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2008 Events Snapshot

When is National Career Development Week? The week of celebrations for the 2009 National Career Development Week Campaign (NCDW) will be 18-24 May 2009, but careers events held at any time during the year can be registered as NCDW events.
Career Development - what is it and why is it important to my business?

Fact - 42% of CEOs (Hewitt Best Employers in Australia and New Zealand, 2006) say acquisition and retention of talent is the single most important factor facing their business.

Fact - 80% of employers (recent Onetest Survey) indicated that staff retention was critical to their 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 an 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 organizations, and
how organisations structure the career progress of their employees and is also tied to succession planning within some organizations.

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.

With the lion's share of an employer's HR budget tied up in recruitment, it's no wonder companies are struggling to implement a solid retention process.

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 these valued employees isn't just about paying more 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%.

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 recent 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."

The Return on Investment of Career Development

According to an article by Edwin Trevor-Roberts of Trevor Roberts Associates (read full story), an effective Career Development strategy is no longer a 'nice-to-have' initiative. A recent article in Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources found:

Career development programs have a positive correlation to the quality of working life, job satisfaction, professional development and productivity
The higher the level of satisfaction that employees have in their jobs, the higher their professional development and productivity
Career development programs that provide career coaching (eg help employees realise their potential, improve job performance, achieve work/life balance etc) have a greater impact on the quality of working life, job satisfaction, professional development and productivity than task-related career development activities.

This is why we say "Career development doesn't cost, it pays!"

Other positive, flow-on effects of a good career development program may include:

more successful retention of valued staff, which means retention of priceless corporate and product knowledge, and better customer relationships
greater awareness of your employee's personal and career aspirations and therefore better utilisation of talent
confident employees with skills to manage their own careers
resilient employees who can better handle organisational change
improved job satisfaction
a higher skilled workforce
a more productive and engaged workforce with improved morale
better communication between managers and employees on all business issues.

What does the career development process involve?

Many organisations will have established systems to develop their people: mentoring, personal development plans, feedback and performance appraisal, corporate responsibility programs and so on. All of these contribute to the career development of individuals as well as the effectiveness of organisations.

Career Development is, in essence, about individuals actively managing their careers - their life, their learning and their work. The skills they need to do this are expressed in the Australian Blueprint for Career Development.

Your role, as an employer might be to:

identify the needs of the staff, by talking to all levels of the organisation
encourage staff to discuss, identify and strive for career and life goals
provide or be supportive of training and development opportunities for staff
actively support activities or policies that lead to better staff engagement and satisfaction
be willing to support flexible arrangements for employees
incorporate career development into organisational policies and goals.

You might expect your staff to:

identify personal, career and life goals during performance management sessions
be prepared to discuss their needs with their employer and be flexible to change
actively engage in career development program/s within the organisation
participate in opportunities outside work that increase their employability and satisfy their personal career goals
take responsibility for their career by planning ways to meet their goals, and actively pursuing them within your organisation.

You might need a career development practitioner to advise you. You can find appropriately trained and registered advisers through Find a Career Practitioner at Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA) formerly Australian Association of Career Counsellors (AACC).

Where can I get help?

For links to websites that can help you with career development for organisations, see resources

What is National Career Development Week?

Where does National Career Development Week fit in?

National Career Development Week (2 - 8 June 2008) is a week of celebrations dedicated to:

Increasing awareness and understanding of the nature and importance of career development
Promoting and encouraging Australians to take personal responsibility and ‘ownership' for the management their own careers
Engaging Australians in active recognition of the benefits of career development
Seeking wider community endorsement for ongoing participation in career development

In short, we want to help encourage Australians to take active ownership of their careers and get the life they love (hopefully within your organization!).

You might like to celebrate what you are doing, or use National Career Development Week as the beginning of a new career development activity.