In this blog, I want to show that building sustainable careers is about integrating the organizational and individual perspectives on development and careers is key, and I want to give HR professionals some tips on how to go about this.
Nowadays, not investing in the development of employees means an increase in employability and retention issues. Most organizations understand the importance of employability, resulting in important efforts directed towards up- & re-skilling and agility. This is only appropriate, as focusing on employability is part of building sustainable careers for the individual, the organization, and society as a whole. Next to the "productive" aspect of sustainable careers, more attention is recently also being given to the "happy" and "healthy" aspects of sustainable careers.
What I see within organizations is that ‘(career) development’ is often interpreted strictly from an organizational perspective. Organizations tend to ask this question: “What are the competencies this person needs to develop to stay relevant for our business?” Where answering this question may have been enough in the past, in the contemporary employability labor market, answering this question equals selling employees short. The reason is that this question does not include the individual perspective on both development and careers. Meaning that the employee’s definition of career success and his or her personal aspirations are not being taken into consideration.
The reason I put so much emphasis on the individual perspective is twofold:
1) no organization nowadays is able to guarantee stability both in terms of job content and job security. Constant change is part of any individual’s career. If we fail to add the personal perspective on success and development in our approach to employees, we fail to prepare them for career choices that will inevitably cross their path. In the long run, both the individual and the organization win if employees understand what it takes to self-manage their careers.
2) As individuals grow more aware of the unpredictability and dynamics of careers, they tend to reflect more consciously about this subject. As a result, an organization might end up with a ‘fait accompli’, only being informed about an employee’s career decision when it has already been taken. A continuous dialogue with employees is therefore advisable.
I think that the organization that takes responsibility for sustainable careers is the one that is willing to seek the answer to the question: “What can we do to help this person consciously build a sustainable career vision and what can we do to facilitate it?
The arguments are many:
Here are some tips to include the individual perspective (what does the employee desire?) in development efforts:
In the current employability context, we need to find ways to integrate the individual and the organizational perspective in development, work, and careers. This can be done in an evidence-based way, through integrating Career Intelligence into your approach. This way, we are building sustainable careers.
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De Vos, A. et al. (2018). Sustainable careers, towards a conceptual model. Journal of Vocational Behavior.
