Career Development is Essential to Retain Top Talent and Increase Productivity
WorldTalk
More than 80 percent of North American employees plan to pursue new career opportunities in 2015, according to a poll by Right Management, the global career experts within ManpowerGroup. When compared to the U.S. turnover rate of 3.5 percent in October (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics), the high percentage of individuals planning to seek new career opportunities indicates a workforce that is dissatisfied with their careers and points to the need for organizations to provide more options for career development.
The data should serve as a call to action for managers and leaders who want to retain their top talent,” said Bram Lowsky, Right Management executive vice president and global leader of career management. “The improving economy brings about a renewed job confidence, which results in increased interest in career mobility. This requires employers to rethink how they motivate and challenge their employees to keep them engaged. Creating a culture of career development is critical for engaging and retaining top talent and preventing them from leaving for the competition. Individuals want to stay when they feel they have opportunities to grow, learn and advance their careers.
According to the poll, only 5 percent of employees intend to stay in their current position, while 8 percent indicate they would opportunistically make a change in 2015 and are already networking. The latest findings are consistent with results from the last five years.
“Although actual turnover rates are much lower, the desire to look for new challenges should serve as a red flag for organizations that want to retain employees,” said Lowsky. “It’s clear, organizations must improve career development options internally so they don’t lose talent.”
Companies are Failing to Adjust to 21st Century Workforce
A significant gap exists between the talent and leadership issues organizations face and their readiness to respond, according to the results outlined in the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s (DTTL) Global Human Capital Trends 2014 survey of over 2,500 business and Human Resource (HR) leaders.
Across the world, respondents recognized the need to take action on critical issues including leadership (86 percent), retention and engagement (79 percent), and reskilling the HR function (77 percent).
However, many expressed reservations about their teams’ ability to address the issues.
“The challenge facing the majority of global organizations is that they are not prepared to deal with the major trends that are reshaping today’s workforce,” said Jeff Schwartz, global human capital leader for marketing, eminence, and brand, DTTL.
Given the radical shifts we are seeing in demographics and technology, applying existing methods to new and emerging human capital trends will not be enough to get the job done. The 21st century organization is global, highly connected, and demanding. Organizations, and specifically HR leaders, need to better adapt if they want to attract and develop the right talent in today’s competitive marketplace.
12 | TRAINING MAGAZINE MIDDLE EAST JAN 2015