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In terms of the perception of career, the landscape is changing from conventional Constable to Dali’s most surreal imaginings. Parameters are changing, definitions are fuelling wild debate and patterns and directions are smashing time-worn frameworks. The influx of new generational cohorts see traditional management and career models as a bland and outdated palette, rendering organisations a blank canvas, longing for brushstrokes that will catch eyes, capture imaginations and cause ripples.
Article by Prof Christine Naschberger – Audencia Business School
The meaning of careers and the definition of successful ones are constantly being reconsidered. Individual careers are replacing organisational ones. As job security cannot longer be guaranteed by a majority of organisations, employees have taken more responsibility for their career development and the maintenance of their employability. Careers are often intertwined with work-life balance as demonstrated in Mainiero and Sullivan’s Kaleidoscope Career Model[1]. Having a successful career may even imply a greater ability to balance our working and private life. Of course, a good salary matters, but developing expertise and self-development are even more important. According to career analyst and author Dan Pink, human motivation is to a great extent intrinsic and mainly based on three factors: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Employees want jobs with autonomy, they desire progress, and they want to maximise purpose. Great organisations are those able to address these intrinsic factors to foster employee engagement.
Treating every employee as an individual is getting more important, and narcissistic personality traits and hedonist life views are reinforcing this trend. Employees want to avoid “toxic workplaces” and prioritise unique work cultures and some of the forward-looking organisations have understood this trend and have worked on “employee experience” which has resulted in the driving culture that readers will be all-too familiar with now, that of treating employees like customers, which is rapidly and unequivocally a tool for competing for talent in today’s labour market. Indeed, according to a Forbes article from 2 January “2018 will be the year of Employee Experience”. This seems quite promising for employees and should result in improved working conditions and therefore increased employee morale. Readers will be familiar with Employee Experience – as a now established HR meme. Interestingly, Airbnb does not have a classic HR department, because the company which was founded in 2008 in San Francisco, took the decision to name the department that takes care of creating employee experiences simply “Employee Experience Department” which according to the firm’s website aims to drive the company’s health and happiness.
“Developing employees to see themselves as a brand and to market themselves – accounts for 30 percent, individual performance and competencies accounts for another 30 percent, and being at the right place at the right time – accounts for less than ten percent”
Few would dispute that trust and transparency are two crucial components of organisational cultures to foster “careerspiration”. The best candidates can choose employers for their attractive and favourable working conditions with a “human touch”, greater autonomy, and opportunities for learning and career development. This is true for Millennials and Gen Z, though not exclusively, and so it is important not to fall into the trap of generational stereotyping, as scientific studies show that expectations of different generations do not really vary across generations. Employees, regardless of their generation, simply want to enjoy going to work every day. Organisational atmosphere and a sense of belonging are key elements to address these expectations, but fancy furniture, attractive office design, massages, table tennis or free organic food are all-too often visible and cosmetic motivators, and in many organisations, they hide a stressful working environment, with a 24/7-work culture. In some high performing organisations, decision-makers tend not to dwell on the roots of the problems of heavy workloads that may cause stress, so a fun-working environment is implemented that allows employees to deal with stress in the short-term. Ultimately, and inevitably, employees will succumb to exhaustion and burn out. Netflix for example guarantees generous severance packages if employees are dismissed; the company avoids conflicts and buys social peace.
Organisations may change and become more values-driven, provide challenges and opportunities to their workforce, and put forward performance issues, but they should also provide fair treatment and a safe workplace. The Weinstein scandal shows how important enhanced workplace safety is, and not only for women. Therefore, more and more organisations highlight the importance of creating and maintaining a work environment of psychological safety, for which employees are accountable too. To respond to the expectations of a multi-generational workforce, organisations may implement on-demand feedback tools, delivering instant feedback tools to help organisations to drive high performing cultures, because in order to improve, employees need ongoing and accurate feedback. Let us not forget that providing appropriate and honest feedback to their team members has always been the main responsibilities of line managers, and however tech sophisticated the platform, that it still applicable. Some companies are now implementing a “48 hours feedback” culture, as more and more companies realise how crucial it is to know how employees feel at work at any given time. The French start-up, iAdvize, uses tools to measure the mood of employees and one such tool is Office Mood, which allows decision-makers to get instant feedback. For example, if within a specific department the vast majority of employees are not in a good mood, a “red” warning signal is generated. Some investigation and then immediate action might then be taken in order to fix work-related problems. Likewise, career development tools can be adapted to these instant feedback tools. Nowadays an increasing number of specialised HR tools bring together data, technology and the human side, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) may boost employees’ careers and talent management practices, with algorithm enabling organisations to coach employees on their career development, by offering vacant positions, training and development opportunities, challenging projects, internal mentoring, and so forth. For HR, this can be beneficial for employees who would otherwise have been overlooked under traditional career management. The use of such platforms helps decision makers to overcome stereotypes and favouritism, as the algorithm recommends employee profiles and matches individual and organisational expectations. Likewise, Employee Opinion Surveys (EPS) are growing in sophistication and capability and if you have been using one tried and trusted system for perhaps too long, it’s worth investigating as managing career development, particularly in matching employee expectations with the skills and capabilities that the business needs, becomes increasingly complex. But it’s not just a simple case of employees filling out an online surveys about how they feel, the critical business intelligence lies in perceptions of alignment of organisational and personal goals, opportunities for professional growth, career development, work-life balance, ability to express opinions and managerial style of line managers. Then all-too often this critical data is left, or is not optimised and quickly loses its sell-by date, and so it is HR’s absolute duty to ensure a culture where results are discussed and key issues acted upon.
A development tool very often used – especially in big corporations like Nestlé for example – is the famous GE–McKinsey nine-box matrix. This tool helps to manage talent in big corporations as every employee considered to be talented is assessed on potential and performance. Corporations need to be clear about which factors shape career growth. The criteria used are company specific and embedded in the organisational context. An organisation may distinguish between three different elements: core factors, accelerators and opportunities. Core factors like Customer and Service Orientation, Business Acumen or Willingness to Learn and Flexibility must be mastered by every single employee. Another factor is career accelerators which are planned and foreseen, which will benefit talented employees. The last factor is opportunities as they are neither expected nor planned and based on chance. In the light of the swift development of AI and its use for career development, the nine-box talent matrix may soon be outdated and old-fashioned. The overall objective of all of these tools is to challenge employees and to stimulate their ambition and proactivity and flexibility are two important competencies in terms of career development as individuals are held responsible for their own career management. The use of internal and external organisational networks is also key to career development as 30 percent of career advancement comes from networking and personal branding is becoming increasingly important. By encouraging and developing employees to see themselves as a brand and to market themselves – accounts for 30 percent, individual performance and competencies in a broader sense accounts for another 30 percent, and being at the right place at the right time – accounts for less than ten percent. There is a growing necessity for organisations to go the extra mile and provide the support and development to employees for a fulfilling career, and a satisfying professional life that doesn’t negatively impact on work/life balance. This is the key to raising engagement and developing careers for the long term.
*Salvador Dali 1954
