Career development in RP organizations

People spend most of their waking hours working. Not surprisingly, organizations have begun to realize the importance of instituting systems to help employees in their career development.

The results show that career development systems do exist in local organizations. The most common interventions are training and development programs. These are followed by assessment and evaluation of employee potential and internal placement systems.
The good news is that career development programs appear to enhance employee attitudes. Employees who experience these interventions report greater career satisfaction and attachment to their organization. The bad news is that their career development systems are only “somewhat effective”. This is because that there are still areas to be improved on such as clarifying objectives, strengthening ownership of managers and supervisors, and ensuring that the system addresses career needs of employees.

I suggest looking at the following:

Disseminate information - Organization need to better explain career development objectives, interventions, tools and processes.
Link career development to other HR systems – People tend to confuse career development with performance management. Thus, it is important to show how career development is linked with the various HR systems.
Specify career development roles – It is good to note that career development is seen as shared responsibility of the employee, supervisor and the organization. Nevertheless, respondents say that managers, at times, lose sight of their responsibility in the process. This makes it important to make people accountable for their roles in career development.
Provide career development training and tools – The processes and tools for implementing career development and the necessary training should be given to groups who are responsible for implementing it. For example, if managers are expected to do career coaching, they must be provided the skills in doing so.
Evaluate career development systems – Constantly evaluating one’s career development system is important to ensure that it remain relevant and effective. Other that through feedback or questionnaires, specific indicators such as promotion or retention rates can be used to gauge the success of career development.