Career architecture – building blocks

to effective talent management

A dynamic business environment, technological advancement” opportunities have consistently been

advancements, changing workforce aspirations and cited among the top 3 drivers of attraction and
attitudes, all have significant consequences not just retention by both employees and employers in India,
for businesses but for the talent market as well. according to multiple Willis Towers Watson studies
Traditional approaches to career progression and conducted over the last few years.
movement are fast falling out of step with the
changing needs of the talent market. In the Indian Employers grapple with organisation structure
context, career architecture is a loosely defined change, emerging skills, workforce efficiency and
concept. More often than not, there are no clear costs and, overall, an inability to provide career
interlinkages established between various career development opportunities. As consumer
architecture programmes and other HR processes. preferences are changing, business models are
Any career management framework has to be driven changing leading to a shift in the underlying talent
by some key business objective. Across model. The old ways of adding to the company’s
organisations, one of the key business drivers talent pool are no longer working, pushing employers
behind developing a career architecture is to provide to take a closer look at their existing workforce.
employees with a consistent framework that
supports career development and a clear Given this context, it is becoming essential for
understanding of the career path for the current and organisations to develop a career architecture to
future roles. enhance clarity and transparency. Career
architecture provides a consistent framework
Careers are no more just about upward growth or portraying the career paths for both current and
vertical shifts but also constitute lateral or diagonal future employees, ultimately helping with talent
moves, requiring organisations to have more retention and development and building a strong
meaningful conversations with their employees Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Although
about how to optimise their talents. employers do acknowledge this, they fall short in
’walking the talk’. There is more that organisations
The case for developing the right career need to do to transform this knowledge into actions.
architecture
Communicating career opportunities through
Multiple issues like skills, competencies, progression effective tools
or promotion expectations, salary changes etc. all
come together when we discuss career. Employees Latest Willis Towers Watson research indicates that
expect growth in skill level, enhanced job only 36% companies in India agree to have
responsibilities, progression in the organisation developed effective communication tools for career
hierarchy and salary growth when they think of management of their employees.
career – these factors, either individually or in
combination, should be present for employees to feel While 62% of the surveyed employers have an
progression in their career. Today, many employees articulated career management philosophy,
want to opt for jobs within their organisation, either companies are not employing the right tools to
through lateral or vertical moves, or by being offered communicate the skills and competencies
an opportunity to acquire new skills. “Career employees require to grow. Among the employers

Copyright © 2017 Willis Towers Watson. All rights reserved

willistowerswatson.com
who do conduct career management programmes discussions as part of employees’ performance
for their employees, only 47% of them monitor their management process, against 44% reported in
effectiveness. 2014.

Also, there lies huge opportunity for organisations to In addition, just a little over half the employers (52%)
define and showcase available career paths, say their companies make effective use of
especially lateral career paths to their employees. technology to deliver programmes to help employees
Compared to 76% of the companies that have advance in their careers, an 8% improvement
defined vertical career paths, only 51% have defined compared to 2014. Merely 47% of the employers say
lateral career paths. their organisations monitor the effectiveness of their
career management programmes, a meagre 1%
Whose accountability is to manage careers? upgrade from 2014.

Recent Willis Towers Watson research into career These challenges are further aggravated by not
trends indicates that over 1/3rd employees in India having consistent architecture in place. For instance,
feel they should take ownership of their own careers, only 40% employers have consistent job
while 31% feel that managers should guide architectures and merely 39% have defined
employees' careers and 30% believe it is joint- consistent job levels and career framework.
ownership of both employees and managers.
Building manager capability also plays an essential
On the other hand, only 24% employers feel that role in effective career conversations. So while 52%
employees should take ownership of their own (44% in 2014) organisations say they provide their
careers, while a majority 68% believe it is joint- managers with career management training and
ownership of both employees and managers, and tools in the form of talking points or discussion
merely 9% think that managers should guide guides, only 48% (41% in 2014) employees rate their
employees' careers. managers as effective in holding career development
discussions. This disconnect suggests that perhaps
Also, majority of employees give their employers organisations are providing managers with the bare
credit for providing useful career planning minimum tools, but not giving them all the training
tools/resources – 63%; and opportunities such as and skill building required to develop their capability
promotions to advance in career – 61%. to have effective conservations.

Globally, employers are slowly enabling employees Developing infrastructure around competencies
to take ownership of their own career as against the for career management
earlier predominant model of employee-manager
joint ownership. It would help employers in India to Competencies are building blocks for career
take note of this trend and design their career programmes. From a framework perspective, around
architecture around it. 65% employers have all the competencies in place,
which are - Organisation-wide Core Competencies,
Employers are facing challenges in Leadership Competencies, Functional Competencies
implementing career programmes and Scaled Competencies.

Employers face many pain points in developing and However, only 47% employers have their 360
delivering effective career management programmes degree assessments aligned with behaviours
owing to several factors. These factors include outlined in their competency model. When it comes
poorly defined career levels as only 56% employers to the scaling of competencies, the percentage
report that their organisations have defined career drops, and when it comes to using them in 360
levels in place, a noticeable improvement over 48% degrees assessment, it declines even further.
reported in 2014. Employers need to make both these aspects a part
of the competency framework. Furthermore, when it
Also, only 48% of employers say that their managers
are effective at conducting career development

Copyright © 2017 Willis Towers Watson. All rights reserved

willistowerswatson.com
comes to application, employers still have some
ground to cover.

Additionally, several components of competency

development programmes that employers believe to
be very effective are not actually so. For instance,
71% employers make university executive education
part of their programmes, especially for the senior
employees, which in reality do not give them the
desired results.

Conclusion

For organisations to design an employee’s career

better, they should not only have a ladder-based
approach for career advancements, but rather a
‘jungle-gym approach’ that also focuses on lateral
growth. Organisations must also take steps to
educate employees about the multiplicity of
experiences that will work in their benefit. Lateral
moves are often seen as a dead-end solution by the
employers for employees who feel stagnated, while
on the contrary, employees with an expand skill-set
augur well for organisations at a time that demands
both adaptability and agility.

It has also become increasingly important for

employers to look into the aspirations of individual About the Author
employees and basis that, build a career fabric that
is stitched together with the competencies. Such an
approach can help organisations effectively
managing their talent in the long run.
Shatrunjay Krishna
Director – Talent Management and
Organisational Alignment
*First published in Business Insider Willis Towers Watson India
[email protected]

About Willis Towers Watson

Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ: WLTW) is a leading
global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps
clients around the world turn risk into a path for growth.
With roots dating to 1828, Willis Towers Watson has
40,000 employees serving more than 140 countries. We
design and deliver solutions that manage risk, optimise
benefits, cultivate talent, and expand the power of capital
to protect and strengthen institutions and individuals. Our
unique perspective allows us to see the critical
intersections between talent, assets and ideas — the
dynamic formula that drives business performance.
Together, we unlock potential.
Learn more at willistowerswatson.com.

Copyright © 2017 Willis Towers Watson. All rights reserved

willistowerswatson.com