SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – A new international survey of leaders and employees at many of the world’s largest employers, across a range of industries, shows that while today’s workers are hungry for growth, amid a changing workplace driven by technology and artificial intelligence, too many of them are on their own when it comes to career development.
The results of “The State of Careers Report” survey by Right Management, released by Right Management Great Lakes, shows that for workers, career planning is broken and most of them know it. Survey results show four in 10 workers say they do not have any career plan, just 16 percent of employees see growth defined by climbing the traditional ladder and just 12 percent of workers are aiming for management roles.
Right Management provides career transition coaching, leader development coaching, non-leader development coaching, and assessments for talent selection and development
Most common among workers with a career plan is a “DIY” approach to career building. The most common current career plans are: Following their own interests and personal priorities (32%), self-directed training or learning (29%) or seizing opportunities that happen to be in front of them (27%).
Right Management believes this survey should sound a new alarm for employers.
“The future of work isn’t something happening down the road, it’s developing now,” said John Bourbeau, Jr., President of Right Management Great Lakes. “The success of any business is directly determined by the strength and performance of your workforce. Career support is too often seen as an annual event, rather than an ongoing strategic priority.”
In fact, when bosses describe their organizations’ approaches to supporting employees and defining their career plans, the most common example cited is regular performance reviews (15%), followed closely by standard individual development plans (14%). These are widely known as the minimum expectations for employees and not customized, year-long conversations.
In sharing these survey results with its clients, Right Management is encouraging employers to give opportunities for workers to practice new skills hands-on, and get answers to regular questions tied to the obstacles they see every day.
“Across industries, today’s skills are at risk,” Bourbeau added. “To prepare for the skill shift driven by AI., employees need support to know which skills to focus on and how to build them. That means providing workers with career navigation that allows them to actively explore, adapt and grow amid this change.”
The study included 1,029 leaders and 2,402 white collar employees at 1,403 companies across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore and Australia.
