Many of us have a desire to grow – personally and professionally.
That’s one reason why employees typically seek out new responsibilities around the two- to five-year mark of their current role. “But if they don't get those responsibilities, they'll seek other opportunities for work,” says Shaun Aguilera, Senior Customer Success Manager at Great Place To Work.
Career pathing is a strategic approach to providing the workplace growth and opportunities people crave. “Career pathing is essentially a roadmap for how you see yourself develop within an organization,” says Shaun. This includes evaluating an individual's strengths and identifying further skill development.
A career roadmap provides clarity and direction. It helps employees remain focused and motivated. Research backs this up: 76% of employees say they are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training.
While it’s up to individual employees to define their own career, Shaun suggests that career pathing is a collaborative process between talent and management. “Leaders are able to assess and determine your strengths and best qualities from an outside perspective,” he says.
Great workplaces understand career pathing is a vital component of their talent management strategy — one that helps organizations improve retention and employee engagement.
Here are actionable steps HR groups and people managers can take to develop and refine career development for employees while also aligning with organizational goals.
Why career pathing matters for businesses
“Organizations want to be in a situation where their employees feel like they can reach their full career growth potential,” says Aguilera. “Otherwise, they’re seeking out other opportunities at other organizations.”
Career pathing shows employees that they are valued and respected. Ultimately it is a win-win for your people and the business.
Impact on retention: Lack of career growth is the top reason employees leave a company – above salary, benefits and workplace flexibility. However, companies that implement career pathing experience a 34% higher retention rate than those that don’t, significantly reducing hiring costs.
Research by McKinsey & Company also found that not offering employee training and development could cost a median-size S&P 500 company roughly $163 million per year.
Boost productivity and engagement: Aguilera explains that as individuals, we have a desire to go and develop, in and outside the workplace. Growth opportunities within organizations increases job satisfaction, and motivation as employees feel valued and supported.
Competitive advantage: According to a Great Place To Work LinkedIn poll, 43% of people called out a lack of growth opportunities as the top reason they quit their last job. Companies that invest in their employee’s training and development helps them attract and keep top talent, while also strengthening company culture.
Increased innovation and adaptability: Teams stay competitive by learning new technologies and methodologies, which can lead to ground-breaking ideas and shifts in how companies do business. Organizations where every employee has the opportunity to be innovative operate with greater agility, beat sales targets and outperform their competition.
Establish a blueprint: From an organizational standpoint, career pathing helps companies develop a blueprint that benefits talent across the broader organization. “Once you've codified a roadmap for any individual, that can be used as a template for others or for more complex career paths,” Shaun explains.
Retain top talent with a niche skill set: Not every single individual contributor is destined, or even wants to be a people manager. “How can we grow this person so they can stay doing not only what they love to do, but what they're really good at?” asks Shaun. Career pathing creates a path forward for talented individuals to move into a senior role, ensuring businesses don’t lose seasoned employees or institutional knowledge.
Key components of career pathing
There are clear benefits for organizations that prioritize career pathing. While each person’s path is individual, there are some key elements HR teams and leadership should consider:
Assessing organizational needs & roles
In order to remain agile, organizations first need to understand their current and future skill requirements, and align individual’s career paths with business objectives. HR teams can analyze skill gaps by looking for discrepancies between skills required for the business and existing employee skills, keeping abreast of trends and future skills such as training staff in A.I., following industry publications and reports for organizations such as the World Economic Forum.
Individual employee assessment
Employees who feel heard are 4.6 times more likely to perform their best work. Leaders can create a culture of listening by taking time to evaluate their team member’s strengths, future aspirations, and areas for development. Utilize tools like templates to gather self-assessments, performance reviews, and employee engagement surveys to gather data-based insights.
Mapping career progression paths
A clearly defined path helps organizations succeed by improving talent retention and fostering employee engagement. Define career paths by looking at the typical career progression in each field, have clear expectations by identifying skills and qualifications needed for each career step, and set realistic timelines for achieving each milestone, so employees have clarity on what is required to progress in their career.
Steps to create a career pathing framework
Here are five steps organizations can take when building a career pathing framework:
- Conduct a skills gap analysis: Identify skill gaps by assessing the current skills of your organization using tools like employee surveys and skills assessments. Then compare those skills to the ones that will be critical for future success. Analyze the severity of each skill gap based on its business impact and prioritize which areas to address first.
- Develop competency frameworks: Outline the skills and qualifications needed for each role. Analyze skills across different levels of the business, from entry-level to leadership, as well as soft skills like communication, creativity, and teamwork.
- Engage employees in the planning process: Encourage active participation and feedback through employee listening, encourage employees to set personal career goals. Another key tool is surveying employees to ask what they need.
- Provide resources and training opportunities: Support talent along their career path through mentorship programs, training, e-learning, and meetings with leadership to discuss career progression.
- Monitor progress and adjust as necessary: Conduct skills gap analysis periodically to stay updated on evolving industry needs and employee skill development in order to keep career paths current.
Common challenges and how to overcome them
While the benefits in career pathing are clear, there are still challenges for organizations and leadership:
Limited resources for development
When budgets are limited, it’s not always possible for organizations to offer a range of training courses or workshops that employees need to grow in their career.
While in-person workshops can be costly, leveraging online learning courses is one way organizations can provide cost-effective development opportunities.
Organizations can also look at cross-training as a way of promoting continuous learning, employee growth, and developing talent for internal vacancies. Internal knowledge sharing such as peer-to-peer training provides opportunities for employees to share expert knowledge with other team members.
Lack of employee engagement
How do companies empower people to own their careers in the face of waning employee engagement? Shaun argues that it comes down to listening to your employees and finding out what they really need. Businesses need to create an environment where employees feel safe enough to take risks in exploring new roles and growing their career.
Employee recognition and celebrating milestones is also vital to engagement. When employees see their contributions are recognized, employees feel a sense of pride. Recognition can be big or small – whether it’s a public acknowledgement or an off-site celebration.
Scaling career pathing across the organization
Career pathing should be a shared responsibility between an employer, HR and people managers. However, when it comes to investing in an employee’s career growth, there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. Scaling career pathing across the organization presents challenges such as a complex organizational structure, equal access to opportunities for all staff, and equipping managers with the tools to facilitate employee growth.
One solution is to start with pilot programs that can be tested then rolled out across the broader organization. For example, harness existing employee resource groups (ERGs) to pilot a mentorship program with employees that share similar interests to drive career development. As initiatives prove to be successful, they can be scaled up across an organization, as in the case at NVIDIA, which offers a companywide personalized mentorship program.
Case Study: How InnovateTechenhanced employee growth through career pathing
InnovateTech is a mid-sized B2B company that faced high turnover among its skilled professionals. The company collaborated with Great Place to Work to develop a structured career pathing framework. Leaders then introduced personalized development plans for their employees.
The result? In the first 12 months of prioritizing career pathing across the organization, InnovateTech saw a 40% reduction in turnover. In addition, InnovateTech increased their employee satisfaction scores by 25%, helping improve productivity and overall business success.
"Career pathing transformed our company culture and empowered our employees,” says XXX, CEO of InnovateTech.
Case study: How Fannie Mae helps talent navigate the road ahead
Fannie Mae has been providing affordable mortgage solutions since 1938. In implementing career pathing, the company leveraged a structured talent architecture to provide employees with a roadmap of the skills needed for all roles across the organization. This roadmap enables employees to navigate their career by identifying actionable development goals that align with career aspirations and contribute to the company’s mission.
Through learning and development resources such as the Growth Plan for Success, badge campaigns, and internal hiring, employees are empowered to pursue the next steps in their career while still meeting business needs. That investment in their employees is reflected in an overwhelming 95% of employees agreeing Fannie Mae is a great place to work compared to 57% of employees in a typical U.S.-based company.
Measuring the success of career pathing
Once organizations have implemented career pathing, it’s important to measure its success to make adjustments, as needed. Here are some of the metrics organizations should track to pressure test its success:
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Lean on data to measure the success of any career pathing initiatives. KPIs to measure include employee retention rates and tracking the number of employees who are promoted internally. Employee engagement survey results are another important metric as it’s an indication that employees are fulfilled and see opportunities for growth.
Evaluation strategies
Garnering feedback from your employees, at least annually, is important to measure the effectiveness of career mapping initiatives. Use regular assessments, such as or annual employee listening survey and analyze the survey results to identify growth opportunities and make adjustments to career pathing programs.
Shaun suggests organizations include key statements such as “I believe I can reach my full growth potential here” and pair it with statements like “I want to work here for a long time” as a way to evaluate different departments.
Organizations should look at data to see how they are trending after implementing career pathing, then again, the following year. “Follow the trends over the course of a few years to see if your career pathing has stagnated,” says Shaun.
Creating a sustainable impact
At all stages of an employee’s journey, they want to know their career growth is important. Proving a roadmap and the tools to reach their career goals benefits not only your employees, but helps organizations achieve long-term success.
Ready to unlock your team's full potential? Discover how the Great Place To Work® Model can help you implement effective career pathing strategies.
