Career paths should provide guidance, support, challenges for all kinds of employees
About two years ago, Molson Canada started formalizing its career path program. The Montreal-based brewery focused on improvements to broaden the experience base, both laterally and vertically, for the 500 employees who work in sales and marketing.
Available online, the career path tool created a guide that clearly showed a career map with rules of engagement, job descriptions and competencies, both for a cross-functional experience and upward mobility.
“We have a pretty large sales organization and there are some sales representatives who don’t aspire to move out of sales — they love the autonomy, they value the customer interaction,” says Jennifer Rigas, manager of talent acquisition and HR at Molson Canada in Toronto. “We still encourage them to build, grow and develop within their area of specialty, whether that’s (through) a new sales technique, a systems application or addressing the needs of the economy or customers.”
Rather than putting their finger in the air and saying, “I think I’d like to change but I’m not sure where to go,” career pathing helps funnel people through key areas of the business, builds key skill sets and leads to intelligent discussions with leadership, she says. It also helps managers understand what’s going on with employees.
Engagement most important
The key is to keep everyone engaged, by asking if they are challenged by their job and if they want to expand their scope or project experience, because everybody is motivated by different things, says Rigas. Molson has development plans for all levels in the organization and every employee, even those who are happy in place but want to contribute, “because we need those folks, we need them to keep up with the organization as well,” she says.
The point is to not penalize employees who don’t want to move and don’t want to try something new, says Marcellina Galvan-Papa, director of HR for commercial and general and administration functions at Molson. Instead, the company wants to continue to engage those people to be passionate about what they do, to be successful and feel like they’re contributing to the organization, as opposed to checking out, she says.
Sometimes an employer can mistake career paths as a program meant only for those people with the ambition to be promoted three times in their career, says Andrea Garson, vice-president of HR at Workopolis in Toronto.
“For me, it also equates to lateral moving, so you’re broadening the breadth of your experience, whether it’s the depth or not.”
A lot of people are happy at the level they’re at and are not aspiring to be the next manager or director or CEO, but they still require development in their career.
“It may be less cumbersome and less elaborate of a plan for somebody who isn’t aspiring to grow four levels, but attention still needs to be given to those who want to do well at what they do now,” she says.
If a person is less interested in moving up the ladder, it can mean she has other interests, such as work-life balance, says Ralph Shedletsky, Toronto-based COO at Knightsbridge, a human capital solutions provider.
Nortel, for example, recognized it would never be able to satisfy the hierarchical progression needs of its many well-educated employees, so it developed lateral streams that rewarded employees for growth and kept them engaged and challenged.
“Even if there’s not a formal lateral stream, employees are looking for a sense of accomplishment,” he says. “The vertical structure is still the predominant structure but companies are increasingly paying attention to other ways to engage people.”
Start with self-assessment
An important place to start is self-assessment exercises, to identify the skills employees possess — and will need — if they’re looking to make a move, says Shedletsky. The employer can then communicate with employees about roles in the company and required skills, so workers are equipped to create a plan.
Many companies offer training and development along with self-assessments and internal job postings, but they don’t put these bits and pieces together in a way that works for employees, he says.
Employers can also look at changes to compensation, as individuals commonly want to move vertically because the pay grades jump more, he says. So if employees are rewarded equally for broadening experiences, and not just promotions, that gives employees a pretty strong incentive to consider moves in other directions, says Shedletsky.
But a lack of awareness is often a problem, as employees don’t know what opportunities are available with their employer, so they stay put, under the radar, says Garson.
“The onus is on the employer to make available to employees options for their career and then let them decide, ‘Am I willing to take on the challenge of developing, moving, jumping?’” she says.
During a recession, when downsizing sees many employees left with additional work, demoralized and fearful, a career management program can counteract that negativity by sending a very positive message, says Shedletsky. It can also build up an employer brand, making it stronger and more competitive when the economy rebounds.
If an organization is downsizing or streamlining roles, the career path a person intended to take may not exist anymore but that does not mean development of skill sets has to stop. A career path is not a commitment or guarantee, it’s a solution, says Garson.
