Very few U.S. employees report being highly engaged and satisfied at their jobs. This fact has left business leaders in every industry scrambling to figure out how to improve the situation and foster higher employee morale and loyalty. Finding and recruiting top talent is challenging enough as it is, so the idea of losing said talent to disengagement is frustrating.
There is a way to combat this problem though. There’s an area many organizations are failing to value and capitalize on when it comes to their employee’s happiness: career development. Many companies don’t list the career development of their employees as a high priority, but most employees value it the most. Correcting this disconnect can drastically improve company morale and employee loyalty.
Here are 4 Steps to Improve Engagement and Talent Retention Through Career Development

1. Assessments

To start, it’s good to assess the employee’s current role and skillset. This should include a 360 degree assessment and perhaps even some personality or IQ/EQ tests. The goal is to begin with a solid grasp of the employee’s current skills, strengths and weaknesses.

2. Development Plan

Once the assessment is complete, creating a plan for their future and a plan to acquire any missing pertinent skills or experience is a must. What skills or experience would be most beneficial to help the employee take the next desired step in their career? How can they be obtained?

3. Tools

Now that your employee knows where they want to go, and what is needed to close the gap, it’s important to provide them with the tools to do so. These tools could come in the form of formal training, coaching, mentoring, seminars, shadowing or even degree reimbursement programs.

4. Map

The next step in this career development program is to create a reasonable timeline and to establish milestones and goals with the employee. Goal performance should then be tracked along this map so that their progress is noted. Then, as positions within the organization that they’d now be qualified for come about, they can be identified by leadership as a qualified candidate. Tracking progress along their career development map is a final, crucial step.
These steps are simple and worth the investment. Because when companies value the growth of their employees everybody wins. Lack of support for personal and professional development is one of the main reasons employees jump ship. Providing them with the appropriate support and opportunity for growth will go a long way to help your organization stand out in any industry. Help your employees reach their career development goals and watch your engagement and retention improve dramatically.
Ready to implement career development at your organization? Contact us today to improve your employee engagement and retention!