “skin in the
a structured mentoring program not only enhances game.” To provide employees a sense of ownership,
career development, but strategically fosters a culture consider including them as subject matter experts in
of rapid learning and growth needed to compete in a helping design different program components such as
complex, fast-changing business environment. competencies and skills required for different jobs.
“It
“ is essential to secure ongoing support and sponsorship from senior
executives and business leaders.”
Employees can also offer feedback via focus groups
•• Linking and relating to other programs. In addition or pilot programs prior to program launch. Finally, it is
to providing information and tools to employees important to move beyond just tools and materials,
and equipping managers to have the right career and create career development opportunities such as
conversations, it is critical for an organization to mentoring programs or women’s forums to support an
carefully link a career management program to employee’s growth.
existing programs. Start by considering the following
questions: Program monitoring is an essential part of the change
•• How does your career management strategy process. It is important to measure the effectiveness of
enhance or support your employment deal? change or rollout activities (e.g., through surveys) and
•• How does your career management program make required course corrections. Organizations can
support succession planning? also monitor the effectiveness of career management
•• Have you clearly articulated how your career programs overall (e.g., through engagement surveys and
management program differs from and/or movement reports).
integrates with existing performance management
and development planning programs? Getting Started
•• Does your career management program support Before starting a career management program, it can
workforce planning, given the projected loss of be helpful to do an inventory of career management
knowledge due to employee exits, and projected components (e.g., job functions and families,
knowledge requirements for sustaining and competencies and career paths) that may already be in
growing the business? place and determine the visibility these elements have
•• Are mentoring roles and responsibilities integrated within your organization. It is not unusual to uncover
into the expectations at various career levels to stand-alone career management components that are
enhance employee development? not linked together in a meaningful way.
If these linkages and distinctions are not made clear, Most often, organizations start developing a career
an organization risks having its career management management program within a specific area of the
program be not well received and potentially regarded organization (e.g., within a function such as sales).
negatively (for example, as a performance management Once a career management program is launched
mechanism for determining who will lose their job in in one part of an organization, it often generates
a layoff). excitement and buzz so that other areas are shortly
asking for their turn as well.
towerswatson.com Career Management: Making It Work for Employees and Employers 7There are various circumstances that provide Figure 6. Career management is important to both the employee and the employer
organizations with an impetus for starting a career
management program. In some cases, employers use
a career management program to help address talent Employee view Employer view
pain points (i.e., areas with current or projected talent Career management is the system Career management generates an
shortages) or to help valuable employees update their that enables employees to own ROI in employee development.
skills in response to a changing work environment. their careers.
In other cases, an organization may decide to move
Career management provides: Career management provides:
ahead with a career management initiative in response
to employee requests. •• Clarification of the organization’s •• Career paths that fill a robust talent
career management philosophy: pipeline to meet business demands
It is also not uncommon for an organization to focus
•• What types of skills are valued? •• Deeper bench of future leaders who
on career management after having gone through
•• What are the roles of the have had the requisite experiences to
a process of segmentation and differentiation.
employee and manager in career fill key roles in the succession plan
Using insights from a workforce segmentation, an
conversations? •• Engaged employees meeting personal
organization can develop career programs tailored
•• Access to information on career career aspirations and making a greater
to different employee groups, for example, by
opportunities contribution to business results
stretching programs with increasingly complex projects
•• User-friendly tools and resources to •• An enhanced value proposition that
for employees in pivotal roles and high-potential
chart career paths and develop a attracts and retains top talent
employees who are critical to business success.
career plan •• Reduced turnover costs in critical
•• Resources to enhance skill sets positions and levels
A Win-Win Proposition and think about meaningful work •• Diminished search firm and training
Finally, it is important to recognize that career experiences fees
management is a key component of an organization’s
total rewards portfolio. An effectively designed and
implemented career management program delivers
benefits to both employees and employers (Figure 6).
Employees will have the tools and resources to chart
career paths and own their careers. And employers will
see a return in the form of a deeper bench of future
leaders, a more engaged workforce and an enhanced
employment deal, enabling them to attract and retain
top talent.
About Towers Watson
Towers Watson is a leading global professional services
company that helps organizations improve performance
through effective people, risk and financial management.
With more than 14,000 associates around the world,
we offer consulting, technology and solutions in the
areas of benefits, talent management, rewards, and
risk and capital management.
Copyright © 2014 Towers Watson. All rights reserved.
TW-NA-2014-38807
towerswatson.com
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