Why Isn't Your Company Displaying Awards For Career Growth?
Companies spend untold amounts of energy trying to persuade candidates of their wonderful culture and values, flexible working arrangements, and even job security. And organizations emblazon their career and corporate websites with myriad awards for being an engaged, inspiring, and overall great workplace.
But there's something that candidates value more than all of those workplace issues: Opportunities for career growth.
A new study from Leadership IQ, called Career Growth Or Stalled Progress, analyzed more than 3,500 employees. Among the findings was that after better compensation, benefits and work-life balance, the biggest factor in attracting people to work for a company is better opportunities for career growth. For as much digital ink has been spilled arguing over whether companies need to offer remote working opportunities, it turns out that career growth opportunities are actually more important. Job security and a values-driven culture are wonderful, but employees and candidates just don't care about those issues as much as they do career growth.
Unfortunately, most companies aren't exerting enough effort to bolster their career development initiatives. For example, the Leadership IQ study also found that only 18% of employees are always excited by their career growth and progress, and only 23% always think they have the kind of training opportunities to foster career growth and advancement.
The good news is that these issues are not that hard to correct. For example, does your organization mandate that every manager conduct quarterly coaching and career growth conversations with every employee?
With about a day of skills training, leaders can become highly competent in developing meaningful career goals with their employees, identifying opportunities for employees to develop new skills, diagnosing what really motivates each member of their team, defining the difference between meeting and exceeding expectations, and developing a robust career path. Once an organization has ensured that leaders are competent at conducting these conversations, it's simply a case of mandating that those conversations take place.
Why does every leader submit a budget without fail while coaching conversations often get shunted to the back burner? It's not because budgets are inherently easier to develop than coaching conversations are to conduct; rather, it's because companies prioritize and mandate budgets while deprioritizing and neglecting career coaching conversations.
What percent of your employees take advantage of learning opportunities? Virtually every company offers learning and educational opportunities for employees. But does your company track and reward increased utilization of those opportunities? In far too many companies, managers and performance management systems de facto hint that taking advantage of learning opportunities won't help someone advance or grow their career. And rarely is it the case that managers are recognized or rewarded for achieving high participation rates for employee learning.
People who are excited by their career progress and growth opportunities are going to feel like they're advancing in their careers, and that's going to drive increased employee engagement, motivation, and loyalty to the company. But those who aren't excited are more likely to leave the company in search of better opportunities.
Think about your most valued employees. Are those employees who don't care about growing their careers? Or are your highest performers the ones who desperately want more chances to grow and develop their careers? Undoubtedly, your best people fall into the latter group.
When you look through the career growth study referenced above, it's clear that career growth is the next frontier in attracting and retaining great talent, especially for your current and future high performers. If you want to win the battle for the best people, it's worth your time to start developing and highlighting your efforts on career growth. And if you're already achieving excellence in the areas mentioned above, it's time for you to highlight your successes.
