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Career Development - what is it and why is it important to my business?

Career development is the process of managing a person's life, learning and work.

With all the media attention on the global financial crisis it's not surprising that many of Australia's business workplaces today suffer from low employee morale and productivity. Irrespective of whether this is caused by fear of change, real threats to their job security or concerns for their children's future, it's hard to stay focused and motivated when the walls seem to be crashing down around them.

With all the negatives surrounding the workplace today, how can we expect our employees to give more, do more and expect less? The challenge for many businesses is that if they want to stay in business and help to rebuild a stable economy, they need to invest time, energy and money in developing a strong commitment from their employees. Employee development is not a cost - if people are the organisation's biggest asset, doesn't it make sense to nurture and grow this asset?

Increasing productivity is crucial to economic performance as companies adapt to the changing economic conditions. Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard at her Making the most of our people speech on 29 October 2008 to the Australia Unlimited 2008 Roundtable stated "But crucial to productivity growth are the skills and capabilities of our people ... Investing in human capital today will ensure that people are more resilient to future challenges; that where they are affected by adverse conditions that they are better able to bounce back quickly and seek opportunities in new areas."

Getting employees to understand how they are part of the success or failure of your business and how their contribution makes a difference, and how the quality of their own work helps the company (and therefore themselves) succeed, is a far better strategy than laying off people to cut costs.

Anything that needs doing is worth doing right. Avoid decisions made while in panic mode and always consider the long-term consequences of the decision. It is one thing to try to survive in a poor economy, but quite another to make decisions that will pay off in the long run when the economic situation improves.

In a financial crisis many employers will reduce their workforce however Australian firms should be careful not to throw away their recent investments in their workforce. They will need a skilled workforce to remain strong and productive, both to sustain themselves over the downturn and take advantage of growth and new opportunities in the future. Employers should take this opportunity in the current environment, to encourage their staff to up-skill for the future needs of their business.

In these economic times, career development (known by a variety of names including talent management, organisational development, etc) is even more vital than ever before for your business, its survival and its bottom line.

Fact - People are the single most valuable element within your organisation and reducing employee turnover is a strategic and vital issue, beneficial to your bottom line (Drake Recruitment).

Fact - Undesirable turnover, such as the resignation or termination of a key employee, can directly and indirectly cost your organisation between 50% and 200% of the employees annual salary (Insync Surveys Retention Review).

According to Wikipedia the definition of career development in organisational development is:

how individuals manage their careers within and between organisations, and
how organisations structure the career progress of their employees and is also tied to succession planning within some organisations.

Career development is of increasing importance to most government and business organisations in terms of its potential to deliver economic, social and individual benefits. While these are difficult to quantify it makes sense that employees who are skilled, who continue to learn and who possess certain personal qualities are attractive to employers.

Yet the irony is, if companies kept their best people longer, less money would be needed for sourcing top candidates. It's a chicken and egg scenario.

But retaining the valued employees isn't always about money. In the Insync Surveys Retention Review (Sept 2007 exit survey responses for 1181 employees of 12 Australian-based organisations) the top six (of a possible 13) reasons for employees leaving are:

Lack of job satisfaction - 14%
Little opportunity for career advancement - 13%
Pay and conditions - 11%
Inability to balance work and life - 10%
Lack of challenge in one's role - 8%
No development opportunities - 8%.

The remaining reasons included: Personal reasons (including illness, retirement, partner relocation, and starting own business) total 11%; Direct manager - 6%; Location - 6%; Work stress - 4%; Job insecurity - 3%; Equipment, resources, infrastructure - 3% and relationship with work team - 3%.

When employees ask for career opportunities, they may be looking for more challenge, more meaning, more balance, more development, more recognition - all of which may be achieved without more cost.

A lack of direction and education provided by employers is leaving many workers idle in their jobs, Dr Peter Carey, President of the Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA) (formerly Australian Association of Career Counsellors AACC) said at the 2008 CDAA conference in Hobart. Low productivity, high staff turnover and lack of economic growth were the direct result. Dr Carey believes one of the biggest issues facing industry is the absence of career development plans.

"Research shows higher productivity, low levels of staff turnover and economic growth are just some of the benefits associated with instilling a career development culture in the workplace."