Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Happiness Helps
Happiness Helps
Happiness Helps
Helps
Career development breeds
employee engagement, boosts
organizational performance
by Tom Becker
January 2011 • QP 17
Offering employees career development opportu- 7. Recognition and reward.
nities may be the answer. As the study shows, career 8. Customer focus.
development not only builds skills and capacities that 9. Strategy.
can help organizations achieve their strategic goals, 10. Immediate managers.
but it also addresses the motivators driving employees
to put their skills and capacities to optimal use. Development pays off
Employees are looking for challenges in their jobs. The survey and research also revealed significant cor-
They want to contribute meaningfully to their orga- relations between the statement “There are career
nization’s success. By equipping employees to find opportunities for me at my organization” and several
greater challenges and meaning in their work, career topics addressing organizational effectiveness. Key
development promotes engagement and enhances the findings included:
performance of the individual and the organization. Providing career opportunities drives engage-
According to a Right Management survey, oppor- ment. Organizations that provide career development
tunity for learning and development is a top driver of opportunities are six times more likely to engage their
engagement. In the study, respondents indicated their employees than organizations that do not.
level of agreement with 100 statements (individual en- As shown in Figure 1, 54% of employees who re-
gagement drivers) that were grouped according to 10 sponded favorably (that is, either agreed with or
general topics (general engagement drivers). strongly agreed with) to the statement, “There are ca-
Among the 10 general topics that respondents reer opportunities for me at my organization,” reported
ranked, “learning and development opportunities” was being engaged at work. That compares to an engage-
the second-highest ranked item they said could drive ment rate of only 9% among employees who responded
engagement. In fact, respondents said “learning and unfavorably to this statement.
development opportunities” was more important than Providing career opportunities drives reten-
leadership, culture and even compensation. tion. Organizations that provide career development
The following is the complete ranking of general en- opportunities are more than four times less likely to lose
gagement drivers from the survey: talent in the next year than organizations that do not.
1. Work processes. As shown in Figure 2, only 5% of respondents who
2. Learning and development opportunities. agreed or strongly agreed that their organization pro-
3. Culture. vides career opportunities indicated they planned to
4. Senior leaders. leave within the next year. By contrast, 22% of those
5. Communication. who did not agree that their organization provides ca-
6. Structure, roles and capability. reer opportunities said they planned to leave within a
year.
Providing career opportunities drives produc-
Career opportunities drive tivity. Organizations that provide career development
employee engagement / Figure 1 opportunities are almost 2.5 times more likely to be
productive than organizations that do not.
Respondents were asked to agree or disagree with the following statement, Figure 3 shows that 72% of employees who respond-
“There are career opportunities for me at my organization,” and then rate their
ed favorably to the statement, “There are career op-
engagement in the organization.
portunities for me at my organization,” reported their
Favorable
54% organization is productive. Among those who failed to
46%
respond favorably, only 30% indicated their organiza-
Unfavorable
9% tion is productive.
91%
Providing career opportunities drives perfor-
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% mance. Organizations judged to be best performers
Engaged Not engaged
are almost three times more likely to provide career
Source: Right Management, “Global Benchmarking Study,” December 2009
development opportunities than those judged to be
Base: 28,810 global employees below-average performers.
18 QP • www.qualityprogress.com
talent management
January 2011 • QP 19
year, implementing effective career development ini- express their individuality and realize their aspirations.
tiatives could play a strong role in not only reversing A workplace that doesn’t promote, enable and sup-
the trend, but also in filling vacant positions. port personal interests and creativity—and isn’t inter-
Another recent survey2 asked 236 employees, “What ested in listening to new ideas—is unlikely to attract
is most important when considering a new employer?” many potential job candidates.
Respondents singled out career development pros-
pects by a wide margin, as shown in Figure 5. Organi- Recommendations
zations offering career development opportunities at- What are the building blocks of an effective career
tract new talent by building their brand as an employer development strategy? How do organizations demon-
of choice. strate their commitment to employees, ensure they
A talent mismatch also is driving the need for or- have the right people with the right skills to meet cur-
ganizations to develop talent. The case for providing rent and future business needs, and ensure employees
career development must also be understood along understand how they can contribute to the organiza-
with trends in the world of work tied to changing de- tion’s success? In short, what do organizations need
mographics. In many countries, for example, the work- to do to provide employees with career opportunities?
ing-age population is either growing more slowly than Learning and development: The Right Manage-
in the past or showing an outright decline. One result ment organizational effectiveness study provides some
is an increasing talent mismatch. high-level guidance by identifying key drivers associ-
As highly skilled employees retire and as the na- ated with the statement “There are career opportuni-
ture of available work shifts, organizations are already ties for me at my organization.”3 In order of impact, the
encountering difficulties in filling key high-skill posi- top seven are:
tions even as they generally reduce their workforces. 1. I am encouraged to take ownership of my own
Because this talent mismatch is likely to intensify as development.
the population ages, developing talent that can help 2. I receive the development I need to do my job well.
organizations meet evolving needs will become even 3. I know how to progress in my organization.
more important. 4. My organization invests in its people’s learning and
Career development enables employees to proac- development.
tively take charge of their career progression in view 5. There is sufficient incentive to perform well at my
of the new skills they will need in the changing world organization.
of work. At the same time, employees are demanding 6. My organization ensures there are people ready to
more choices and greater opportunities. move into jobs when positions become available.
Another outcome of demographic trends is a more 7. My immediate manager facilitates effective discus-
varied, multigenerational workforce comprised of in- sions about my career development.
dividuals with unique needs and desires. Especially Investing in learning and development (No. 4) and
in high-skill work environments, individuals will ex- ensuring individuals receive the development they
pect—and be granted—more choices need to succeed in their jobs (No. 2) are obvious steps
and greater control over their work- in creating meaningful career opportunities.
Tweetchats ing lives. So, too, is providing performance incentives (No.
Are you on Twitter? Do you tweet? Even though organizations have 5): Employees must be given reasons for advancing
Have you ever used Tweetchat? shed jobs and placed increasing em- their careers. Clearly, organizations that ensure they
Join ASQ and MyPath.com every phasis on employee productivity, they have people ready to move into newly available posi-
Tuesday at noon CST to chat about
will increasingly find it necessary to tions (No. 6) signal their commitment to providing ca-
your career. Topics range from
adopt a new model that gives employ- reer opportunities for current employees rather than
certification vs. degrees to tattoos
ees a more active role, offering higher hiring from the outside.
in the workplace.
Visit www.tweetchat.com, sign
levels of contribution and participa- The most powerful driver of “There are career op-
into your account and enter the tion. portunities for me at my organization” is empowering
hashtag #CareerChat. Highly talented employees will employees to take ownership of their development
look for workplaces where they can (No. 1). In part, such empowerment must involve
20 QP • www.qualityprogress.com
talent management
ees to drive their own development. Competitive compensation and benefits 12%
January 2011 • QP 21
talent management
22 QP • www.qualityprogress.com