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Career Management Today

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Major Shifts Seen in Career Management

Today’s business markets are putting pressure on companies to compete more effectively in less-than-ideal conditions. Faced with external pressures that include volatile markets, stiff global competition, and rapidly changing industries—along with internal factors such as unstable workforces, the need to upskill workers, and evolving worker expectations—many organizations are rethinking their career management strategies. Our research discovered several significant shifts taking place in the way organizations handle career management:

Career paths are giving way to career progression. Career paths, owned by the business, are increasingly yielding to more flexible career “journeys” for many organizations. We also observed more worker movement in general, including vertical, lateral, and even downward career moves that support individuals’ long-term career goals and development.

Companies are accounting for diverse talent sources. Organizations are expanding their definitions of workforce beyond full-time, balance-sheet workers. Companies must now create career management strategies that account for a variety of nontraditional workers—contractors, contingent workers, interns, specialized consultants, and more—in addition to conventional talent sources.

Individual practices or innovations are less important than overall alignment. Companies with effective career management strategies tend to focus less on particularly innovative ideas or leading practices and more on alignment with organizational goals and needs. Companies that align the way they move people through the organization and support career management as an organizational priority tend to have more effective career management strategies.

The Four Approaches to Career Management

Our research revealed that organizations following very traditional models are often as effective as those trying radically new ideas—as long as their efforts align to organizations goals and needs. However, most organizations do choose one of four basic approaches to career management:

• Structured. A structured approach focuses on preparing workers for and moving them through well-defined career paths that align closely to the organizational structure. Companies utilizing a structured approach are often focused on ensuring a well-stocked talent pool.

• Flexible. A flexible approach concentrates on moving workers through well-defined levels of the organization while still providing a degree of flexibility when it comes to career paths and job descriptions to accommodate worker development and organizational needs.

Structuring Career Management in the Modern Workplace

Significant shifts in the relationships between employers and workers are motivating companies to rethink career management—and not a moment too soon. Research has found that workers tend to be more engaged when given opportunities for development, growth, and career progression.1 However, our research found no one best way to approach career management. What effective companies do have in common is a holistic strategy that focuses heavily on alignment with organizational goals and needs.

1 Designing an Employee Engagement Strategy, Bersin by Deloitte / Robin Erickson, PhD, and Heather Bussing, 2016.

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About Bersin by Deloitte

Bersin by Deloitte delivers research-based people strategies designed to help leaders and their organizations deliver exceptional business performance. The Bersin by Deloitte membership gives FORTUNE 1000 and Global 2000 HR professionals the information, action-focused tools and performance support materials they need to prioritize, design and implement leading practice solutions, benchmark against others, develop their staff, and select and implement systems. A piece of Bersin by Deloitte research is downloaded on average approximately every minute during the business day. More than 5,000 organizations worldwide use our research and consulting to guide their HR, talent, and learning strategies.

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• Open. An open approach centers on enabling finite or project-based work by organizing workers in teams based on their capabilities. This approach provides workers with active and aggressive internal mobility and opportunities to create individualized career paths and develop in ways that are personally fulfilling.

• Transitory. A transitory approach facilitates work by finding, utilizing, managing, and nurturing the best talent from a variety of sources. This approach often focuses on smaller pieces of work, as well as bringing workers into the organization, defining their work, and then moving them out again once that work is completed.

Bersin by Deloitte’s Career Management Research

Our new career management research includes four key reports focused on helping organizations craft the right career management strategy for their needs and goals.

The State of Career Management outlines the major shifts our research identified among organizations attempting to rethink career management and explores what the data has to say about the challenges companies face in this area. The Career Management Framework provides an overview of Bersin by Deloitte’s new Career Management Framework, including leading practices for the four approaches and the seven key elements of career management that companies should align to create an effective strategy. Applying the Career Management Framework provides guidance for organizations applying our new framework, as well as examples from organizations facing these challenges. The Career Management Technology Landscape—and its companion infographic, Career Management Technology Landscape (available in early November)—provides an overview of the technology providers with which organizations can partner to augment their career management strategies.

These resources work together to help organizations advance their career management programs in today’s challenging business environments.

Source: Bersin by Deloitte, 2016.

Figure 1: The Four Approaches to Career Management

Structured Flexible Open Transitory