Importance of Career Development in Organisational Success

 

The process of organisational career development is very important for both employees and employers. Managing career development is a matter of growing challenge for organizations as it needs to be mindful and align individual employee aspirations with business objectives of the organization. Developing a career development strategy will help employees to take one’s job serious and see it more as a career as it's linked to his or her long-term aspirations.

Job-hopping mindset has become more common around the globe, smart organisations have identified this trend and have implemented strategies to have an atmosphere of growth where employees are able to identify the opportunities for career advancements that exist within the organisation. These organizations help employees to plan a path that may carry them through the whole of their working life, as finding a good employee is much more challenging than retaining an existing one. 

The Importance of seeing a Career as Steps of Development 

This idea of observing an employee’s career as a whole and designing diverse sets of recognized training, developmental activities, and relationships at each phase is recognized as career development (Noe, 2010). Traditional training programs emphasize educating specific competencies related to the employee’s present job, employee development programs target skills, knowledge, and behaviors that better prepare the employee for future positions; career development includes both training and development.

The combination of precise job training, employee development, and linking career development set up to the process needs a high level of strategic thinking and planning; such a plan cannot be based purely on an expected future return from the employee. It takes robust direction and broad views to be able to acknowledge what training and developmental experiences are necessary for employees to grow in their positions so that they are positioned correctly in the organisational hierarchy and support the organizational vision. Whereas this may need some level of investment on the part of the organisation, understanding and supporting career development, impacts the organization’s ability to draw in and retain high-performance employees, a combination that may lead to a long-term organisation-wide competitive advantage.

Why is Career Development So Important for Organizations?

• Attracting top talent: Although recently the globe has been faced with a tight job market, in competitive fields employers must focus their efforts on attracting the top talent. Competitive employment packages that go beyond traditional compensation and benefits can be key to their accomplishment.

• Job satisfaction: It is often said that “A happy employee is a productive employee.” Job satisfaction is very vital since most of the people devote a major share of their life to their working place. Furthermore, job satisfaction has its effect on the general life of the employees also, since a satisfied employee is satisfied and happy human being. An extremely satisfied worker has healthier physical and mental well-being (Janardhanan & George 2011).

• Retaining employees/reducing turnover: Through organizational commitment, career development opportunities help to retain employees and thus prevents turnover. 

• Productivity and Financial Returns: Employers can also increase efficiency and financial revenues by capitalizing on their employees via career development. 

Because organizations have to stay current in technology, business practices, and advances in their industry, an organization that embraces career development processes can keep employees up-to-date on advancements in the industry while, keep staff motivated and retain the knowledge pool within the organization ensuring its competitive edge in the market.

Reference

• Noe, R. (2010). Employee Training and Development Fifth Edition. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

• Janardhanan & George (2011). A Study on Job Satisfaction of Employees in BPCL – Kochi Refinery Limited, Ambalamugal. Available from  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281857611_A_STUDY_ON_JOB_SATISFACTION_OF_EMPLOYEES_IN_BPCL_-_KOCHI_REFINERY_LIMITED_AMBALAMUGAL [Accessed on 16 April 2021].