wh Career development in employing organisations Practices and challenges from a UK perspective Wendy Hirsh Principal Associate, Institute for Employment Studies & NICEC Fellow

wh  What do we mean by career development for people who are in employment?  Why should employers bother about careers, and some of their concerns?  How does career development takes place in the workplace and what processes support it?  Who is best placed to provide career support in the workplace?  Some challenges and tensions for employers and government Agenda

wh What does career development include for the employee? Self- knowledge Values, interests, skills, potential, aspirations, work-life choices Career options “for someone like me” Job groups, paths, future business needs Work experiences or career moves Skill development Career planning Advice + Discussions Plans + Negotiation THINKING ABOUT CAREERS TAKING CAREER ACTION ALL ASPECTS NEED SUPPORT – Not just planning Not just learning

wh Why employers should develop careers and what worries them The future Dangerous expectations of promotion Might make people leave Attention – Motivation – Engagement - Performance Career skills Encourages learning ‘Talent’ – focus on key groups Outplacement Careers needed to grow skills Deployment & flexibility Attraction Retention

wh How does career development take place? What processes support it? ‘Guidance’ & career interventions – not common Resourcing strategies & attitudes Job ads & job filling Performance management, assessment, PDPs Work design Career & development schemes – ‘special’ groups Access to learning Informal advice & support

wh Some specific career interventions Development centres Enriched feedback eg 360 degree Development schemes Coaches, mentors Succession planning & talent identification Managed job moves Corporate careers – usually selective groups Supporting self-managed careers – potentially whole workforce Support for study Career information Open job market Career skills eg workshops, tools Career discussions & feedback Career advice

wh Where are the big gaps in career process?  Lack of honest discussion with most individuals about their perceived potential and career options  Most employees are not very visible and most managers are unaware of good people outside their own team  Most employees lack career advice – formal appraisal rarely meets this need  Job filling and training often lacks a career perspective, especially if based purely on current competencies. Hard for individuals to move to new areas of work.  For groups identified as of corporate interest, clear career plans often not developed and not clear how to make developmental job moves.

wh Example of practice 1 – Rolls-Royce  One-to-one monthly meetings with line manager about performance and development  Four corporate talent pools: early career, mid-career, executives, specialists  Specialists have dual career ladders & recognition schemes  ‘Development cells’ – committees of managers to plan careers & development covering most of workforce  Information on careers & jobs linked to skills & learning  Job moves largely open, even for high potentials

wh Example of practice 2 – Nationwide Building Society  Career conversation with simple format whenever employee wishes – with manager or others  Job families make opportunities visible  Comprehensive information and career tools on intranet  Central team sets policy, develop tools and offers advice by , phone or face-to-face  More planned support for senior levels

wh Where am I now? Where do I want to be? What options do I have? What action do I need to take? Nationwide – Simple framework for career conversations

wh informal sources Who can give career support? career service management and supervision career specialist internal or external subset of employees trained as career coaches mentors etc. HR service centre HR or L&D advisers management community line manager services external to organisation materials incl. intranet career workshops employee

wh Employee Career Team Nationwide: Key roles in Career Development  Facilitating career discussions  Local succession planning  Spotting talent  Career advice  Career processes  Career tools  Corporate succession planning  Ability  Commitment  Ambition  Providing advice in partnership with Career Team  Referring on HR Business Partners Managers

wh Do we need career professionals at work? Possible advantages  More impartial  May know more about external options & education  Experts in: career decision-making making career transitions  May have deeper counselling skills  Able to skill others Possible disadvantages  Not already there  Seen as a luxury  No monopoly on helping skills  Others know more about: individual employees internal job options HR processes  Others closer to making things happen

wh Employers need to focus on 1. The positive business outcomes of career development (eg growing skills, deploying skills flexibly, motivating employees) and clearer career policies for all employees 2. Using their core employment processes (eg job design, job filling and training) to develop employees over time 3. Encouraging employees to have career discussions (informal as well as formal) with a range of people who can help them 4. A range of career support including at least one option additional to the individual’s line manager, and someone to co-ordinate it 5. Skilling managers to support careers and skilling employees to manage their careers

wh National challenges as seen in the UK 1. Providing career support for employed adults who are neither key groups (prioritised by employers) nor low skill (recent priority of government). Who should pay for this? 2. To position public guidance services to focus on work as well as learning, and to widen the learning agenda beyond qualifications and assessment 3. Deliver on the development of career skills at all ages 4. Should public services advise employers on workforce development? What is their intention in doing this? 5. Should public services offer career advice in the workplace for employees? How do they then deal with the concerns of the employer? 6. Who is best placed outside the firm to give career guidance to employed adults, including those in high skill and specialist labour markets?