Over the coming months, Donna Murphy will explore findings from the five components of the Adecco Institute’s ‘Demographic Fitness Survey’, starting with career management, and will discuss what HR practitioners can do to improve their demographic fitness and prepare for the changing demographics of the workforce.

The Adecco Institute launched the first Demographic Fitness Survey in 2006. This survey evaluates how companies are preparing for the dual impact of increasing numbers of retirements and a shrinking pool of youth entering the workforce. In 2007, the UK scored 186 out of a possible 400 points.

News concerning the ageing of the populations of industrialised nations is everywhere. Most of the hand-wringing is around issues of how we will support a growing population of pensioners with a shrinking population of workers – with a focus on the funds needed for pensions.

The concern is legitimate and merits our attention. However, it obscures other issues that accompany an ageing population – like, who will comprise that population of workers? Who is going to keep the engines of corporations running as increasing numbers of workers retire and fewer and fewer workers enter the workforce to replace them?

The ageing of the population will mean fewer people available to work. Companies who have traditionally pronounced their workforce as ‘their most valuable asset’ will be challenged like never before to start thinking about how they can differentiate from their competitors to attract and retain workers from a shrinking pool.

Career management is a strategic tool that HR managers can deploy to not only attract, but retain employees at every stage of their careers.

Employee needs

In a recent survey of UK HR managers, we learned that UK companies are offering a wide range of career management tools. More than 50% of companies offer individual career programmes, coaching programmes, and mentoring programmes. Almost 70% are prepared to develop entirely new positions to accommodate employee skills and goals, and 54% are prepared to accommodate changes in career paths.

Employers are increasingly ‘walking the talk’ and are prepared to accommodate employee needs. Yet, only 33% of employees are utilising the tools available to them. What is the explanation for this divergence, and what can HR managers do about it?

Career management tools are designed to ensure that employees are able to reach their maximum potential at every stage of their careers. Employees face a wide range of life issues – from changes in personal goals, to disappointments when career aspirations are not met, to the need to balance family needs with working life.

Many employees, when faced with what they perceive to be irresolvable barriers in the workplace, choose to leave rather than to explore alternatives. Do you, as an HR manager, look for these ‘at risk’ employees? Do you reach out to employees who are dealing with family issues? Do you monitor groups when one member is promoted over others? Do you respond when employees start expressing dissatisfaction at work?

All of these situations may signal that employees are reconsidering their role in the workplace. Many employees try to solve their dissatisfaction by moving on. HR can play a crucial role in identifying these situations and putting readily available tools to work.

Career management tools benefit both employers and employees. Employers invest in the recruitment and training of their employees, and trust employees to make day-to-day decisions in the best interests of the business – whether as the business face to the customer, or in building the company’s product, or in sourcing raw materials, or in any of the other various roles that employees play in making a company work.

Employees who are unhappy, distracted, disgruntled or disillusioned detract from the efficiency of a company and contribute to lost opportunities. Employers benefit from career management tools when these tools are deployed to enable employees to continue to contribute positively to the organisation, whether in modified roles, or in completely different roles from the one originally envisioned.

HR’s unique role

Career management as a retention tool only truly works when both employers and employees are invested in using those tools. Why are so few employees using the tools?

This is where HR professionals play a unique role, as they can determine not only what tools they offer, but how these tools are promoted and used throughout the company. Do employees know the tools are available? Do they feel comfortable exploring the use of the tools? Do they perceive the tools as adding value? Do managers recognise and promote the use of career management tools? Do employees perceive that the tools contribute to, rather than hinder, career growth?

HR managers need to embrace career management tools, and promote their usefulness and effectiveness at every level of the organisation – from entry level employees to high level managers. All should be encouraged to use and promote career management tools as a means for optimising their careers.

What is to be gained? Keeping employees in your organisation reduces the cost of recruitment, maximises the investment that employers make in every employee, and helps optimise all the informal information that every employee gathers about how the firm operates and how to get things done.

Career management tools help employers ensure not only that employees stay, but that they stay in roles where they feel committed, valued and where they can continue to maximise their contributions. An organisation that is sensitive to the changing needs of employees will not only build loyalty, but longevity, commitment and productivity.

Traditionally, companies have seen workforce attrition as part of the natural flow of business – employees come and go, and the costs of recruitment and retention, such as it is, as a cost of doing business.

In an era of overall workforce ageing, and with a smaller cohort of young workers available to replace retirees, managing human capital will be as critical as managing financial capital.

Effective HR professionals will embrace career management tools as one of the most effective means of ensuring that every employee is meeting their potential in the workplace, and contributing not only to their personal goals, but to the success of the business.

Donna Murphy is managing director of the Adecco Institute. For more information, please email her at donna.murphy@adeccoinstitute.com