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Lack of Growth/Development and Career advancement Opportunities is the other biggest workforce challenge for 2023.
Again not surprised to see this result given a recent McKinsey report stating 41% of employees are quitting their jobs is due to limited meaningful opportunities for growth, development and/or career advancement which is consistent with the clients we’ve been working with over the last few years
Why are do I think employees are leaving due to limited growth/career opportunities?
A number of factors are driving this problem which include:
Organisation are continuing to stall to clearly define the critical skills and capabilities to deliver their strategic priorities and commitments. This creates a self-led or ‘bottom-up’ approach to individual development with no clear sight of ‘skill gaps’ or ‘interests’ across the enterprise to inform role and project matching opportunities.
Although workplace learning has exploded during the pandemic with anywhere anytime self-paced learning opportunities, the reality is we learn best by applying our knowledge on-the-job through meaningful work experiences. Fostering cross-divisional and cross-functional growth opportunities is key to promoting internal mobility and a unique value proposition.
Career pathways not being identified for critical workforce segments. The traditional ‘career ladder’ has been replaced with a ‘lattice’ approach to obtaining experiences and exposure to different disciplines.
Where to from here? What can companies do either to mitigate or manage this? Solutions available.
Another recent study reported that companies who focus on growth are 29 times more likely to let employees ‘unleash their potential,’ 4 times more likely to be innovative leaders, and 7.2 times more likely to be a best place to work (Josh Bersin). Essentially there are 3 key solutions available to address this problem:
Clearly identify and prioritise the core, emerging and future capabilities required to deliver your strategic commitments.
Create meaningful cross-divisional/functional work experiences in a coordinated and sustainable way.
Making potential and available career pathway’s visible across the enterprise to significantly impact retention and engagement of critical talent.
Why do they need to take action now?
Again, if we take the previous example of a company with 2,000 employees and an attrition rate of 16%, half of those who are leaving is due to limited growth/ career opportunities which this equates to $3.68m annually for the average cost per hire or just over $25,000 per working day.
Happy to share the details of a number of case studies from clients we have completed recently to co-design the solutions I described today.
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