Leveraging Career Matrix Tools for Employee Development and Organizational Growth

Overview

Overview Background Business Case HR’s Role Developing Traditional Career Paths and Ladders Nontraditional Methods of Career Progression Career Paths Outside the Organization Communications Legal Issues Metrics Global Issues Tools and Samples

Career paths and career ladders have long been established methods for employee development and progression within organizations. Career ladders represent the hierarchical progression of jobs within specific occupational fields, ranked by responsibility and compensation. Career paths are broader, encompassing traditional vertical ladders, dual career ladders, horizontal career lattices, external career moves, and encore careers. In today’s dynamic work environment, understanding and utilizing effective Career Matrix Tools is crucial for both employee satisfaction and organizational success.

Engaged employees are those who perceive employer investment in their growth, providing clear pathways to achieve personal career goals while aligning with the company’s mission. A well-defined career development path serves as a continuous mechanism for employees to hone skills and expand knowledge, leading to mastery in current roles, promotions, and lateral movements into diverse positions. Implementing strategic career paths, facilitated by career matrix tools, can significantly enhance organizational outcomes, fostering improved morale, job satisfaction, motivation, productivity, and adaptability in meeting departmental and overarching business objectives.

Background

In the early 20th century, career choices and progression were heavily influenced by tradition, socioeconomic factors, family lineage, and gender norms. For men, career paths often mirrored those of their fathers and male relatives. Women faced even more restricted options due to societal conventions. Career progression and formalized career ladders were largely absent.

The post-World War II era saw the rise of corporate organizations as dominant forces in the U.S. economy. An implicit contract emerged: employee loyalty in exchange for employer commitment to long-term employment until retirement.

However, the late 20th century witnessed a shift away from this traditional model. From the 1970s onward, economic cycles of boom and bust led to organizational restructuring, widespread layoffs, and reluctance to reinstate staffing levels even during periods of growth. The transition to a knowledge-based economy and declining union membership further weakened the implicit contract of lifetime employment. Organizational structures became flatter, reducing layers of middle management. Employees seeking advancement or higher earnings often had to look beyond their current employers.

This evolution gave rise to a new paradigm: individuals taking ownership of their career ladders, deciding where to place them, how long to stay, and how high to climb. While traditional career ladders persist in the 21st century, they operate within a landscape characterized by:

Continuous and dramatic changes in the labor force.
Constant evolution in work organization and execution.
The diminishing relevance of traditional career paths.
Job roles being deconstructed and outsourced.
Employees working alongside a non-employee workforce lacking career paths, posing unique motivational challenges.
Workers prioritizing job enrichment, flexibility, and career development over job security.
Work redesign to accommodate demands for flexibility, enabling work from diverse locations and schedules.

Business Case

Several compelling factors underscore the necessity for organizations to adopt formal career paths and career ladders, supported by effective career matrix tools:

Difficulty in attracting, recruiting, and placing qualified individuals in suitable roles.
Declining employee engagement levels.
Increasing employee demand for flexible work arrangements.
Lack of diversity in leadership positions.
Management of a multigenerational workforce.
Limited advancement opportunities in flatter or smaller organizations.
Need for organizational culture transformation.

Perhaps the most persuasive argument for executives to invest in formal career paths and ladders, utilizing career matrix tools, is the intensifying talent scarcity.

A 2021 Verizon survey of 2,001 female U.S. workers revealed that 62 percent planning to rejoin the workforce post-pandemic would seek positions offering greater skills development and advancement opportunities.

Making Employee Development a Priority

While most CEOs acknowledge the importance of employee development, many concede that it doesn’t receive the necessary time and resources. A Randstad study found that 73 percent of employers consider employee development crucial, yet only 49 percent of employees believe leadership acts on this principle.

Organizations can significantly benefit from prioritizing strategies for internal talent growth. Career paths and ladders, enhanced by career matrix tools, serve as effective strategic instruments for achieving positive organizational outcomes. They are vital for ensuring sustained organizational growth and productivity.

Benefits to the Organization

Aligning employee career aspirations with organizational strategic objectives, facilitated by career matrix tools, not only advances company goals but also provides key advantages:

Differentiation in the Labor Market: WorldatWork research indicates that organizations neglecting employee training and development risk losing valuable employees to competitors. Investing in employee career development, supported by robust career matrix tools, provides a distinct competitive advantage. Even modest employer investment significantly boosts employee loyalty.

Retention of Key Workers: Managing employee perceptions of career development opportunities is paramount for enhancing engagement and loyalty. Organizations should identify employees critical to strategic execution and develop retention plans tailored to their needs and expectations. These critical workers are those driving key business outcomes, significantly impacting the value chain, or in high demand in the labor market. Clear career paths, facilitated by career matrix tools, are essential components of retention plans, alongside coaching, mentoring, and strategic role transitions that leverage developed skills.

Attracting and Retaining Younger Generations: Generational views on work and growth opportunities differ. Generation Y (born 1981-1996) prioritizes learning new skills over pay increases and values career paths more than any other generation. Randstad also found that Generations Y and X (born 1965-1980) highly desire personal growth pathways. See Generation Z Seeks Guidance in the Workplace.

Reducing Turnover Post-Economic Downturn: As economies recover, employers must proactively address potential talent loss. Voluntary turnover typically surges after recessions, a trend observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The costs of voluntary turnover are substantial, including lost productivity, institutional knowledge, relationships, and increased burdens on remaining employees.

A July 2021 poll by Monster revealed:

86% of workers feel their careers stalled during the pandemic.
79% feel pressure to accelerate their careers as the pandemic recedes.
29% cite lack of growth opportunities as a reason for wanting to leave.
80% believe their current employer doesn’t offer growth opportunities.
49% expect employers to play a role in career development.

Experts emphasize that employees who believe their talents are effectively utilized by employers demonstrate significantly higher commitment and retention rates. Utilizing career matrix tools can help organizations demonstrate this commitment effectively.

HR’s Role

HR professionals are pivotal in developing and implementing career paths, leveraging career matrix tools to enhance their effectiveness.

The traditional HR role of controlling employee career progression up a fixed ladder is no longer viable. HR can no longer guarantee ladder positions or ascents to the top. Recognizing the evolving paradigm of career progression in the 21st century, HR should empower employees to take ownership of their career journeys. While organizations can provide resources and career matrix tools to aid skill development, they are not the sole avenue for employee growth.

HR’s challenge is twofold: to continue offering career opportunities and to provide job enhancement and enlargement prospects. Training and development must shift focus from lifetime company employment to lifetime employability. Career matrix tools can play a crucial role in identifying and facilitating these broader development opportunities.

Individual ambition and drive are essential, but managerial guidance and support are equally vital. Managers must integrate organizational success definitions into employee feedback, evaluations, and development plans. HR professionals can lead in equipping managers to develop career paths, utilizing career matrix tools. HR should encourage managers to view employees as organizational resources, not just departmental assets, fostering a mindset of encouraging broader development across departments. When employees advance internally, HR facilitates this process by:

Establishing equitable, practical, and consistently applied promotion policies and procedures. This includes policies for internal and external job postings and the timing and content of promotion announcements.
Facilitating internal promotions through career coaching, assisting managers in defining clear selection criteria, and supporting unsuccessful candidates.
Ensuring smooth transitions for newly promoted employees.
Supporting non-selected candidates in skill enhancement for future opportunities.

While HR plays a significant role in designing and implementing career progression frameworks and career matrix tools, HR professionals themselves also require guidance in navigating and advancing their own careers.

Developing Traditional Career Paths and Ladders

Organization-wide career planning initiatives, potentially utilizing career matrix tools, can range from manager role-playing for career discussions to comprehensive formal career path development for all positions. Traditional career ladders assume continuous upward aspiration and ongoing employer-provided opportunities.

Career Mapping

Career mapping is a valuable tool, often integrated within career matrix tools, that managers and HR professionals can use in career planning discussions. It helps employees strategically visualize career paths and achieve goals within the organization, reducing attrition.

Career mapping involves three key steps:

Self-assessment: Managers engage employees to explore their knowledge, skills, abilities, experiences, accomplishments, and interests, often using self-assessment modules within career matrix tools.
Individualized career map: Creating a personalized career map, often visually represented in career matrix tools, involves identifying suitable positions within the organization, whether lateral or promotional, that align with employee interests. These positions should leverage existing strengths while requiring new skill development for engagement and growth.
Exploring other opportunities: The final step is to continuously explore new job opportunities within the organization as they arise, updating the career map using career matrix tools to reflect these possibilities.

For effective career mapping, HR must provide necessary resources and career matrix tools to facilitate the process for managers and employees.

Traditional Career Ladders and Career Advancement Strategies

Traditional career ladders involve hiring individuals and progressing them through experience, education, and opportunity to roles with increasing responsibility and compensation. This progression continues until the employee leaves, retires, plateaus, declines promotions, or is terminated. Career matrix tools can help visualize and manage these ladders.

Bowling Green State University’s Business Career Accelerator program provides examples of career paths from EY and FedEx:

EY Career Ladder

FedEx Ground Career Paths

A Catalyst report highlighted effective career strategies. Advancement requires “doing all the right things,” including being an “ideal worker” who:

Seeks high-profile assignments.
Networks with influential leaders.
Communicates career aspirations openly.
Seeks visibility for accomplishments.
Informs supervisors of skills and willingness to contribute.
Continuously seeks opportunities.
Understands organizational politics.
Asks for help when needed.

See Winning Promotions.

Common Challenges with Traditional Ladders and Paths

Traditional career ladders face several common challenges, often addressed with the help of career matrix tools:

Management Transition: A common issue is requiring experienced individual contributors to move into management for advancement, even if they lack interest or aptitude. This can lead to frustration for both the employee and the organization. Dual career tracks, often managed within career matrix tools, can address this.

Lack of Ambition to Climb: Some employees are content in their current roles and should not be pressured to climb. Regular career discussions, tracked and facilitated by career matrix tools, are crucial to understand individual aspirations.

Obstacles: Career plateaus and stagnation can impede upward mobility. A career plateau occurs when advancement opportunities cease, potentially leading employees to seek external opportunities. Career stagnation arises from disengagement and reduced effectiveness. Career matrix tools can help identify and address plateaus and stagnation by suggesting alternative paths or development opportunities.

Nontraditional Methods of Career Progression

When traditional career ladders are insufficient due to low turnover, limited growth, or financial constraints, organizations can utilize alternative development methods, often enhanced by career matrix tools, to retain and engage employees. These include job redesign, job rotation, dual career ladders, horizontal career paths, accelerated/dialed-down paths, and encore careers.

Job Redesign

In flatter organizations, job redesign is crucial for continued employee challenge and growth. Career matrix tools can help identify roles suitable for redesign and track the impact of changes. See Consider Work Redesign to Close Talent Gaps.

Job redesign strategies, such as job enlargement and job enrichment, can enhance job satisfaction without vertical movement. See Why Managers Design Jobs to Be More Boring Than They Need to Be.

Job enlargement broadens job scope by increasing task variety. Job enrichment deepens roles by adding responsibility for planning and control. Career matrix tools can help track skills developed through job enlargement and enrichment, aligning them with potential future roles.

While both strategies add variety and skill development, motivational benefits are more likely with enrichment. Employee perception of these changes is crucial.

Job Rotation

Job rotation, often planned and managed using career matrix tools, effectively enriches jobs. It involves systematically moving employees across different roles within the organization. Formal programs offer customized assignments to promising employees for broader business exposure, typically lasting a year or more.

Rotations can vary in formality and scale. They offer variety and perspective for lower-level employees and broaden expertise for managers, preparing them for advancement. Career matrix tools can help manage rotation schedules and track employee progress.

However, rotations can increase workload, decrease short-term productivity, and face resistance from line managers. Learning curves also incur costs.

Careful planning, feasibility analysis, communication, senior management support, and realistic schedules are key to successful job rotation programs, often facilitated by comprehensive career matrix tools. SeeHow do I implement a job rotation program in my company?

Dual Career Ladders

Dual career ladders, often visualized and managed within career matrix tools, offer upward mobility without requiring managerial roles. They cater to technically skilled employees who may not be suited for or interested in management.

Advantages include:

Providing career paths outside management.
Reducing turnover by offering growth and pay raises.
Encouraging continuous skill development.

Dual career ladders are common in technical fields requiring specialized expertise. Effective programs require careful management to avoid becoming a “dumping ground” for underperforming managers and to address potential resentment from non-participants or managers. See What is a “dual career ladder”?

Horizontal Career Paths

Horizontal career paths (career lattices), often planned and visualized using career matrix tools, gained prominence in the late 1990s. They encourage lateral movement in organizations with limited management positions. See Amazon Commits to Investing Millions in Training.

Benefits include:

Challenging and rewarding work in diverse functions.
Skill broadening and new contributions.
Filling key positions with proven performers.
Opportunities for employees to explore related fields.
Enhanced understanding of organizational impact and professional goal alignment.
Attracting and retaining younger generations.

Successful horizontal career programs, often supported by career matrix tools, require manager and employee understanding, appropriate incentives, and a culture of employee development beyond formal training. Compensation should not decrease with lateral moves, though bonuses may differ. Competency models, often integrated into career matrix tools, are crucial for outlining skills needed for senior roles.

Accelerated and “Dialed Down” Career Paths

Some organizations recognize the value of employee voice in tailoring career paths to life stages. Career matrix tools can help manage and track these flexible paths. Accelerated paths suit high-intensity projects, while “dialed-down” paths accommodate personal needs with lower intensity projects.

Workload in these models should be indexed to compensation, with reduced hours resulting in proportional pay adjustments.

Implementing these paths can lead to:

Improved career/life fit satisfaction.
Increased future satisfaction expectations.
Reduced stress due to option availability.
Retention of top performers.

Encore Career Paths

Encore careers, focused on purpose-driven work in later life, are a growing trend. Career matrix tools can help older workers identify and transition to these paths. They offer opportunities for social impact post-midlife. See How Attracting and Retaining Older Employees Can Help Your Business.

Many older workers seek “means and meaning,” desiring jobs that provide both income and purpose. Nonprofits should adapt hiring policies, job descriptions, and work options to attract encore career seekers.

Career Paths Outside the Organization

Corporate restructuring and economic shifts have increased external career paths, including consulting and contingent work. Career matrix tools can also be relevant for individuals managing their careers outside traditional organizations.

Consulting

While large consulting firms offer traditional career ladders, a new type of consultant has emerged from corporate roles. This shift can be driven by lifestyle, lack of internal progression, early retirement, or downsizing.

Independent consultants leverage expertise, marketing it to clients, often including former employers. This move offers personal and financial satisfaction, representing a different type of career progression, even without a traditional ladder. Career matrix tools may be used by consultants to manage their skills and marketability. See Tips for Becoming an HR Consultant.

Contingent Work

The contingent workforce includes temporary, contract, and project workers. Reasons for pursuing contingent work vary, from seeking permanent employment to lifestyle choices or variety. Career matrix tools might be less directly applicable but can still aid in skill management for contingent workers. See Employing Independent Contractors and Other Gig Workers.

Contingent workers operate outside the traditional employer-employee relationship, controlling their work patterns. This requires skills portability and lifelong learning. They choose to move their career ladder rather than climb a fixed one.

Communications

Effective communication, often facilitated by career matrix tools that provide transparency and tracking, is crucial for managers and HR in discussing career paths and opportunities. Sensitive topics require careful and honest communication without creating false expectations:

Gauging promotion interest without job guarantees.
Identifying high-potential employees.
Communicating non-high-potential status.

Employees need clear feedback on their perceived performance and readiness to make informed career decisions.

Legal Issues

HR professionals must be aware of legal risks related to career paths and ladders, including gender stereotyping, discriminatory promotions, and pay discrimination. Career matrix tools should be designed and implemented to mitigate these risks and ensure fairness.

Gender Stereotyping

Gender stereotypes can hinder women’s workplace advancement. Career matrix tools should be evaluated for potential gender bias in their algorithms and applications. See Bridging the Gender Divide.

Organizations should examine:

Gender bias in evaluating skills and experience.
Communication channels for expectations and talent profile updates.
Redesigning talent management practices to minimize bias in hiring, development, advancement, and compensation.

Discriminatory Promotions

Underrepresentation of women or minorities in leadership can indicate discriminatory promotion practices. Career matrix tools can be used to analyze promotion data and identify potential disparities. Lean In’s 2021 Women in the Workplace survey highlights ongoing gender disparity in leadership.

To avoid discrimination lawsuits, promotions must have rational justifications. Promotion policies and practices must be clear and consistently applied. Career matrix tools can help ensure transparency and fairness in promotion processes. See Review Promotion Practices to Avoid Turnover, Lawsuits.

Pay Discrimination

Pay discrimination can arise when promotion barriers limit pay progression for certain groups. Career matrix tools can be used to monitor pay equity across different employee groups.

Indicators of pay inequity include:

Departmental turnover.
Lower retention among minority or gender groups.
EEOC charges.
Pay disparities compared to benchmarks.

Regular promotion reviews, EEO-1 reports, and career matrix tools can help identify and address pay discrimination.

See:

How to Ensure Pay Equity for People of Color

The Importance of Pay Equity

Closing the Gender Pay Gap

Managing Pay Equity

Metrics

HR should analyze key metrics related to career progression programs, often tracked within career matrix tools, to determine ROI.

ROI can be calculated by assessing the impact of career progression initiatives on turnover and retention rates. Savings from reduced turnover, such as recruitment and training costs, can be quantified and compared to the cost of implementing career progression programs, including investments in career matrix tools. See How to Determine Turnover Rate.

For example, a $45,000 career progression initiative resulting in $75,000 turnover cost savings yields a $30,000 ROI. See Turnover Cost Calculation Spreadsheet.

Global Issues

Global HR faces similar talent management challenges on a larger scale. Global research emphasizes the importance of “talent-friendly” and progressive organizations with leading-edge practices, often supported by sophisticated career matrix tools. See Develop Future Leaders with Rotational Programs.

Global leveling, establishing worldwide job value and pay ranges, provides a framework for multinational organizations to effectively manage talent and compensation globally. Career matrix tools are essential for supporting global career paths and pay equity.