If you are not familiar with the term career pathways, it is an organizational roadmap of clearly defined routes that guides employees to advance through an organization. Career pathways programs have gained popularity as companies are pulling out all the stops to curb the bleeding of talent that many organization are experiencing.
Creating a Culture to Stay
And from a bottom-line standpoint, it makes sense to advance your good employees because it costs less to keep an employee than it does to hire and train new ones. But if your organization does not have a career pathway process in place that prepares employees for their next position within your company, they will leave! With the number of jobs open far exceeding the number of workers to fill them, it is an employee’s job market right now.
The other thing that career planning does is it shows employees that as a company, you care about them and have a career plan in place for them to stay in your company. This creates a more friendly corporate culture that results in happy employees. Employees don’t want to change jobs, but if they do not see a way to advance in your company … that is exactly what they will do – leave to find better employment opportunities elsewhere.
STARS
With the paper ceiling coming down in an effort to fill jobs, many companies are no longer requiring four-year degrees on many of their jobs. Instead they are hiring STARS – Skilled Through Alternative Routes – employees that have training through community colleges, certificate programs, credentialing, military service and on-the-job training.
The companies that have been successful in hiring STARS also have advancement programs in place so these skilled workers can train and have the opportunity to rise within a company. Just like in the military, employees should have the opportunity to train for the next higher position.
Doing so positions a company to have an employees that are ready to move up should a position (unexpectedly or planned) open up. It is easier to hire at the entry level than it is at a higher level. And it is good for other employees to see their co-workers advance instead of a new person coming in to fill the job. It gives them hope (and proof) that the same thing could happen to them too.
Some companies are gravitating toward a system where entry-level jobs funnel into what is known as gateway jobs which then leads to positions of higher responsibility and salary. An example would be a cashier that trains for and works in a gateway position or two and ends up as a customer service representative within the same company.
So if you are a CEO using the same decades-old traditional career ladder that only favors a few employees, and you are bleeding talent, does it make more sense into looking a career pathways type of employee advancement system that use job redesign, job rotation, shadowing, dual career ladders and a gateway as a way to advance and keep more good employees?
Will it cost money to set up a career pathway system of employee advancement? Of course it will … but it is far cheaper than constantly hiring new people and losing productivity (and ultimately dollars) while they train and get ramped up in their new job so they are functioning at an acceptable level.
