We’ll just come out and say it; the current career deal needs to be radically re-thought

by Katie Brown, Senior Manager – Wharton BC

Career pathways or career propositions – these aren’t words that tend to fill us with excitement; whether you are trying to entice people to join your team, hold onto talent, or looking at how to reskill your entire workforce to meet new market demands. Yet that is exactly what they should do. ‘Career propositions’ are about giving people the opportunity to fulfil their ambitions, gain different experiences, build new skills, and make a difference in a way that works for both the individual and the organisation. Careers should also reflect the times in which we live. Right now, how you talk about careers needs to reflect what people really want i.e. choice, flexibility and development, whilst also delivering what organisations need i.e. a workforce that is resilient, engaged, highly skilled and future-fit.

The challenge is that many employers are still focussed on the traditional career ladder – as borne out by a recent WhartonBC LinkedIn poll where 91% of respondents said their business only articulated promotion or managerial career routes. These career ladders are traditionally upwards, forward-facing, and in as straight a line as possible – reaching a pinnacle of technical specialisation or a managerial grade. And this worked for people who started in a job 15-20 years (or more!) ago. But as the global workforce changes and jobs transform, this model is no longer relevant. As Microsoft likes to say, it’s not a career ladder, but a career playground!

The idea of a flexible or ‘portfolio’ career isn’t a new one, but right now with a workforce that has changed its expectations post-pandemic and with future skill uncertainty due to the rise of AI, the concept is seeing resurgence in importance and impact. We welcome this focus. Thought leaders in this space such as Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis from Amazing If are drawing attention to the fact that linear careers are limiting and don’t add enough value to either the individual or the organisation. So how do you make fully flexible and squiggly (our new favourite word!) career pathways a key part of your career deal? And why should you? Let’s start with the why.

The Why

Well, it’s as simple as looking at the job market as it is today. Right now, the job market is employee-driven, meaning that there are more openings than there are available people – and not just in new and emerging specialist areas such as cybersecurity but also across more traditional professions such as the law. This means skills are at a premium, and those that hold them can charge this premium with no real guarantee that hiring them will result in them sticking around for any meaningful amount of time. So how can you keep people with ‘hot’ skills once you’ve hired then? And how can companies that can’t afford to compete on salaries hire skills in demand? The answer is to get creative with careers and make this your unique selling point.

Moreover, you need to take stock of the people that you already have, people that are invested in your organisation and who want to be part of its future. How can you maintain or even increase their commitment, engagement and productivity? Again, your career proposition is a great place to start. Here at WBC we love the concept of ‘quiet hiring’ as a response to ‘quiet quitting’- rather than always looking to bring in new skills, look at where you can quietly, and cost effectively, hire from within and reskill from an already onboarded, committed resource pool.

Finally, we believe that by providing the opportunity for well thought-through squiggly and flexible career offerings, you can build more resilience into your workforce. If people are pigeonholed into narrow technical or skill boxes then, as AI changes the fundamental nature of your work, you will lose capability and capacity. Supporting people to explore more diverse career pathways – and enabling those that are primed to understand what AI can offer the business to reskill and stay in the business – will allow your workforce to become the workforce of tomorrow. It’s a no-brainer to help people who want to improve themselves, rather than blocking them. Which begs the question; what organisations are waiting for?

So, what about the how?

Organisations that are good at this are busy redefining what career paths and career development really means. Many are getting better at opening up opportunities for sideways moves across organisational boundaries to address the need for cross-skilling and providing on-the-job training to address skill gaps; encouraging Operations employees into high-demand Technology roles is a key example of this. Others are building coaching and mentoring programmes that reach all parts of the company, not just top talent or Early Careers to expose people to broader opportunities. Some are leveraging stretch-projects and inter-departmental collaboration opportunities to provide career development without needing people to change role, with the added benefit of preparing people for a future role-change when the opportunity arises.

In our experience, the best organisations articulate these enhanced development opportunities within a wider ‘Career Deal’, and are being overt about the infrastructure, skills and support needed to bring this to life for their people. Leaving this up to chance and ‘hoping’ people will self-navigate does not make business sense. Instead, companies that understand the power of great careers are also investing in the skills needed to have effective career conversations and building the organisational infrastructure that supports people to move fluidly and have clarity around opportunities. Line managers are at the coalface when it comes to retaining and engaging talented people, and often feel ill-equipped to support their teams around careers. Companies who are investing in equipping and refreshing the skills of managers, and supporting leaders and employees with insight, policies and structures that enable them to support the careers of their people more creatively, are seeing the pay-back; with higher engagement, better retention, and the ability to fill vacancies internally.

To learn more about the ‘how’ of building a radically different career deal or to explore how you can enhance your current career approach why not drop us a line? We’ve got lots of experience doing this across multiple industries, with outstanding results- why not check out our recent testimonial with Action For Children here?

Contact us here, and we’ll be happy to have a chat.