“Because I don't think it's about upskilling the younger generation–it’s the other way around.”Kawesch and his team recognized a post-pandemic age divide between three main employee groups: workers motivated by financial reward, others seeking career growth, and still others craving social interaction. “We saw this large shift, especially among younger employees, who were saying the most important thing that they were looking for is a social outlet,” said Kawesch. Then also we track their careers for the next five, 10, 20 years because we're hoping to find our next CEO out of our younger engineers that we’ve just hired.”“This is a really great opportunity for us as the younger generation to step up and do some reverse mentoring,” said Davisson. “We test them, we rotate them, and we evaluate them. Managers must spend time understanding and guiding these future stars within their organization.“We put them on very complicated projects,” said Gill. “We saw this shift from a more traditional model of career pathway that was very focused on a top-down approach where the company said, ‘Here's what we need within the next year or five years-how do we find the people within our organization and put them into boxes that they may or may not want to be put into?’” said Elan Kawesch, chief product officer for Claira, an AI-powered workforce-management platform. Speaking on career growth, from left: Dan Ashley, anchor and reporter for ABC7 TV, Sid Prashar of Google, Elan Kawesch of Claira, Tim Davisson of Stewart Leadership, and Joji Gill of Applied Materials (Photos by From Day One)“What we’re seeing with the most successful organizations is what we’re calling this ‘edges-in’ model approach that takes this hybrid between the top-down and saying, ‘What does the firm need in the next few years?,’ but also taking an ear to what the employee is looking for and making sure that we’re promoting the best interest of both parties.” As new generations of workers arrive with fresh expectations, notably Gen Z, businesses are challenged to identify potential leaders earlier in their careers. “Another skill of a leader is not just putting it all on the employee,” said Tim Davisson, director of business development at Stewart Leadership, a talent management and leadership development firm, “but finding opportunities for your employees to grow and expand their skills.”The best approach may be to foster more of a dynamic dialogue between workers and employers about what they both need. “And the conversation already is evolving into ‘What's next for me? How is the company going to support me?’”Leaders are expressing more enthusiasm for coaching skills to help their employees in their career paths and identify areas where they can grow within the organization. “This is as true for early-career professionals as executives.” A new employee’s role is understood to be merely a starting point. “There’s a shift from this mindset of ‘What can I do for the company?’ to ‘What can the company do for me?’” said Sid Prashar, director of executive recruiting for global functions at Google. “In the end, we think an employee really owns their careers,” Gill said, “but we facilitate it for them through their managers and through the opportunities we provide in terms of roles that are available, but also in terms of learning and development.” How can companies meet business needs, as well as the needs of their people, while boosting productivity, retention, and general happiness in the workplace? Dan Ashley, anchor and reporter for ABC7 KGO-TV Bay Area, asked HR leaders how they’re facing the challenge in a panel titled, “How Career Growth Can Be a Part of Employee Experience from the Beginning,” part of From Day One’s recent San Francisco conference.The disruptions of the pandemic, and new attitudes about work, have inspired employees to be more demanding when it comes to opportunity. “We realized, as our demographics have changed, that we actually did not understand–and we were making assumptions of what an employee wanted in terms of their career growth.”Gill’s team learned to enable supervisors as career coaches for their workers. According to a Pew Research survey, 63% of people who left jobs in 2021 cited a lack of advancement opportunities as a reason for leaving.“We spend a lot of time and energy focusing on what an employee really wants,” said Joji Gill, VP of HR at Applied Materials, which provides key ingredients for the semiconductor industry. Employers, for their part, want to make sure that workers will have the right skills for future competitive demands. Workers want to make sure their future roles are satisfying and rewarding. Who has an interest in a worker’s career growth? Turns out, everyone involved. Why Career Growth Is a Mutual Benefit for Both Workers and Employers
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