Driving agility
in a flatter world

The challenge is clear: businesses that fail to prioritise career and talent development risk losing top talent and falling behind in a rapidly evolving market.

Short-term vs. long-term investment:
act now to build skills and mobilise

For employees, the key desired outcome from their employer’s career support is ‘Develop new skills to use in the future’ (41%). In contrast, leaders selected ‘More job satisfaction’ (51%) as the outcome they most expected employees to choose, citing ‘Retention of talent’ as the primary reason the business invests (32%).

Are leaders underestimating their employees’ desire to learn and grow, distracted by the more short-term need to retain staff in their current positions rather than support career mobility across the business? And are they actually encouraging stagnation with this mind set?

Meanwhile, a third of employees (31%) expected their employers’ career support to provide them with more satisfaction in their personal life. In a hybrid world with blurred boundaries, there’s no longer a clear split between work life and home life. Employees are looking to their employers to create positive impact in all aspects of their lives, highlighting an increased focus on areas such as mental wellbeing and creating a sense of belonging.

HR leaders: what is driving your organisation's increased focus in talent investments?
Top 3 choices:

16%

For the growth, expansion or success of the company

12%

To keep up/stay ahead of the
market and remain competitive

12%

To increase employee loyalty
and retention

“Increasing focus in talent investments helps our organization to give competitive advantage, with highly skilled and knowledgeable employees we can differentiate ourselves from competitors through superior service, products and solutions.” Survey respondent

How can businesses drive agility?

The findings in this report reveal a pressing need for HR leaders to rethink their approaches to talent development and internal mobility. Whilst some employees are eager to grow, they feel unsupported in achieving their career aspirations, whilst many others are simply stuck where they are, unwilling to upskill or reskill to meet future needs. Meanwhile, organisations risk stagnation by underinvesting in career support and failing to align leadership priorities with broader business goals.

The challenge is clear: businesses that fail to prioritise career and talent development risk losing top talent and falling behind in a rapidly evolving market. By acting now to build a sustainable workforce strategy, HR leaders can harness the power of their workforce and ensure their organisations are prepared to thrive in the face of ongoing transformation and change.

Five key takeaways to act on now

Focus on data-driven workforce decisions

Whilst Gartner reports that only 33% of leaders think their organisation is effective at using data in workforce planning, it’s vital to understand the current status of your workforce; how long have people in their roles? Who’s moved up or across in the past year? What’s your level of turnover internally? You might be surprised at the results. Further, understand who holds your investment budget – is it getting lost in areas such as leader development rather than directed to the careers of your people?

Redefine careers in a flatter world

Are you intentionally making a flatter organisational structure work for you, or simply removing layers to save costs? Strive to be more transparent about what a career looks like in your organisation; if vertical moves are less readily available, how can you motivate people to advance their careers horizontally? Are you assessing employees to understand their strengths and development areas, and coaching them to close the gaps?

How can businesses drive agility?

Learning in the flow of work

Reevaluate what learning and upskilling looks like in your organisation. Are you providing the permission - both literally and psychologically - for employees to grow and upskill, or is the workforce so overwhelmed it can’t think beyond tomorrow’s deadline? Are lengthy courses or standalone tech platforms working to create the change you need? Josh Bersin reports that 49% of employees prefer to learn at the point of need, at 58% at their own pace. Consider how you can drive learning through self-reflection, in-the-moment coaching or peer-to-peer learning.

Use human interventions to drive change

Technology should be viewed as an enabler rather than a solution: without human input to motivate, engage and encourage employees to utilise the technology, the benefit will be limited. Are you providing the right environment for change – whether that’s around upskilling, role changes, or career coaching? And in a consumer-driven workplace, are you giving employees the experience they expect, with a human element in every intervention?

Use objective experts to deliver ROI

Careers are a field of expertise; do you have the right people to manage them? When support is delivered internally, unconscious biases or preconceptions can cloud judgements, and academic studies report higher outcomes for coachees receiving external coaching compared to internal coaching, due to increased confidentiality and freedom to share sensitive information. Use an objective third party to ensure clarity of messaging around the why and how of delivery and remove any potential biases from talent development decisions.

“Smart employers are looking to the future and effectively balancing short- and long-term business needs to optimise their workforces. It’s not easy, but future success is dependent on acting now.” Barbera de Graaf, Regional Brand Leader - Right Management Europe