When it comes to the big employee-development picture, it’s essential for organizations to understand what their people really want from their careers, what motivates their decisions, and what they value. Without that knowledge, companies can’t attract great talent, convince their employees to stay for the long haul, or get the best performance from their people.
To find out what drives and motivates employees’ career decisions, Instructure interviewed more than 600 employees at more than 50 organizations around the United States over 18 months.
Results showed what matters most to people in their careers is making an impact (37%) and finding a purpose (34%) rather than focusing on promotions, roles, or titles. Following these drivers, approximately one-third of employees highly value work-life balance.
Other meaningful findings from the research include:
• Most employees feel transferable skills such as active listening, communication, and problem-solving are more valuable in comparison to job-specific skills.
• 79 percent of employees want career-centered conversations with their managers on a monthly or quarterly basis. Only two percent felt an annual career check-in was sufficient.
• Only 15 percent of employees feel confident about making progress toward a long-term career path.
• Most employees would rather feel valued for the everyday contributions they make than receive formal recognition or awards for achievements.
These results highlight the value of having real, meaningful, and ongoing conversations with employees about what motivates and drives their careers. It also emphasizes the importance of replacing top-down employee-development approaches with programs that fully support and align with the drivers that most impact employees’ career decisions.
Josh Bersin, Global Industry Analyst and founder of Bersin by Deloitte, said nearly, “half of all employees have what we call ‘skills anxiety’ about their growth opportunity at work. In today’s world of disruption, giving employees a fantastic development experience at work is one of the most important engagement and retention tools companies have. Development goes beyond traditional corporate learning. Companies need to invest in robust development that supports role mastery and career development.”
Companies are experiencing a high degree of turnover and disengagement. Now more than ever organizations need to deeply invest in their people, establish strong frameworks to support new managers, and empower employees to chart their careers. Employees are more likely to stay in jobs that provide them with career development and learning opportunities, which demonstrates a strong need for employers to focus on employee development to complement HR systems.
Want to learn more about what employees value and how they make their career decisions? Check out this infographic.