Careers have always mattered to individuals. And now more organisations are recognising the importance of a career strategy for business outcomes. Why? The headline reason is that with tight labour markets, companies can no longer rely on recruitment from outside to meet their current and future talent needs.
A more strategic approach to careers benefits businesses in so many other ways as well….
- The employee experience and EVP. A careers strategy gives momentum to the personalisation of the employee experience and they are increasingly a formal part of the Employee Value Proposition, the “DNA” code for why someone should work for a business.
- The unique “reach” of careers. Career strategies can reach into all parts of the organisation and every stage of an employee’s development.
- Strategic significance. Organisations that commit to ‘build not buy’ their talent are making a significant decision, with big implications for organisational priorities and a powerful force for aligning the business and people strategies.
So, a successful careers strategy makes a big difference to the way an organisation grows and keeps its talent, in so many ways. Here are some recent examples from work with our clients:
- Mitigating retention risks post-acquisition. An international business in the consumer products sector prioritised supporting employee retention, as employees from the acquired business were eager to know how their new career deal would match up. We supported the client to embed a new career proposition and a multi-language suite of career support resources.
- Attracting and increasing mobility. In response to employee feedback, a company in the life sciences industry wanted to improve visibility and access to career opportunities. We helped them to develop a long-term, integrated career strategy, with the help of our Be Bold in your Career experience.
- Maximizing the pool of key skills by crafting a career strategy that develops capability and potential in all parts of the organisation. One assignment with an American pharmaceutical company aimed to achieve several goals, including speeding the development of key skills, creating a larger pool of internal talent and extending the reach of career planning and development support.
- Breaking down silos. A multi-faceted project with a major broadcaster addressed a number of strategic goals, and aligned the contributions of learning, employee experience, career development, and diversity and inclusion specialists.
All of these examples show that there is a big opportunity for the self-driven career development that follows, which we can support through career solutions such as Be Bold, Career pulse, Career trails and Career inspirer.
Another great example of a high-performing organisation adopting a successful career strategy can be seen in the work being done at IQVIA. And this is why our next roundtable will be on 30th March, entitled “A Talent Marketplace is not a Plug and Play”. We’ve invited Karen Powell, Chief Talent and Learning officer at IQVIA to discuss their strategy of “One IQVIA, Multiple Careers” and the journey they have been on to build an agile, skills driven organisation. Although this event is now fully subscribed, let us know at info@careerinnovation.com if you’d like to take part in a future roundtable.
