Career Advancement: How to Support Employee Growth
Your employees expect to be recognized for their hard work with promotions, pay increases, and title changes. However, not all companies are equipped with equitable processes for career advancement. This is a problem.
When employees aren't advancing in their careers they'll likely feel stagnant, unhappy, and disconnected from their work. For employers, this means a poor company culture, lowered productivity, and higher turnover.
Research has shown that advancing in a career is becoming even more of a priority year over year. In fact, Workhuman® research found employees citing "no path for career growth" as a reason to search for a new job increased 13% since the year prior.
When workers are able to see their hard work pay off, both employee and employer reap the benefits of deepened engagement and increased job satisfaction. Let's brush up on the benefits of career advancement and learn how employers can help their workers fairly move forward on their career paths.
Why is career advancement important?
There are many benefits to career advancement for both employees and your company, and we'll get to them below. But first, we need to understand the negative waterfall effect that your company will experience if you don't have a proper career advancement structure in place.
Imagine you joined a new company and are looking to advance your career. You work hard, take on stretch assignments, and have shown that you're ready for the next step. Years pass, and although others around you might be moving up, you've yet to receive a title change, increase in compensation, or a promotion.
It's likely you'd become resentful, burnt out, and disengaged from your team and role. You'd leave for a new job that will appreciate your talent. The company would be left with a role to fill and a team with decreased morale. Now imagine that multiplied across your entire company.
It's easy to see how companies that don't have a proper system in place for advancing employees can end up losing out on money, time, and talent.
What is the difference between career development and career advancement?
Career development leads to career advancement – you can't have one without the other. The skills and experience employees gain when they develop their careers set them up to advance. In addition to creating equitable opportunities for advancement, your company should be offering equitable employee development opportunities, too.
Consider an individual contributor who wants to move into a management role. To get their feet wet, they join a company-wide development program that pairs them with an intern to manage, helping them close their skill gaps so they can move into a people leadership role. Structured development programs that offer stretch assignments like these help prepare employees for the next step in their careers.
Benefits of career advancement
Now that we understand why it's important to advocate for fair career growth in your company, let's take a closer at the benefits equal career growth opportunities will bring.
Increased engagement
An employee can fall into a positive cycle when they are being valued and advancing in their career. First, employees who feel appreciated are likely to feel happier and more satisfied in their roles.
This means that they'll remain engaged in the work they do. And then, when an employee is promoted or rewarded, their engagement will deepen as they tackle new challenges and learn new skills. And the cycle begins all over again.
We also know that happier, engaged employees affect more than just themselves. A satisfied employee will increase team morale and make a positive impact on workplace culture.
A more equitable workforce
Although your company cannot solve inequality overnight, you'll be moving the needle in a positive direction when you make advancement opportunities fair for all employees in your company.
Creating, supporting, and investing in an advancement structure will help minimize the chances of employees being passed over for a promotion or a raise due to bias or favoritism.
A boost in creativity, innovation, and productivity
New opportunities spark creative thinking. If your teams are made up of employees who are frequently challenged by new roles and appreciated for the work they do, you'll likely see an increase in creativity and innovation.
When workers know that advancement opportunities are within reach, they'll work hard to get there. You'll notice a boost in productivity among workers who are in the positive cycle of being appreciated and engaged.
Decreased turnover
Because fewer employees will feel unappreciated and stagnant, your company is likely to experience less turnover when you're fairly advancing your workers.
And because you're providing employees with the option to move around within your organization, you'll be able to tap into your company's internal talent network when you have a role to fill.
Hiring internally can be both time and cost-effective. ResearchOpens in a new tab has shown that employees who are given the opportunity to move positions internally are 3.5 times more likely to be engaged.
How to support equitable career advancement within your company
Employers have the potential to take responsibility and create a positive, and fair, impact on each of their employee's career advancement. This looks like providing employees with structured opportunities to envision and plan for their future and ways to connect with each other for support.
Let's take a closer look at how your company can position workers to achieve their career goals.
Create a career pathing program
Take the time to create a transparent career pathing program. A structured pathway will give employees the opportunity to track their progress and visualize how they can grow.
Most careers aren't linear so building out a program that allows for vertical and lateral moves will give employees flexibility and freedom to explore. And most importantly, setting guidelines for growth will help to eliminate favoritism and other inequalities that prevent advancement within your company.
Invest in your employee resource groups
The people in an employee's circle are going to help them get to where they want to go. And if an employee is part of a disadvantaged group, who they have on their team matters even more.
Create safe spaces for employees to meet others who have faced similar struggles and can provide extra support and guidance.
Research from Workhuman's, "The Evolution of Employee Resource Groups" report found that employees who participate in ERGs are more engaged in their company culture and more likely to recommend their company to a friend.
Celebrate the small wins
Let your employees know that all of their progress is being noticed and appreciated. Peer-to-peer employee recognition programs, like Workhuman's Social Recognition® platform, give employees the opportunity to feel seen and celebrated for all of the milestones on their career path.
Recognition isn't just a nice-to-have. It can make the difference between an engaged and disengaged workforce. In fact, research from Workhuman's "Exploring the Cost Savings of Recognition" report showed that employees who feel undervalued are 74% more likely to say they don't plan to be at their company in a year.
Establish a mentorship program
Mentors and sponsors provide employees with an invaluable and honest perspective. But finding a sponsor may be tricky.
The most important component in a supportive relationship is that there is chemistry – mentor and mentee should have a natural rapport and mesh well.
Do your part by setting up a formal mentorship or sponsorship program so employees can connect with someone who genuinely shows interest in their path.
Encourage training, development, and job shadowing
Create structured programs that allow employees to shadow employees in different roles or teams than their own. Employees may realize there is a high potential fit for a different career path when they have the chance to explore new options within your company.
Similarly, provide all employees with the additional training and development that will help them close skill gaps and get them to the next level.
Ensure you are tracking participation and collecting feedback on how accessible the programs are so that you can make adjustments as necessary.
Support work-life balance
Make it clear to employees that advancement opportunities will come to those who work hard. Expecting employees to consistently work outside of their regular working hours with the promise of advancement as a reward is a recipe for burnout, disappointment, and inequality.
Instead, give employees the time, space, and energy to live their lives and recharge so they can bring their best selves to their roles.
Talk about your employee's big-picture plans (and do it often)
Don't wait until the end of the year to focus on your employee's future planning. Employees need feedback more often than once a year. Make continuous feedback a part of your culture so employees know where they stand and what they need to move forward.
Consider using a tool like Workhuman's Conversations® to help track check-ins and feedback that flows both up and down the org chart, benefitting everyone in the long run.
Learn more: 22 characteristics of high-potential employees to look for in 2024
FAQs
What is career advancement?
Career advancement is any progress that furthers a person on their career trajectory. The specifics of advancing will look different depending on the industry, but most advancement opportunities fall under these categories:
• Upgrade in job title
• A promotion
• Salary or compensation increase
• A move into a new department or team
• Expansion of job responsibilities
How important is career advancement?
Career advancement is very important to overall job and life satisfaction. Employees who are rewarded fairly for their growth feel appreciated, happy, and fulfilled.
Without career advancement, employees will plateau, and experience decreased morale and burnout. This can lead to an unhealthy culture and increased turnover.
Conclusion
When employees work hard and aren't progressing to the next level, they're likely to disengage from their role and the workplace culture and then leave the organization.
On the other hand, employees who are given a fair opportunity to advance are happier, more creative and engaged, and less likely to move on.
Employers have the chance to create a culture that promotes equitable career advancement. To do this, employers should invest in a career pathing program while also providing employees with ways to upskill, reskill, develop, and explore.
Companies should create ERGs and networking opportunities for employees to connect with similar individuals who can support them in their career growth.
Employers will benefit from their employee's career advancement and have a happier, more engaged workforce that is likely to continue their long careers within your company.
About the author
Alicyn Zall
Alicyn Zall is a writer dedicated to creating a more equitable and fulfilling workplace. With a focus on actionable, data-driven insights, her work empowers individuals and organizations to foster positive change. In addition to her contribution at Workhuman, Alicyn has served as an editor at Harvard Business Review where she developed books and articles about mental health and the future of work.