 What is Employee Career Development?

Employee career development is an HR activity which involves an organization helping its

employees to develop their careers at their current workplace.

Creating a solid employee career development plan can involve the following:

 Proper application of an organization’s current job description data. If this data is not
updated or is missing altogether, it could hamper your ability to create this plan.
 Creating employee career paths to show your workforce the career possibilities at
your organization.
 Utilizing assessments to discover skills gaps between current job and ideal job for
employees.
 Availability of quality learning resources to help address employee skills gaps.
 This can be a lot to tackle, especially with the mountain of tasks and responsibilities
being piled upon HR departments worldwide.

 The Importance of Employee Career Development Programs

Employees starting at the bottom and climbing the internal career ladder as far as is possible
has been the traditional method of career development. Promotions would get an
employee up another rung on the ladder until they retired or exited the company.

This formula was predictable and did not always account for the skills of the individual being
promoted. Objectivity was not prevalent in the workforce years ago. Biases could have a
large impact on an employee’s ability to progress (i.e., nepotism, sexism, ethnicity, age
discrimination).

A lot has changed since then.

Switching employers regularly and exploring new careers is the norm, not the anomaly.
Today, an employee’s career journey is no longer linear. It’s more like a roller coaster—
complete with unpredictable peaks, valleys, and changes in direction.

At the same time, the way we define career success is changing. Employees no longer
measure it exclusively in terms of salary increases or corner offices. Instead, it may take the
form of work that aligns with their values, or a job that makes the most of their skills while
still enabling them to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

According to a 2021 article by Microsoft on hybrid work disrupting our current work climate,
41% of employees are considering leaving their current employer this year and 46% say
they’re likely to move because they can now work remotely.
The truth is out. As you’re reading this, some of your employees are already prepping to
leave your company. The ones who leave might surprise you. For many organizations
recovering from the business impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, that is a sobering fact.

To not have an employee development program in 2021 is to jeopardize your organization’s

future success.

 Best Practices for Employee Career Development Programs

 Support business goals: While self-guided career development is about empowering

employees to take greater responsibility for shaping their careers, the framework of
development options needs to align with the needs and priorities of the
organization. If the business goal is to retain employees, the development
opportunities on offer may be very different than if the goal is to boost profitability,
or to reinforce organizational culture.

 Record employee objectives: Make sure each employee clearly articulates their
motivation for developing their career. While those motivating factors may change
over time, it is important to record them in a living document to ensure the
outcomes reflect their objectives.
Questions to consider:
Do they want to advance to a leadership position?
Do they want to stay in the current job and keep their skills and knowledge up to
date?
Do they want to explore a different career path in a new department or job family?

 Include accountability structures: Whether it is a monthly meeting with their

supervisor, a peer-led group where everyone reports on their progress, or another
form of accountability, make sure employees know they are accountable to
someone other than themselves when it comes to setting and achieving career-
development goals.

 Reward and acknowledge achievement: Depending on the employee’s goal, success

may not always come in the form of a promotion or other public achievement. It is
important to find ways to acknowledge and celebrate diverse milestones. This could
involve having employees log their progress and earn badges along the way based on
the number of hours spent on development, the competencies or proficiency levels
achieved, or some other metric. Peer support and recognition programs can also be
used to acknowledge progress.

 Ensure easy access: Binders on shelves will most likely sit there gathering dust, and
spreadsheets are hard to maintain and update when you have several dozen
 competencies and hundreds of proficiency levels to manage. Invest in a platform
that enables you to easily update the list of learning resources for each competency
and proficiency level, and enables employees to access and explore resources at any
time, from any location, and preferably on any device.

 Promote and educate: Ensure that the entire organization, including employees,
managers, and executives, understands and supports the new initiative. Develop
promotional and instructional materials that address each audience’s concerns and
outline the expectations. Make sure information about the development program is
part of every employee’s onboarding or orientation process. Peer support and
recognition programs can also raise the profile of the organization’s development
activities, especially when they are integrated into social networks.

 Integrate development with other processes: The most successful development

programs integrate with other key talent processes, including performance
management, succession management, recruitment and staffing, and even
compensation and reward. When development is fully integrated, it becomes a
powerful support for the full talent-management cycle. For example, it can broaden
the hiring pool by identifying candidates who—with a small investment in training—
can become high-value, long-term employees. It can turn performance reviews into
opportunities to grow and succeed. And it can help organizations deepen their bench
strength and support stability by training employees to fill key roles that will be
vacant in future.

 Build the case for executive support: In an in-depth study of 14 organizations

published in The Journal of Public Sector Management, ‘best-in-class’ companies
reported that top management’s commitment and support was critical to the
success of any career management and development system. Getting executive buy-
in will help to ensure that your development program is supported, recognized, and
widely adopted.

 10 Companies With great Career Development Programs

According to a report by Training Magazine, companies in the U.S. spend an average $4.5 billion on
career development programs for employees. These 10 companies offering programs that will help
train you to be a better leader, manager and team player.

 Seattle Genetics
What the company does: Seattle Genetics is a biotechnology company focused on developing
antibody-based therapies to treat cancer.
Programs offered: Tuition reimbursement, onsite training courses to enhance job-related skills and
access to job-related conferences and seminars. “We encourage and support continuing education,
offer onsite training to enhance job- and management-related skills and provide opportunities for
our employees to attend job-related conferences and seminars,” says Taylor Cline, staffing associate.
Why the company offers this perk: “Developing our employees’ careers is an investment for both
our employees and the future of Seattle Genetics,” says Cline.
What kind of employee the company is looking for: “Team members who bring enthusiasm to
everything they do,” says Cline. “We look for employees who are constantly striving to attain
individual goals while recognizing the power of working collaboratively.”

 SAS
What the company does: SAS is a leader in business analytics software and services.
Programs offered: Emerging leadership programs for professional training and development, career
mentoring and a career resource center. The SAS Academics program for sales and technical
enablement provides both in-class and on-the-job training to ensure that recent grads are set up for
success before moving into their full-time roles.
Why the company offers this perk: “Knowledge workers never want to be stagnant,” says Shannon
Heath, senior communications specialist. “So SAS provides opportunities for growth to keep our
employees challenged, motivated and engaged.”
What kind of employee the company is looking for: “We seek well-rounded individuals who are
multi-dimensional and not so narrowly focused,” says Heath. “People who are good communicators
and collaborators and can easily adapt to rapidly changing environments. We look for those who
inspire leadership that sparks innovation, change and business transformation.”

 Amazon
What the company does: Amazon.com is an e-commerce company that’s guided by four principles:
customer obsession, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence and long-term
thinking.
Programs offered: An intensive, month-long training and leadership program prior to hire. Amazon
prepays 95% of tuition for employees at fulfilment centres to take courses in in-demand fields. A
“Virtual Contact Centre” trains employees to work from home.
Why the company offers this perk: “We want our employees to be owners from day one,” says Teal
Pennebaker, corporate communications manager, “so we train them to take ownership over
products and services that impact millions of customers. This helps them pioneer a career at
Amazon.”
What kind of employee the company is looking for: “We're a company of pioneers. We seek out
people who want to make bold bets, take ownership and get their energy from inventing on behalf
of customers,” says Pennebaker.

 Bonobos
What the company does: Founded in 2007, Bonobos has established itself as a leader in the retail
industry for its innovative approach to launching vertically integrated e-commerce brands.
Programs offered: “Managing for Success” teaches management skills; “Fit for Success” focuses on
performance management training; “How to Manage Up Well” trains associate-level employees to
navigate relationships with senior employees; and “Know Your Customer” trains all employees to
better understand the customer experience.
Why the company offers this perk: “The goal is to help our employees become better workers and
to equip them with the skills they need to manage themselves and their teams,” says Tiff Poppa,
senior manager of employee experience.
What kind of employee the company is looking for: “We hire based on our core virtues, which are
hugely responsible for helping us hone our company culture,” says Poppa. “We believe it's about
rallying people who enjoy each other's company and respect each other's skill. It's about working
alongside people you rely on to spar with you intellectually one moment, then grab tacos with you
the next.”
  AT&T
What the company does: AT&T helps millions around the globe connect with entertainment,
mobile, high-speed Internet and voice services.
Programs offered: AT&T University is an executive-led program focused on leadership and
management development housed at their Dallas headquarters, with satellite campuses across the
U.S. In partnership with Georgia Tech and Udacity, Inc., AT&T helped create the first-ever Online
Master of Science in Computer Science (OMS CS) degree and partnered with Udacity to create and
launch several self-paced, fast-track technical credentials called Nanodegrees across web and mobile
development, data analytics and tech entrepreneurship, with more programs to come.
Why the company offers this perk: “We can’t depend on just hiring and the traditional educational
system as sources for retooling or finding new talent. We need employees who are ready to work in
a competitive and more digital world,” says Marty Richter, corporate communications manager.
“We’re focused on aligning company leaders to strategic business innovation and results, skilling and
reskilling our 280,000 employees and inspiring a culture of continuous learning.”
What kind of employee the company is looking for: “We’re looking for people who are enthusiastic
about technology and innovation and have excellent communication and customer service skills,”
says Richter. “We’re seeking people who can thrive in a fast-paced, diverse work environment and
who have a commitment to the very highest standards of honesty, integrity and respect.”

 Randstad US
What the company does: Randstad US is one of the largest staffing organizations in the U.S.,
providing temporary-to-hire and permanent placement services each week to more than 100,000
people through its network of more than 900 branches and client-dedicated locations.
Programs offered: Training programs in the areas of certification, new manager skills, manager
effectiveness, leadership development, communication and presentation skills, plus mentoring and
coaching programs.
Why the company offers this perk: “We value our employees and encourage their professional
growth and career mobility within the organization,” says Michelle Prince, senior vice president of
talent management. “Providing professional development to employees is an important part of their
career success at Randstad.”
What kind of employee the company is looking for: “Job seekers with a strong drive to succeed,
strong judgment and strong work ethic,” says Prince.

 Paychex
What the company does: Paychex is a leading provider of integrated human capital management
solutions for payroll, HR, retirement and insurance services.
Programs offered: Customized new-hire training programs for sales and service employees. The
new-hire programs are a combination of virtual learning at an employee’s home base and instructor-
led learning at a state-of-the-art training facility in Rochester, New York.
Why the company offers this perk: “Our commitment to employee learning and development has
been a strong contributor to company success for over two decades,” says Lisa Fleming, public
relations manager. “This commitment has also benefited Paychex from a recruitment and retention
perspective. Our training programs consistently get rated as one of the reasons people make the
decision to work at Paychex.”
What kind of employee the company is looking for: “Our most-recruited positions are customer
service, call centre and outside sales positions,” says Fleming, “but we also often look for IT,
management and HR generalist positions.”

 CyberCoders
What the company does: CyberCoders, a division of On Assignment, is a tech-focused permanent
placement organization.
Programs offered: Through the Associate Recruiter Incubator Program, CyberCoders takes educated,
highly driven, competitive individuals and teaches them to apply technology to a diverse
marketplace.
Why the company offers this perk: “Competition for talent is intense, and we needed to find a way
to attract the top competitors early in their careers,” explains Shane Lamb, President of
CyberCoders. “We believe that equipping young professionals with the tools they need to build their
business development and recruiting skills will lead to a long and successful career.”
What kind of employee the company is looking for: “Individuals who want to be part of a positive
and hardworking team,” says Lamb.

 Schneider Electric
What the company does: Schneider Electric is a global specialist in energy management and
automation.
Programs offered: Schneider Electric University offers dedicated academies for executive
development, leadership, customer education, energy and solutions, sales excellence and functional
skills. The company also offers Energy University, a free online educational resource with more than
200 courses on energy efficiency and data center topics.
Why the company offers this perk: “We believe providing high-potential, early-career employees
opportunities to build their portfolio with multiple positions in multiple locations across the
company,” says Jenna Roland, employer branding specialist. “They will be stronger and more
committed leaders of our organization in the future.”
What kind of employee the company is looking for: “We are looking for people to embrace our
high-performance culture by being straightforward, open, passionate and effective and to challenge
the status quo,” says Roland.

 Marriott International Inc.

What the company does: Marriott International is a leading hotel and lodging company, with more
than 4,400 properties in 85 countries and territories.
Programs offered: Marriott International offers a variety of training to employees worldwide using
multiple training delivery methods, including virtual and in-person. The training focuses on
developing skills, and provides professional and career development training. Topic areas include
work-life balance, leadership and management.
Why the company offers this perk: “Marriott International offers our associates training because we
believe in the well-being and growth of each and every one,” says Arne Sorenson, President and
CEO, Marriott International.
What kind of employee the company is looking for: “When I’m looking to hire, I look for someone
with passion,” says Sorenson. “We can train you to work at the front desk, but we can’t train you to
be empathetic or to smile.”